I Continue Walking

I continue walking almost every day in Gig Harbor. One day last week I went off the main trail of Cushman Trail. There was this little dirt trail I had seen before mainly because I see sometimes others who either leave or enter the Cushman Trail at that spot. This day I decided to take the trail to see where it would go. It was not very long going only a few hundred feet. It went into a housing project, and than walking another few hundred feet I ended on Reid Road that I travel almost every day between home, and Gig Harbor itself.

The major thing I realized though Gig Harbor population, and houses have more than doubled in the last forty years there is still a lot of trees in the area. I know it is true, however, most of the time I do not think about it. It is amazing things you see, and think about when walking. So I walked along Reid Road until I got back to the shopping center where my car was it. Besides all the trees I saw how many streets say private road on the signs. So unless you are living down one of those streets, or know someone that you are visiting you can’t go down the street. There are a few streets you can down on, but most of them are private. The ones I have gone down before I have seen many different homes which is astonishing since the main road you see lots of trees. Most of the trees in Gig Harbor are Douglas Fire along with some maple trees. There are some other various trees as well.

This all reminded me that when I was college age my parents, and I were invited over to a couple’s home near downtown Gig Harbor. I do not believe my brothers or sister were in town. They were off at college or living elsewhere. Anyway the couple were members of our church St.John’s Episcopal Church. They were elderly and wealthy, and no longer around for many years. I do not remember why we went other than we did have dinner along with other members of the church. I remember going to their backyard, and how large it was. It was though I entered the Wizard of Oz. I had never seen anyone with such a big backyard before. It is not true, however, at the time it seemed like to me Gig Harbor had just doubled in land size. They had many trees along with a beautiful garden. At the time I wondered if other homes in Gig Harbor had large backyards. I felt as though Gig Harbor was different than I had known. Since then until now I have not thought about that night.

Though Gig Harbor is still a small town by the standards it is much different than when I was growing up. Many of the homes are larger than the ones I knew. There are some homes that are stacked next to each other on the private roads, however, there are still others that have a few acres of land as well. It really makes me think how Gig Harbor will look in the next twenty to forty years.