It's always fun when we get visitors to do our walk, and today we had Julia, Sally, Leroy and Judy from the Salem area and Tom from Eugene, plus Ed, Vickie and Dar.  At the end we met up with Barb and Rini from Salem.  But the Merrywalkers and their dogs were definitely there to greet them: Bekki, Mary, Mary Ann, Andrea, Linda and myself.  It's always nice when you have a chance to meet up with other walkers.  We haven't done that walk in a long time, and is it a nice walk to do in the warm weather.  Most of it is shaded, and there are only a few spots where it gets pretty sunny.  We did talk about our upcoming adventure to Centralia and we invited the walkers to go with us.  For anyone else who would like to join us, it's July 18th (the Wednesday walking group) we will be taking the 7:24 a.m. train from Oregon City up to Centralia and returning that afternoon on the 4 p.m. train.  The walkers from Washington will meet us there and they have prepared a great 5 and 10k that goes right from the train station.  They said they would be joining us for lunch at McMinimins, but we may try out the Mexican fare that was written up in Sunset Magazine this month.  So check out those train schedules and get your tickets soon.  They have a 15% discount for seniors and 10% discount for others.  If you need more information, just write to us.  And thanks for visiting us!

It started off sunny and warm and we all had a chance to sing Happy Birthday to Dick.  Although it's not until Friday, we did it anyway!  And for everything Dick has done, we gave him a honorary membership to the Merrywalkers, now he only has to pay the $2 fee.  Eight Merrywalkers were there today, plus quite a few people we hadn't seen in awhile, which is always fun. During the walk we were able to do a little tasting of the different cherries out there (it must have been an orchard) because we were able to have bing, Ranier and pie (yukky), but what an abundance.  Then we were able to have lunch with everyone at Farra's Bistro.  They had everything set up for us in their bar, but if you decided to do this walk, sit outside.  It is gorgeous out there.  Shady and beautiful baskets of flowers and they food is good (we shared the salmon sandwich special which was excellent).  We wondered if anything was planned for this weekend, but I guess we just need to concentrate on getting out those red-white and blue t-shirts and do the traditional walk at the Fort.  Dick is planning a Group Walk starting at 9:30 and lunch after at the local pizza place.  Hummmmm, red-white-blue, a stroll through history with a of people you know followed by pizza...I guess it is something we just can't miss! So start working on those carpools.  Event information

As soon as we took our group shot, Dave showed us the nest of baby birds right by the entrance to the bathrooms.  They were so cute.  I guess there are for babies, but we only got the picture of one.  We decided to head out the same way as the 5k walkers, but we did that path through the middle of the refuge.  We saw a lot of red wing blackbirds, a few blue herons, the eagle, and a flash of a egret.  The guides at the center said they hang out in the back of the Refuge, right by Roy Rogers.  It was a bit cool, but a perfect day to take that trail.  There isn't any shade, so the clouds feel good.  

It always hard to get the walkers out on a Sunday, but the Sunday Parkways is such a great walk, they still had over a 100 walkers.  It seems every place you go you see Kaiser, whether it is watching the videos (and you can see our own Karen Kelly and many of our other walkers in one of them) or watching the Weight of the Nation on HBO.  Portland a Walkable City What a great friend they are to us walkers!  
Just in our carpool we had 9 Merrywalkers, including Mary, who went on her first walk with our group, and of course, we had 4 dogs with us as well.  We missed Larry and Rita who showed up later, but we did get to see Starr before she headed out to help sweep the trails.  We saw a few plants that we didn't know their names, so if anyone can help us on that, we'd appreciate it.  We also were introduced to a new section of Portland, the Arbor Lodge neighborhood.  We've walked there before, but just never knew the name.  We saw great gardens in the parkways, but zuchinni plants, artichokes and leeks on steroids.  One house had the coolest dining area for squirrels where they could stop for a lunch or snack and just hop right on to the electrical wires for their exercise.  The Rose Garden is always beautiful and it is fun just walking from park to park.  Dick said we missed the Big Band playing those great songs from the past, but that might have been the only thing we missed.
After, since it felt like the thing to do on a summer day, 5 of us headed out to Helvatia for our summer fix of burgers, fries and onion rings. A great way to end the day.

This is a bit late in putting it up, but the walk was good this week.  Lou Ann took us down the path that runs right through the middle, so we bypassed the overlook today.  We ended up seeing so much more wildlife this way and we got better views of the eagles and their nests.  Lou Ann is trying to figure out how to get a camer

Cascade Locks to the Overlook was on the agenda for our last day out at the Event.  You think "I can't go out there and do those walks", but there were so many walks that were just perfect for anyone.  You could walk a straight up a mountain or relax along the easy trails that took you by some wonderful waterfalls.  We met so many people from all over, but there is no way we could remember their names but we will remember the smiles and their tales of the walks that they did.  Ed sent me a total and as of Saturday the total number of walkers that checked in were 586, and if you would like to contribute some of your pictures, just send them to us.  I'll create an album on the website where you can see all of the pictures and download whichever ones you would like.
What a wonderful weekend.

Mary Ann Brown headed out with Ed Hainline's nephew for Dog Mountain.  She said when she gets back she will e-mail me her pictures and a blog, but she did it!
We met so many walkers on the trails, but I need to take a tablet and pencil to make sure I get their names.  Mary headed out with the 10k walkers, while Mary Ann, Milo and myself did that slow walk through Starvation Creek.  Sometimes you think you are just too old or just not in that shape, but there are so many walks that everyone can do out here and it's right in our own back yard.  When we reached the beautiful picnic area with the waterfalls, Milo took a dip in the creek and then he actually found a "letter box".  We had never seen it before and after wrestling it out of his mouth, we made sure we left a note saying "The Merrywalkers were here".  Then Mary Ann tucked it all back into the hole in the tree, so the next time you are out there, see if you can find it.
After the walk we headed back for the famous CRVC hotdogs and visiting before heading back for a nap, and then it was dinner at the Charburger with Mary Ann Brown and we also ran into Judy Koonce and her friend's name that I just can't remember (we need to get that paper and pencil!)