Am I proud of us, we did the whole 11k.  It took us the 5 hours, but it was great.  We all had snacks that we shared and we stopped and enjoyed the views in several spots, so none of us got over tired.  We saw a herd of deer and even the buck.  We took pictures, but they are hard to spot.  Judy and Tom camped in the park and met us up there about 10:30 a.m.  We finished around 3:30 and then we had to take a side trip into the new souvenir shop and the lodge to get a nice hot cup of coffee.  It rained right before we started the walk and then it stopped immediately when we started.  We finished and by the time we got to the car, it started to rain again.  Can you believe that?  Take a look at the pictures.  We were slow, but we did the whole walk and saw all 10 waterfalls and we all felt really good.  We ended up for dinner at the Creekside restaurant in Silverton.  The food was good and on the way back to the car we read the story about Bob the dog, who got lost in the Midwest and found his way back to Silverton.  They errected a neat doghouse in his memory and a statue.  We started out from Starbucks at 9:00 a.m. and we got back about 5 p.
 
 
We finally managed to see a blue bird this Monday and we also missed the rain.  It looked like we were going to get hit, but it was perfect out at the Refuge.  We had a good crowd as well: Sandra, the 2 Barbs, Sandi, Mary Ann, Hannie, Dave, Carolyn and myself, not too shabby.  After we headed over to the coffee shop and mulled around there for about an hour. Carolyn saw an otter, but we never did spot it.  We also had to say good bye to Sandi, who will be a snow-bird down at her son's place in California.  We'll miss her.  She may be able to get in one more walk before she leaves, but she will be missed.
 
 
Another perfect day in Paradise.  A group of us gathered at the coffee shop and headed up to Parrett Mountain to sweep the trail.  It was a great day for the views, a bit hazy, but still wonderful.  We told everyone to bring a lunch, but fortunately for all of us, Nari and Anila brought enough and fed us all!  Anila was so funny and said "if you would have told me, I would have made sandwiches for all of us."  Needless to say, they are now our newest members.  Poor Mike is having a hard time keeping up the membership list, in fact we might have to find someone to do it as a full time position!

 
 
Take note of the middle picture, Dick, managing to take a shot of the Wednesday Walkers with one hand.  He fell off a curb in Beaverton and broke his wrist in, not one place, BUT TWO!  He will be in surgery Thursday and we can only wish him well.  It was another fantastic day for walking, the sky was blue, weather in the 80s, the leaves turning, I guess it doesn't get any better than that.  See you next week at Silver Creek Falls, the #1 walking trail in Oregon, or is it #2, whatever, it is a walk filled with waterfalls, trees, and next week, volkswalkers.  See you there.
 
 
It was a beautiful fall day out at the Refuge today and it's going to be hard to see the rain come in, the weather has been beautiful.  We didn't see much in the way of wildlife, but we always have a good time catching up and going for coffee after.  Today we picked up 2 new Barbaras and one of them joined our group on the spot.  We are still meeting at 9 a.m. at the Refuge, but soon we will be heading over to the Woodhaven paths and starting at 10 a.m.  Always check the side of the home page for the time and location.  
 
Parrett Mountain 09/20/2009
 
It was a great walk and a special thanks goes out to all those who helped worked on it.  We had wonderful comments about the trails, markings, dots, views and of course there was those great stories!  What a week.  Now we can take a deep breadth and get ready for the Christmas Walk in Lake Oswego.  
Thanks to everyone who came and made it a success.  Enjoy the pictures.
 
 
What a beautiful day to be outside.  We started at the Refuge and the Snails lucked out.  We have a new member, Barbara, who works the trails at the Refuge, so now between her and Carolyn, the walks are even more interesting.  We didn't see much wildlife, but we did see a couple of herons out there.  We've missed seeing Ralph and Alice, the resident bullfrogs, and we haven't seen the eagles either.  But we did see the black and orange catepillers, and Barbara said the old wive's tail about them is, that "winter is on the way". Before we went up to Parrett Mountain, we stopped on Houston St. to see the huge hornet's nest.  Check out the picture, it is amazing.  After that Mary Ann and I headed up to Parrett Mountain to do the marking for the rest of the 5k and today we are headed up to finish. Mary Ann fixed us a picnic lunch and we had our break right on the picnic table in the middle of the woods.  Last night we headed over to the Y for our pre-meeting-walk and the meeting.  Again, we sat outside at the YMCA's picnic table.  
 
Dahlia Walk 09/13/2009
 
The walk sure did change from last year and they were beautiful changes.  
The flowers were just as beautiful as they are every year.  We met so many volkswalkers from all over, but most of you will have to leave comments so we can identify you!  But Leslie, Carolyn and I had a great time seeing all of the flowers, not just the dahlias.  Ah, Carolyn also spotted a BEARS banner hanging on someone's porch, so I had to come home and take a picture of my goose in her Bears outfit and put it right up against it.  GO BEARS!   
But of course, being Merrywalkers, we hit the produce farm on the way back before we hit the 5.  We ended up with the best tasting peaches ever.  We ended up with a box and we divided them up.  They were huge.  The we headed over to Famous Dave's for lunch where we caught up with Mary Ann and Mike.  Another great day.  Also, they had over 200 walkers both days!  
 
 
Carolyn, Bekki, Mary and I met Starr, Pam and Marge in Oregon City for the walk.  We stopped along the way to have our picture taken at the famous tree there.  After we sort of split up. The Oregon City Group went back and made pot pourrie while our group went shopping a bit at an art gallery and at Real Deals, then we headed over to Bob's Red Mill for lunch.  It was so beautiful sitting out there on their patio.  We tried going there on Monday, but they were closed, so it was nice to get back there today.
Tomorrow - Canby!
 
Welcome! 09/07/2009
 
We thought it would be pretty muddy out there, but it was very nice.  A bit cool, which made it great for walking.  It was nice to have Helen and Kathy join us today and we even had a new person today from King City, Honnie.  I'm not sure if I spelled her name correctly, but we all had a nice time and went for coffee afterwords.  Then Mary Ann and I took off to do some of the 10k at Parrett Mountain.  It should be beautiful up there and Mary Ann is doing her best to make a gorgeous 10k walk.  We decided it might have to be rated a 4 because of the steep declines and inclines and especially with the natural trails.  We're going to start asking walkers to wear hiking boots,  protection for their legs against poison oak and walking sticks.