Balloon Biker

Just took a short ride today that turned into a bit of an adventure. Swan Creek Park is right by where I'm living these days. It's a wooded area that has lived several lives over the past 100 years. Initially tribal land with a salmon bearing creek through the canyon, Swan Creek Woods are now mostly owned by the city and county. The part of the park that I visited today is called the Lister Uplands. During World War II, this area was developed into housing for workers supporting the war effort. Over the years, the housing was converted into the public housing development Salishan. However the area around the Lister Uplands was razed, leaving just empty neighborhood streets. There have been iterations of plans for this land through the decades. Most recently, the city of Tacoma has proposed plans for outdoor classrooms, picnic spaces and perhaps even events. I would love if they provided access from the Southwest side of the park. The area below is quite steep.

I still have this website. Over the past several years, Ive spent hundreds of dollars to essentially keep this vanity project alive, but also being just barely there.When I sat down to write tonight, it was with the idea of sharing that I finally made it back on my bicycle today. I haven’t felt comfortable writing as the Balloon Biker when I haven’t been ballooning or biking. It felt just kind of false and like I was getting off-toping with the blog. Just know, I’ll try to have ballooning and biking, but from here on out, realize the connection may be tenous at best. About my ride - Today I kept it very short and it was wonderful. Sunny, crisp, fall days are the absolute best for riding, in my humble opinion. I just did a 5 mile there and back ride to the Farm at Franklin Pierce. Easy, mostly flat and with traffic that isn’t too bad. It was a great first in a while. My bike held up well with just a few literal cobwebs. The mountain was out and on my way  back I actually had a brief soc