Editor's Note
Spring Fever
Here at Blue Mountain News, we all have a touch of Spring Fever. I keep hearing people talk about gardening and cleaning up the yard and looking for their fishing poles. I'm hearing more sneezing too (including my own), which is a sure sign that spring has arrived. And I'm sure everyone is sick of me blathering on about how much bike riding I'm planning to do this summer. But it's hard not to get excited about it, when you live in such a great natural environment.
Speaking of which, last summer, Mike McQuary told me how excited he was to go kayaking on the Palouse River, near Lyons Ferry. (And if you know Mike, you know that's something.) He and his wife Dallas Dickinson, and their kayaking buddies Dave and Sandy Schreck, spent many a beautiful summer weekend there last year. Having lived several years around Puget Sound, I was skeptical - until I saw the photos. Now I'm determined to try it this year.
I made Mike promise to write an article about kayaking on the Palouse, telling everyone what they're missing, and he came through. After you read his great piece on page 13, I know you'll feel like your summer isn't complete if you don't give it a try before fall.
Most people who get into cycling will tell you that it causes another sort of "fever", and in your delirium you assume that everyone else will be fascinated by stories of your exploits of self-punishment on your bicycle. I guess I have the fever, so I hope you'll indulge me in my companion article on page 12 about grinding up the big Middle Waitsburg Road Hill.
Riding in this area is very special though, so if you're inclined to even short slow level rides on your bike, I hope you'll go out and find a flat stretch of road on a sunny day this spring and enjoy the wonderful countryside that we all miss when we're in our cars. Or go find a kayak and spend a couple of hours floating on a river. Either way, it'll undoubtedly be one of your most memorable days of the year.
I want to also invite readers to go take a look at our new and improved web site. On our home page at www.bluemtnnews.com, you'll see a new design by our very talented designer, Vanessa. You'll also find more there now than just a republication of the latest issue of the Blue Mountain News paper edition.
Our Community Calendar is right there on the home page now, so in one click you can find out what's happening today or this weekend in our area. We also plan to begin providing more current news briefs and other updated information, which will keep our readers updated on what's going on around here between our monthly paper publications. Down the road we'll slowly keep adding new features to the site to give people a reason to keep coming back.
If you think of something that might look good on our site and help keep other readers informed of what's going on in our communities, please don't hesitate to make suggestions. We hope to turn this into a popular virtual meeting place for our community members.
Thanks for listening, and go out and enjoy the spring.
Ken Graham
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