Robyn on the Icicle Creek Road

I've not been here since a weeklong hike in the Enchantments in 2009. I'm reminding myself why it's so worth it. This is the view not too far from the Snow Lakes trailhead, on the grounds of Sleeping Lady. I unsuccessfully entered this year's trail pass lottery this past February. It doesn't matter. I have a lot of conditioning to accomplish if I ever want to successfully do that hike again. Perhaps I'll manage it. Part of the reason I bought this Element is so I can use it for car camping and hauling my bikes. I'll be selling my Corolla in the next few months and I've given away my old Chevy camper. It's part of a bittersweet but necessary downsizing from my old life. Here's to the past disappearing in the rear vision mirror of my new rig.

Pear and apples in bloom

Near Peshastin, off Highway 2. Splendid and so promising.

Ravens at Sleeping Lady Resort

It's sunny, if still chilly East of the Cascades, so I'm taking my new old car on a 3-pass drive. I stopped to check out this lovely resort in Leavenworth, and found this great bronze on the grounds.

Break in the weather at Golden Gardens Park

A few hours of late afternoon Spring sunshine brings out the yachts, releasing their spinnakers, as they round a buoy and head back to the clubhouse at Shilshole. It's been a rather frustrating and cold spring and I'm still using a winter liner under my bike helmet for my daily commute. But at least I'm bike commuting again because my teaching schedule is a day class for once, and I'm making the most of the change.

Outside Suzzallo Library

The cherries in the quad are done, but some late bloomers are delighting visitors to the UW campus on Easter Sunday.

Are you tourists or archaeologists?

Now that I'm home and sleeping off ferocious jet lag, I find myself mulling over this comment, the parting question from a disappointed guardian in the Valley of the Nobles. Instead of racing through the dusty and claustrophobic tombs in 10 minutes like most tour bus visitors, then quickly pressing a thin and grubby E£5 of baksheesh into the outstretched hand of the attendant, in one particularly richly decorated tomb my daughter and I had spent an hour and a half taking turns to read aloud from our American University of Cairo archaeological guidebook. One of us sat on the stoop of a stone false ba door, reading aloud from the book, while the other studied the wall paintings and hieroglyphics, register by register. Then we switched. It was a fascinating way to visit this archeological treasure. It is the reason why we'd made the long and challenging trip to Egypt in the first place. The attendant was quickly bored, gave up, and disappeared outside for a smoke. Ironically if he'd bothered to come back as we were leaving we'd have given him a tip because he'd been observant enough to realize that hassle-free time was what we wanted and would willingly pay for.
This is the irony of Luxor. Keep out of our face and it's win win. The old ways of aggressive hassle don't work with the ever-shrinking group of western visitors who bring the most needed foreign currency with them. But old ways are so hard to release. What's the definition of insanity? Keep on doing the same thing but expect a different result?

BBC News: Is it foolish for a woman to cycle alone across the Middle East?

I saw this on the BBC News App and thought you should see it:

Is it foolish for a woman to cycle alone across the Middle East?

When Rebecca Lowe set off solo from the UK for Iran by bicycle, friends thought she had taken leave of her senses.

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