Walk #13

Walks number 13, 14 and 15 all happened on one long day.  Davan and I knew this was coming.  Having looked at everything we needed to fit in, we realized that if we didn't do three walks on Saturday, we would be sunk as far as completing our challenge.

It made the most sense to do three walks that were all out in the western suburbs that day.  It was a 16 mile day.  Anthony was able to join us.  Poor guy.  He'd wanted to go with us before, but it hadn't worked out.  The day he was able to - bam - 16 miles and no real choice for an early out because we were out in the burbs.  Really, though, he knew what he was getting into, although you wouldn't have known it if you didn't know his complaining as the day went on was all in good fun.

We headed out Saturday morning, not as early as we maybe should have.  For one, I had to unload the camera before we went and it took forever.  I guess I should have done it the night before.  But, off we went for the longest drive to a start of a walk.

Walk #13 was in Forrest Grove and was about 4.5 miles long.  We liked this one pretty well.  It started and ended on the campus of Pacific College.

We walked through the neighborhood near the college.

And then through a small commercial district.  We stopped in a coffee shop, where they let Ranger come in as long as she didn't go through the arch to where the counter was.  Anthony had had a little too much coffee before leaving home and needed a pit stop.

We decided we should buy something rather than just use the restroom.  We each got a bagel.  Davan, of course, would never pass up a bagel.

We found - surprise, surprise - a playground.

Forest Grove has a fair amount of history and older homes.  For a while, it was a major stop on a train line that later moved into Portland.  While it was the major train stop town, though, it had a big boom in commerce and a lot of houses were built.

Someone had this old gas pump in their yard.  It was pretty cool looking.

The view into the flood plane for...hmm...I can't remember and we've had to take the book back to the library, but for a nearby creek.

The far point on the loop (and we had to do an out and back, dashing across a busy road, to get there) was a Sake factory.  This is odd to say the least because it's out in the middle of a small Oregon town.  There are only a handful of Sake factories in the US period and this is the only one that is American owned.  It was a complete surprise to us to find it there, as we made a point not to read ahead in the book.

Anthony was disappointed that, because we were there in the morning, the tasting room wasn't open.  He's been wanting to try sake ever sense, but is a bit deterred by how expensive it is.

Davan, trying on a leaf mask.

After visiting the Sake factory, we decided that the roasted seaweed snack I'd packed would be a good tie in.

I don't know if you can tell just how tall those two trees are in the background, but they are huge cedar trees.

We stopped at another park, but Davan was done with her quick swing before I got to her with the camera.  The playground was pretty busy, so she didn't linger.

This one tree had three squirrel feeders.  When we first approached, there was a squirrel at each one.

Back at Pacific College, the author drew our attention to this rock.  It was placed here in tribute to the women of the Oregon Trail.  She had a few choice words to say about this being an appropriate monument for those women.  I'll let you decided for yourself.

Also on the campus, at the very tail end of the walk, we came to this labyrinth.  It was really interesting.  I've always wanted to walk a labyrinth but it's just not happened.  I do have to say that I've never tried hard to seek one out, I've just been intrigued by the idea.  It was cool to come across this one, which was pointed out in the book.

We all walked it...

until Ranger got too confused by all the back and forths and we asked her to just sit and wait for us.  She thought the whole thing was a little odd.

I would have liked to take my time a bit, but we did have two more walks, each 6+ miles to do that day.  Davan finally broke into a run to finish quickly.  Anthony finished at a bit more sedate pace and then I did, even a bit more sedately, but without the lingering I'd have liked to have done.

Davan and Ranger meeting up in the middle.

After the labyrinth, we walked the block back to the car and piled in to drive to our next walk of the day.