"- four story glass observation tower with elevator!"
"- accessible trail along border of Preserve!"
That's what the website said about the wheelchair-accessible hike they recommended that isn't far from our house. (Okay, they didn't have the exclamation points, I added those for dramatic effect.) So when we had all day today without other commitments, we jumped at the chance to check out this allegedly awesome hike! Okay, it actually isn't very close at all to our house. It took over an hour to get there, but we figured it would be worth it for our family to finally get to go on an incredible hike!
Then we got there to find that the "boardwalk into the preserve!" was 25 feet in length, if that. And the "accessible trail along the border" was also the sidewalk along a street of shops. No lie! We were laughing so hard that anyone had tried to class this place under the "hike" category. We were thinking of all the places that could be put on the "accessible hike" website if this met the standard..... malls, parking lots and office buildings were mentioned, just to name a few. We made the most of it, though, and once we got over the fact that it wasn't going to give us the fantastic hiking experience we were longing for, we realized that it actually is a pretty cool place....
The observation tower had views of Olympic venues, gorgeous mountains and a meadow of some pretty beautiful flowers and birds. Plus there was a perfect breeze, so Chloe loved it!....
Inside was some amazing artwork....
We took the scenic route home through East Canyon. The leaves are already starting to change and it was just lovely!....
And so the life lesson continues. Things don't always turn out how you expect them to, but it's usually a blessing in disguise.
5 comments:
Love the artwork and the sayings. Looks like you all had a great time even though it wasn't a real hike. I just love days when there is nothing planned already - it makes it that much more fun to go out and about on a whim!
I love how you were able to find the beauty in the unexpected!
Amen to what April said! :) xo
There's a place at the top of cottonwood canyon... Silver Lake, perhaps, it might be called?
Surrounded by ski resort parking lot.
It's mostly boardwalk... with a bit of dirt path.
I've driven my stroller over it.
Don't recall being impeded by stairs.
A mile or more in circumference, and a great place to interact with nature.
It might be slightly more hike than your experience here.
Even this picture, though, makes me homesick for Life Elevated.
Isn't it amazing what people can get away with in words. I swear the people that claim things are accessable are the ones who don't need the access. But you made the best of it. Good for you guys.
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