In the land of big trees

It’s been another fun week both personally and professionally. I finished my book – Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell – which I’m sure you were dying to hear about. More interestingly, I explored a really old, really big tree in Snoqualmie yesterday evening.

the big tree (it's really much larger than it looks!)

So I over estimated the diameter of this tree when I was talking with my Mom this past weekend – it’s not the 100-ft. diameter I guessed – but it’s still large! Turns out the Douglas Fir is only 11’6” at its widest and 8’10” at its most narrow and weighs 39 tons (78,000 lbs.). Um, that’s a big tree! And it’s old, too. It was a seedling in 1587 and cut down in 1987, which makes it 400 years old. I know, I know, that’s a lot of information about a tree but this thing caught my interest last week and it’s as thought it’s been calling my name to come and learn about it ever since.

The tree is part of an exhibit at the Northwest Railway Museum in downtown Snoqualmie and sits on a big train bed under a specially made house alongside the main road in town. As I was driving to Snoqualmie Falls last week (see my previous post about the Falls) I drove through the center of town to get there and stared at a series of old train cars and cabooses sitting outside the museum. And among the cars was this massive part of a tree.

the view between two rail cars

As an aside, the museum offers rides on its old passenger trains each Saturday and Sunday during the summer. Now I’ve been on old train rides before (most recently last summer in the Black Hills of South Dakota) and yes they’re slow, but I saw the Snoqualmie train last weekend and boy is it slow! You certainly don’t miss the scenery as you’re chugging past it!

By the way, I got such a kick out of downtown last week. I literally turned left onto Rt. 202 on the East side of town, took note of a sign proclaiming “Welcome to Snoqualmie,” picked up a leisurely pace of about 25 mph, passing the trains, tree trunk, bowling alley, drive-through espresso shop, and a handful of restaurants, to find myself on the other end of town and watching a sign telling me “Thank you for visiting Snoqualmie” a short two minutes later. Reminds me of small town South Dakota. Ahh, the memories!

Overall, everything else is going smoothly here. I have a strong lead on an apartment – praise God! – and am getting more and more acclimated to work and all of the new information, people, and tasks. And still continually amazed at my surroundings and its beauty. Seriously, it’s so cool to wake up and watch the sun begin its ascent over the mountains, slowly illuminating the evergreens on its way. Nearly every morning there’s fog in the valleys, which is so interesting to see. As a kid I always wanted to touch and walk through the clouds so to see it just hanging in the air so close and peaceful I have the strongest urge to pull the car off the road and go running into the fields to pick up a little of the fluffy white stuff. If only!

Weekend plans are to hike at least a little bit of Mt. Si. Will keep you updated!