So twice this week. Someone turned to me, and said in complete earnestness "You are SO weird Ross" and then slowly shake their head. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

One of the times, the person in question had directly provoked me by making fun of me. I felt it my duty to say the most irreverent/wrong thing I could think of to quite the person down. The other time I just went off on a tangent for no apparent reason. I can not explain that one very well. 

 

Opinions? Stories?

I just got back from a family trip to Scotland. The beauty of the countryside there is unforgettable. It reminded me some of the I90 corridor with rolling hills everywhere covered with green grass (a startingly large portion of Scotland is deforested) only there was water everywhere. Uncounted (by me) lines of sea coast and streams/little waterfalls coming down from just about every hill. The Stormy weather that we got for most of the week I was there added what I can only call mood shadowing to all of the countryside that just made it majestic and magical and beautiful. It was like an upgraded version of the Issaquah mountains. It made me itch to go hiking across (the isle of Skye in particular) all of the hill ranges I passed. So much of it is uninhabited and deforested you could hike for days with no problem whatsoever.

I find the History of Scotland fascinating as well and would love nothing more some days than to immerse myself in a topic at a university library somewhere. But, life is short, Seattle summer doubly so, and I don't think they would let me camp next to the Cambridge university library or the university at Glassglow library. So I will settle for minor excursions into its history (such as reading its mythology) and dream of taking a hiking/backpacking/bicycling trip there at some point in the future.

Today I went hiking in Discovery Park for the first time today. It was a beautiful day, and the hiking was wonderful. The park has just enough elevation change in it to make it a nice work out to hike. I spent about an hour on the beach just watching the waves and the mountains, and thinking about whatever came to mind. There were many dogs about and lots of people out for a hike. I am going to make a conscience effort to go out hiking at least once a week this summer. It just feels so good.