We live in such an amazing area.  I feel like I have to pinch myself to make sure that I am really not dreaming about living here.  A typical "let's go for an easy hike" weekend day had us out the door on our way to enjoy the beautiful Oyster Dome in the Chuckanut mountains.  We just wanted a relaxing hike that wasn't too strenuous and so chose the Samish Overlook trailhead.  Since this provides a beautiful view of Skagit County with outhouses and picnic areas we knew it was going to be busy.  We've come up a number of times but have never seen para jumpers or hang gliders take off from this area. Yet that is exactly what we found when we arrived.  We walked over to the launch site and realized that this gentleman was setting up to glide and so like everyone else we decided to stay and watch.  Turns out he's in his 80s and has been hang gliding for years and years and this is what he does when he retires.  Makes me rethink what I might want to do. He set up his wings and then attached a green mummy sack like bag to the underneath. He strapped himself in and waited and waited and waited.  He waited for the wind to kick up and come up the face of the overlook.  The wind sock would gust and then quiet down and gust again. The crowd grew bigger and soon people were talking and asking questions meanwhile the gentleman remained quiet and concentrated.  Another gentleman started answering questions and talking about the currents, turns out he's part of a hang glider, para jumper club here. Without warning the hang glider had launched and was heading towards the ground hundreds of feet below, just as he was about to hit the tops of the trees, the glider leveled out and he sailed over the river far below, slowly, making large loops and spirals as he glided ever closer to his destination of a farmers field far below in the valley.  We stayed and watched a few people with parachutes jump and then started on our hike to Oyster Dome, contemplating if we would be able to do something like that ourselves.  A new hobby? Something probably to consider and dismiss.