On Top Of Fort Worth's Mount Tandy Thinking About Hiking Washington Cascade Mountain Trails

We are on top of Mount Tandy, in the picture, looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Looking at this view it seems unlikely that this setting is in a town of over 700,000, with beautiful downtown Fort Worth being only about 3 miles distant.

Just to the north of the top of Mount Tandy, on the other side of the I-30 freeway, sits Gateway Park. Gateway Park is where J.D. Granger is busily planting 80,000 Magic Flood Stopping Trees in his personal mission to save Arlington from any excess flooding  brought courtesy of J.D.'s Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

Has anyone seen any of the Gateway Park Magic Trees that J.D. says he's planted?

I heard a "peep" from a fairly reliable source this morning regarding the Paradise Center. I think we may be hearing some good news about this scandal soon. Real good news. Non-profit organizations doing good works are always grateful when what is known as an "Angel Donor" comes along. I believe such an "Angel" has appeared in Fort Worth.

Let's leave the Paradise Center and go back to the Tandy Hills.

Someone Anonymous asked me a question in a comment to my April Fool's Day blogging.

I said, "Today is the day that in the past I've announced I am moving out of Texas. And then at some point in the day someone realizes this is my idea of an April Fool's joke. Well, this year it is no joke. I am moving out of Texas. I just don't know exactly when."

To which the Anonymous commenter asked...

"Are you really going? Have you hiked the Tandy Hills enough that you need some new terrain? will the next blog be durangocolorado?"

Yes, I believe I will be leaving Texas, likely sooner than later. I do not believe I will be moving to Colorado. I don't think I could have a Durango Colorado blog, as that name is likely taken because there is a town called Durango in Colorado, just like there is a town called Durango in Texas, which I did not know when I got my durangotexas.com domain. I did know there was a town in Texas called Durango, by the time I started my Durango Texas blog.

As for hiking different terrain. I was wondering just yesterday how well I'd handle the Cascade Mountain trails that I hiked when I lived in Washington. I lived pretty much at sea level when I lived in Washington. In Texas I think I'm around 500 feet above sea level most of the time. Has this made my lung power slightly stronger? I have no idea.

I don't know which of my favorite Washington hikes I'd choose to go on if I had time for only one. Maybe Green Mountain, due to the cool firewatch station at the top and the amazing view of the sea of peaks and the views of Washington's least seen volcano, Glacier Peak.

Hiking up Mount Baker from Schrieber's Meadow is the Washington hike I've probably done more than any other. In the fall you can pick wild blueberries on Schrieber's Meadow.

Must cease thinking about Cascade Mountain hikes now or I'll slip into a state of melancholy homesickness.

I think I'll go swimming and lounge in the sun.

It Is Hot In Fort Worth With A Tandy Bottle Hanging Mystery & Texas Girls Packing Heat

Why is someone hanging bottles from branches along the trails of the Tandy Hills?

A couple days ago it was the Mystery of the Tandy Bamboo Teepee. And now the Tandy Bottle Hanging Mystery.

A week ago I was having trouble getting warm, suffering through blizzards with sub-zero wind chills.

A week later I'm getting too HOT hiking which forced shirt removal.

And this morning I had my first real swim of the new year. I was in the water for over a half hour. It felt good. I think it was the loss of swimming that caused my gain of weight.

The pool will be even warmer tomorrow with today's degrees being in the 80s for the first time of the new year. I think that's true.

My current temperature reading is 82, with the Heat Index making it feel like 83. I think I like the Heat Index better than the Wind Chill.

I have not turned on the A/C. But I do have my ceiling fan spinning above me.

Denise finally checked her gmail, so we can quit worrying about not hearing from Denise. Now Denise must complete her undercover assignment.

I learned yesterday that a person I frequently mention on this blog, but who I won't mention right now, by name, got her license yesterday. License to pack heat. Now armed with a six-shooter. Which is why I don't want to raise her ire by saying who it is who is now armed and dangerous.

I will say it is not the Wild Woman of Woolley, Betty Jo Bouvier. Betty Jo is well over 2 thousand miles away, so really can do no harm to me with bullets. Same with Carlotta Del Rio. Carlotta is closer than Betty Jo, but not close enough to be dangerous.

I just heard from Carlotta Del Rio. Telling me how beautiful Washington is being today, with Mount Baker making an appearance, after being shrouded in clouds for awhile.

I can't remember the last time I saw a mountain.

Being a Valentines Day Melancholy Baby Today In Texas Thinking About Washington

I am being a Melancholy Baby today.

In the picture you are looking at my house in Mount Vernon.

Well, actually, what used to be my house in Mount Vernon. It was sold in 2002.

The house was built in 1985. I lived there from then til I moved to Texas in December of 1998.

When I moved to Texas it was to a house I had not seen with my own eyes. I'd only seen pictures.

This morning's melancholy has me feeling a bit homesick for Washington. I think what got me started on the melancholy thing was Betty Jo Bouvier's weekend stay in Leavenworth, an Alpine Bavarian type village set on the eastern side of the Cascade foothills

There are no Alpine villages in a mountain setting in Texas.

There is a town called Alpine, in Texas, in sort of a mountain-like setting, down in the Big Bend Country Region of Texas. But, it is no Leavenworth.

I'm thinking if I still had a house up in Washington, I would move back. Having a place waiting for you to move in, makes the moving thing way easier.

When you live in Western Washington you are close to mountains and ocean beaches. If you're in the mood for a total scenery change it is a relatively short drive over the Cascades to Eastern Washington, with its more desert-like climate, turned green in a lot of locations courtesy of the Columbia River's many dams and reservoirs.

Going over to Eastern Washington in summer and fall you can get yourself all kinds of fresh fruit.

Where I lived in Washington it was about a 20 mile drive, to Anacortes, to get on a ferry to go to the San Juan Islands or Canada.

In Washington I lived about 40 miles from another country. Vancouver was just a bit further north than Seattle was south.

The San Juan Islands is in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. Meaning the islands get way less rain than you get if you are closer to the Cascade Mountains. The New York Times recently had a list of the 41 places in the world you need to go to in 2011. The San Juan Islands was #2 on the list.

When I lived in Washington I took living in one big theme park for granted, because it was what I'd always known. Only when you move away, and return for a visit, do you really see real clear, for the first time, just how special the Pacific Northwest is.

The scenery, the tall trees, the air smelling like Christmas trees, all the fresh produce, some growing wild, like blackberries and blueberries.

The fresh seafood.

I could drive about 15 miles and catch fresh dungeness crab and dig horse clams. I lived 2 miles from the Skagit River. You can easily catch salmon in the Skagit River. Or any of the Washington rivers. And eat the fish you catch. Unlike the polluted waterway I currently live about a mile from called the Trinity River.

In Texas my big hiking thrill, which I will likely do today, is to hike some short hills. In Washington I could see the Mount Baker volcano from my living room. It was a short drive to hike up a real mountain. It was a short drive to hike up all sorts of mountains.

Well, I better get going if I want to get a hike in on some Texas hilly scrubland called the Tandy Hills Natural Area, so I can make it to my Valentines Day lunch at the appointed time.