Tag: Washington

After our hike at the end of August, wildfire smoke flooded into our valley and stuck here. Air temperatures were moderate but the air quality was pathetic, with the AQI well above 100 day and night and visibility sometimes reduced to a fraction of a mile. Sure, you could go outside, but your tight chest, burning throat, and stinging eyes suggested that was a bad idea. This was not, of course, even close to the suffering similar climate-related disasters – fire, flood, tornadoes, hurricanes, torrential rains – have visited on other parts of the country. 😪 Still, staring out at a swirling reddish-brown abyss day after day was getting to us. So we took what remained of our travel credits from the virus-wrecked year-that-will-not-be-named and flew to Seattle and fresh air. Yes, we were weak – but that first big gulp of fresh Seattle air was worth any dent in our reputation for tough & stupid. 😁