April 30, 2011 NW Hiking weekend in Grand Coulee continues .. today's walks being showcased are Northrup Canyon State Park. (Walk 1) Old Stagecoach Road/Ridge Walk - Walk on an old stagecoach road which ascends the south wall of Northrup Canyon up to its summit above the valley floor. The trail then traverses the rim of the plateau offering spectacular views of the valley, Steamboat Rock and Banks lake. Wild flowers and birds made their presence know. (Walk 2) Northrup Canyon - Walk on dirt/gravel road and trails inside the picturesque valley floor of Northrup Canyon. Passing pockets of trees and fields to the old homesteadt. (We couldn't get all of the pictures into the slide but just click here to see the rest of the pictures.)
What a great day for a walk and it's only going to get better as the week goes on. Dick met us right away with news that one of our own, Ed Hainline, is in the hospital. He was having a hard time with shortness of breadth while marking the trail yesterday (I always new marking trails could be harmful to your health!) We will keep you updated as soon as we find out anything more. Also, Anila ad Nare have been spending quite a bit of time up at OHSU with their son this week, but he is also on the mend.
Mike decided to take the corvette to the walk today, so we all took turns having so Sandra drove with him to the meeting place, where Mary Ann took over to the walk and then Mary rode with him on the way home. They loved it! Before we left we met up with one of the gals from the 10k group who gave us a heads up on Casa de Tamales located on the corner of Main and Scott. OMG, that place rocked. It will be the designated restaurant when we do a walk in Milwaukee. Now, we can't wait to do their Art Walk in July, that place was fabulous.
The sun came out and you know what that means....so did the walkers! About 240 walkers enjoyed a beautiful walk that was marked so well all you had to do was follow the arrows & ribbons. Around every corner were smiles and "HI's". We all seemed to stop by Killer Dave's bread store & Bob's Red was kept busy too! Milwaukee has so much to offer and these two loop walks show cased it all.--Starr
April 29, 2011 There was a Merrywalker on site to take pictures (Angela Manley, who brought her mother to participate in the walks too). There were lots of walkers doing the 4 different walks that were available. The walk being showcased for today .. Steamboat State Park – The trail ascends Steamboat Rock (a prominent butte in the middle of the Grand Coulee) to the summit of the plateau 750 feet above the valley floor and Banks Lake. There are 2 herds of deer living on the plateau, and from the top you can see over 100 miles. Dinner with the 4+ Foulhardy's Club (who are sponsoring the walks) was at the Lapresa Mexican Restaurant in Grand Coulee, Wa. The food and conversation was great. We look forward to tomorrow's walks and who we may see on the trail.--Angela (if you want to see more pictures click here)
Twenty four Merrywalkers and their closest friends enjoyed celebrating the royal wedding in style at the Lavender Tea House. I was given a tiara and a bouquet of roses for being the Queen of the Merrywalkers (I guess), but it was great fun. Not only did we celebrate in style, but the press covered the event as well. Starla, a reporter from McMinnville came and took pictures, and then all of a sudden, we were being interviewed by Fox 12 and Channel 8 for their 5 p.m. slot and Channel 8 on their 6 o'clock news. We were lucky to have two Brits with us, both named Victoria (and I would imagine they were both named after their queen!), but everyone had fun, so watch us on the news tonight!
Well, another 3~W walk from the 4-D group...A special "Thanks" to Joe & Karyn Kelly for a great walk. We had a "WOW on Wednesday Walk! The sun was shinning, a big group showed up, almost 30 and we were off! The smiles made the miles fly by and the pace was set. We were greeted by flowers, wonderful huge manicured homes, parks and OH, a couple of Hills! It was a really nice walk and all the chatter & happy people made it a great walk.--Starr
Unfortunately eight of us Merrywalkers had to stay closer to home today because of appointments or meetings, but we did get a walk in. We met at Cook Park at 9:30 and finished by 11 and then headed to Fat Milo's for lunch/breakfast. Since we were at the dog park, our 4-legged friends had a ball running around.
It was one of those days that you thought "forget it, I'll just go for coffee." One of the lucky things about being president, I always want to show up, just in case someone wants to walk. By the time I got close to making the turn into the Refuge, the sky opened up and it was beautiful. I would have to say even more than beautiful, almost magical with the sun bouncing off of the foliage and the shadows making the drops of rain just glitter. It was of those very pretty days that if you are lucky, you just happened to be there.
10K- Ahhhh, spring weather in Oregon always brings out the best things in life. Friends, fitness & flowers! What a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours. The walkers were ready for a walk today and what a beautiful one it was. Flower's and trees in bloom, Crystal Springs fountains with all the water fowl and the weather was just perfect. It's so good to be home!!! Thank you again Dick for a spectacular spring walk! --Starr
5k-We had all Merrywalkers on the 5k, except for Rita and Larry (but one day we will win them over!). This is one of our favorite walks except now we have to go back the Tuesday after Mother's Day to see everything in bloom. As soon as we arrived we saw the real "Angry Birds". This male duck was so mad at the other two male ducks he took off after them, bitting them, and at one point he bit the feathers on the other duck's back and wouldn't let go. Talk about some angry birds! But we did see some big friendly coys (though Mary Ann thought they were carp) and we just enjoyed meandering through their trails. We decided to take the same way back to see if we could shorten the walk, but as usually we probably ended up doing closer to a 7 or 8k, than the 6k, so much for shortcuts. We had a lot of options for lunch: a Mexican restaurant, Jade, and then the three of us that drove, decided on Grand Central Bread where we had the best, and I mean best, Cubano sandwich and cup of tomato soup. It had think slices of pork and ham, cheese, spicy peppers all melted on their delicious bread. The tomato soup was so thick you almost needed to cut it. As you can see, we really loved it.
Starr always takes such wonderful pictures of the walks. She sees what most people miss on that walk so it makes the pictures even more beautiful. The pictures can be found by clicking Victoria. Day one...on the COHO ferry, finding friends, first walk out of the YWCA through Beacon Hill, Craigdarroch , views, vistas, parks...21K Saturday Festival Group Walk Through old Esquimalt, into Kinsmen George Park, G.R. Pearkes Arena (hockey)...big thing in Canda... Colquitz Creek, pedestrian underpass cross Patricia Bay highway...by Swan Lake Nature sancturay...Lochside Trail in Downtown and by the Galloping Goose Regional Trail...Westsong Walkway...very nice walk.Ended with the Meet & Greet at the Archie Browning Sports CentreFirst 10 pictures are still Saturday...ending with Kathleen winning a door prize, crystal wine decanter, at the dinner Sat. night. Then on Sunday we did the Group President's Walk put on by the Victoria Volkssport, VABC group. Went through the West Bay walkway, by Spinnakers Brew Pub, Johnson Street bridge...blue bridge...through centennial Square through China town and back. The Esquimalt Curling Club was out in full force on the water...nice! Then on to the COHO ferry & home.
It was beautiful out there with the sun and all of the birds. We heard a woodpecker, saw egrets and listened to the song birds. The currant bush was a nice eating area for the hummingbirds this morning, so it was one of those very very nice days and you were just glad to be there.
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