Adventures of a Discoverer

A couple of weeks ago I could check out the Cold Creek Loop: it has its name because it is a circular trail. It was a very beautiful hike, even better because of all the flowers blooming at this time of the year, but unfortunately this trail may not exist much longer. Let me tell the whole story. For starters, getting to the trailhead is not easy: after reaching the Snoqualmie Pass you have to go into an unpaved road that is in pretty bad shape. Furthermore, part of it was washed out leaving a trench crossing the road, and as such regular cars cannot get through: you need a truck or SUV with high clearance. On the other hand, that meant that there was no problem finding a place to park by the trailhead. After a short walk you reach a couple of small lakes appropriately named Twin Lakes. By them, there are already some nice views of the water and the mountains. But, as you walk past the lakes you discover that the trail is pretty much gone. The bushes grew over the trail, so I had to pr...

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity of checking out an art venue in Seattle I hadn't been before: the 12th Avenue Arts. On top of that, I did so by enjoying a performance of Experimental Theater: "Dream, Carl, Dream!". Let me explain! First of all, the 12 Avenue Arts is a somewhat new art space in the city. New apartment buildings are popping up everywhere, but, in the case of this one, the builder included on the ground floor a space for art that can have multiple uses, including theater. It's small, but very comfortable and convenient, and I'm always happy that we can get new spaces for art in the region. Now, about Experimental Theater: there isn't a precise definition for it, but in general includes theater performances that "break the separation between the stage and the public". This is certainly the case of "Dream, Carl, Dream!": a small theater group from Seattle created a very interesting play that goes exactly along those ...

In southern Mexico it is common to find a species of grasshoppers known as "chapulines": being abundant there, eventually people figured out they could be used as food, and they became a typical dish of the region. Last weekend, Jenn and I went on a date on a very nice Mexican restaurant in Seattle named  Poquitos , which was offering chapulines as an appetizer and, given that I hadn't tried them before, I decided to have some. They are served in a small bowl with a slice of lime, which you should squeeze over them to add a little extra flavor. The bugs are throughly roasted, so there is no "goo" left in them: in fact, they are quite crunchy and have a nice texture as you chew them. They taste good too, especially with lime and salt, although there is an important note I should make: in this restaurant, the chapulines are offered in the traditional southern Mexican way, i.e., really spicy. Given that I'm not a big fan of spicy food, at the end of it my mouth...

On Saturday of the last week I spent a really nice afternoon at the HONK Fest West - it was my first time there. HONK Fest is the name of various music festivals in the United States and abroad in which street bands get together to play in a public space and in this way bring the community together and enjoy some fun music. They happen in New York City, Boston, Providence, among other American cities, and also in Seattle, where we have the HONK Fest West. The organization put this year's festival in a public park in Columbia City, a neighborhood in South Seattle, and it happened on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of last week. It was a very well organized festival: there were four different stages for the bands to show up, some of the streets around the park were closed, there were porta-potties and hand-washing stations, maps and programs of the festival, and etc. Surprisingly, for such a well put together event, it is completely free - tips are recommended, but everything is taken ca...

The hiking season is just starting: the snow is melting on the mountains and that is revealing the trails underneath. However, that means that most trails still have large stretches of snow, which is not so fun to go through. Fortunately, some are already fully snow free, and yesterday I could check one of them: the trail to Pete Lake. The lake is in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, on the eastern slope of the Cascades. The trail to get to it is interesting because it's mostly flat, which makes it relatively easy. In addition to that, there are a number of good campsites next to the lake, so many people choose this trail to make their first backpacking trip: it's a great way to get used to carry a full backpack around. And, indeed, yesterday I could see quite a lot of backpackers on the trail and many tents set around the lake. I noticed something a little bit concerning on this trail, that increased the level of effort needed: I had never seen this many logs on a trail....