By Emily Woodbury
Happy October! This is my third October here just north of Seattle, and boy, this sure is a beautiful place to be in the autumn. During the eight years I spent in New York, everyone was always saying things like, “The West Coast doesn’t have a fall!” Or, “Nothing beats New England in autumn.” I’ve seen Upstate New York falls, and Massachusetts falls, and even Vermont falls (and yes, I cried, it was so beautiful), but ya know, the West Coast does indeed have a beautiful fall, and I am basking in it.
I took the photo below last weekend on a hike in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. It usually doesn’t snow up in the mountains this early in the season, but a cold front from Alaska blew some snow on top of peaks 4,000 feet or higher. Look at the way fall is morphing into winter. Sob.
Anyway, now that we’ve got six things to learn about you every week, I better stop chatting.
OK…let’s see…. Ah, yes, last Saturday we wanted to know if you’ve ever had anything stolen from your campsite. Luckily the majority of you, 64 percent, have never had anything stolen; however, a good amount of you, 24 percent, have. Only 15 percent of you answered that you’ve never had anything stolen that you know of. We asked you to leave a comment if you have had something stolen, so scroll through those 37 comments here. Yikes.
Surprisingly, Monday’s poll taught us that more than half of you, 55 percent, do not plan a special drive to see fall colors (maybe you’re just like me and plan a special hike instead!). That being said though, 11 percent of you plan a drive every year, and 9 percent of you are planning a special drive this year. Exactly a quarter of you will plan a drive if you’re in the area and it’s convenient. Tell me which drives you’re planning on taking in the comments.
Wow! A lot more of you watch the evening broadcast news on TV than I would have guessed. Almost half of you, 44 percent, watch the news every night. Another good chunk of you, 20 percent, watch it a few times a week, and 5 percent of you watch it every few weeks or so. A combined 31 percent of you watch it rarely or never. Oh, that’s what we learned on Tuesday, by the way.
Wednesday’s poll asked how often you donate to a food bank. The majority of you, which was 41 percent, never donate (either food or money) to a food bank. On the other end of the spectrum, 9 percent of you donate money or food often, and 31 percent of you give every once in a while. A good percentage of you, 19 percent, donate around the holidays, but that’s about it. You can always find the nearest food bank online here.
On Thursday, we wanted to know how stinky your bedroom is. Ha. Just kidding, we wanted to know how often you wash your bedding (same thing though, right?). Surprisingly, you’re all pretty clean! Just about half of you, 45 percent, wash your bedding once a week or more. Just behind that, 40 percent of you wash it once every couple of weeks, and 10 percent of you wash it once a month. Only 4 percent of you wash it once every few months and 1 percent of you (which was a shocking 38 votes), can’t remember the last time you washed it. Well…I think this is a good reminder….uh….
And lastly, on Friday, we were curious to learn if you have ever taken a class in CPR. It’s good to know that 77 percent of you have taken a CPR class. That probably means that there’s a good chance your campground neighbor has too! Just under a quarter of you have never taken a class, but it seems like you’re in good hands anyway.
