I realize that the title of this blog may be a bit of a puzzle to some readers, those in much of the eastern half of the United States who have experienced bitter cold and record snowfall and for whom spring is still but a hopeful glimmer on the horizon. Here in Southern Oregon, daffodils bloom, temperatures reached the low 60s last week, and we enjoyed a stretch of more than two weeks without a drop of precipitation. That actually isn’t good news here, as we face another year of low snowpack and drought, but it’s hard not to appreciate the sunshine. With guests arriving from out of town, we pondered what to do while they were here. It needed to involve short driving distances and some outdoor activity, as they had spent a full day driving to get here and expected the same for their trip home. We chose a hike up Upper Table Rock, an andasitic lava formation just a 10-minute drive from our home. It rises to a height of just over 2,000 feet, providing a gain in elevation of a little over 700 feet over the course of the 1.1 mile hike from the trailhead on the valley floor below. (I first made this trek a little over a year ago on a cold, foggy December day.) On this President’s Day, we arrived at the parking lot just before noon to find it crowded with cars. While we encountered plenty of fellow hikers on the trail up, once we arrived at the top, the 500 acres of level ground meant we felt we nearly had the vistas and the calm, sunny day all to ourselves. After eating lunch as we sunned ourselves looking out over the valley far below, we scouted around the rim of the mesa, gradually spying more and more tiny wildflowers already blooming among the dried grasses, moss and lichen at our feet.     Skirting the rim, we took in vistas of Mt. McLoughlin, the Rogue Valley and the Cascade and Siskiyou mountains, while closer at hand we marveled at the 200-foot-high monoliths and curiously formed rock formations.   Our guests fully enjoyed our afternoon in the sun, glad to be able to stretch their legs and breathe the fresh air after their travels. That kind of activity is beneficial to both leisure and business travelers (perhaps especially the latter). Fortunately, most great cities provide opportunities to get out and move, whether it be along a waterfront, among historic sites or in open parks. Think The High Line or Central Park in New York City; Mont Royal in Montréal; Stanley Park in Vancouver, B.C.; or Forest Park in Portland, Ore. These and many more around the world allow one to get out, blow out the mind’s cobwebs and enjoy a different perspective of the urban landscape. — Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor