In which we start the year with something old, something new, and something blue

 Here's the blue:

New Year's Eve ride still counts for starting the year.  And we haven't seen blue sky since.

This is becoming a tradition:

New Year's Day on the Wallace Falls trail.  We did this last year, too.

The sky wasn't blue, but it wasn't throwing anything nasty down either.  We'll call that a win.

Group o' goofballs.

Not blue, but it's still pretty overhead.

Here's the new thing:

cue music:  Budweiser Clydesdale theme

To be clear:  this activity is new to me.  

Fee "bumps" the shafts with her hips when she goes around a turn,
although she doesn't have shafts in place yet.  She probably learned this very young.

Fiddle (and Dory) know what they're doing, but I am at the very bottom of the learning curve, looking up.  We're practicing ground driving in harness for now, so I can get the hang of things.


And also,

Back on the trail

We've enjoyed* several vigorous windstorms recently, which left trees and branches across many of our routes.

*enjoyed = nobody died and there was no sn*w

I was working on clearing one such today, when I was spontaneously joined by another rider and two hikers, who took turns with me yanking and sawing to get the tree out of our path.

Many hands working make this go much faster

With the route clear

Interesting sky.  Not blue, but interesting.

we all made it to the turnaround point:

The monument overlooking Puget Sound

Pretty view, pleasant company.

Even blurry, the day is pretty, and being out is the best way to start a new year.

 Let's hope it's a good 'un.