When I was a kid I used to love to walk and hike, etc. Of course we had no cars like the young people of today! And the parents had one car and in the case of living on the farm that was a truck!!! But I loved it! Especially in the Spring of the year when all the hills were green and covered with wild flowers!! When we lived on the farm, as I have said before, we lived in this valley between two pretty high hills and the hills were steep!!! On weekends, I would take any of my siblings that wanted to go with me nd start out at the bottom of the hill by the creek and then walk the trails that the cows had made which was in a parallel pattern back and forth from one Spring which had water coming down to the creek in the valley to another. It made for quite a long walk but also one could keep one's balance. We would walk up a couple of these parallel trails and then stop for a nice cool drink of water out of the spring (or creek) and then wind out way up farther to the top of the hill! It was so beautiful up there where you could see "forever" it seemed! The Snake River, the canyon road winding it's way along the creeks and farms! When we had rested awhile at the top, then began the slow walk down the trail to the bottom and then home!! When we moved into Idaho, (Couer d' Alene) we walked the mile and a half or so to school, Fall, Winter, and Spring!! Then in the summer I used to take probably the same siblings with me and walk to Coeur d' Alene Lake. Swim awhile, walk around the Park that edged it and then walk home! Sometimes so sun-burned that you could hardly walk! I think that is one of the things, now that I'm old and it started when I began to get older that I miss! When I was married and we lived in Reseda, and Cappy was alive, we found that by going over to a "wash" in the Tujunga Canyon, we could walk up that dry creek bed, and then up into the hills! We did that a lot when the kids were smaller. Sometimes the older boys went with us but usually it was just the three younger boys. We found the best watercress patch up there by a spring and we would bring a big sack and gather the watercress. I managed to take some of it down to my Mother and Father who lived at the time in Torrance, California, who really enjoyed it since we lived on the farm and had watercress growing by the springs! But time and age takes it all out of you as you get older and the old legs just don't want to make it like they did!!! Maybe I just got lazy about walking but oh, how I wish I had the legs and the same places to hike around in!!!
