Chris and I had an argument the other day that resulted in a promise to spend more dedicated time with one another. We set aside 6pm to 7pm as “us” time, whether it be watching tv, working in the garden, or planning next weeks dinners. Hopefully this will ease the distance between us that comes from him watching television in the living room, and me playing on the computer or at my craft desk in the office.

So when he got off work today, well yesterday now, we went to the store for sugar and ice, then dropped that off at home, changed into tennis shoes, and decided to go for a walk. It took us some time to find just where we wanted to go, normally we go to Riverside State Park and walk around the swinging bridge crossing Bowl & Pitcher, if we want to get out, but that just didn’t sound fun today and it’s a decent drive. Instead we drove through town and found a park we didn’t know was there, and after tracing our way through Browne’s Addition, downtown, to our street, and back we finally settled on crossing Sandifur Memorial Bridge, which goes over the river and then winds up the hill towards part of an old railway structure that once was a bridge.

It wasn’t a long walk, and it was paved, which meant much less risk of falling, but it was uphill for the first half. I am not a decent judge of distance, but I’d say it was maybe a quarter of a mile up, and then a quarter of a mile down? It was hot, and poor Whiskey was pooped and ready to get his feet off the pavement about ¾’s of the way up. When we got all the way to the old railway part we turned around and instead of crossing the bridge back to the parking lot we slid down to the river so the puppy dunk his paws.

Whiskey’s not afraid of water, we found out. He plopped his whole body down in the water and laid still for a solid 10 minutes. It was adorable, and a total turn around from his behavior at the lake the other day. Of course while we were down there we saw a baby rattlesnake on the water, but it saw Whiskey and promptly changed course. That was a slightly scary moment for me, although eventually I got up the guts to remove my shoes and put my feet in the water. It felt so good to sit there on a rock and let my then tired feet rest in the cool waves. The area is clearly marked no swimming, but we found an nook that stilled the fast waters enough that feet in the water seemed safe enough.

I didn’t know where we were until we got home and googled the park. The bridge is a part of the Centennial Trail, which is 36 miles of paved trails. Unfortunately it’s not completely connected to the trail system, but it will be someday.  Chris and I decided to go back at least 3 times a week and walk at least that half a mile, if not every day, because it’s no hidden fact that we both desperately need the exercise, and so does the dog. Although now that I know what it is a part of, we may go investigate some other areas, or start the trail down at Riverfront Park instead.

In all honesty, I am glad we made this “discovery” today. First the park, which is much closer to the house than the one we normally go to, it’s also sort of hidden away so it’ll be less crowded… and then the bridge, and now the trail. Tomorrow I am going to drag Chris downtown to start the trail at Riverfront, and see how that goes. One of the things I have really missed about where I lived in Oregon was easy access to several different lakes, beaches, and rivers. Our experience with finding a place to swim at Silver Lake was so rotten I had given up on learning to love Spokane… but today (sorry, yesterday) refueled my fire. I can’t wait to explore further! Plus, I was so exhausted when we came home, I made dinner, and sat down with Chris to watch a movie and fell asleep. My sleeping pattern has been so neurotic lately, it takes me hours to fall asleep… just dozing off was nice.