The owl was still hiding out in his same tree today.  We saw some geese, but that was it for today.  We did head over for our usual coffee and Mike said there is word that our coffee shop might be closing at the end of the month.  SAY IT ISN'T SO.  WHAT WILL WE DO WITHOUT MARY!

We 19 walkers on a very chilly walk today.  The 10k walkers took off with Dick Baker and did the Summerfield  YRE while the 5k walkers drove to Cook Park and did a 5k in and around all of the trails in Cook and then over to Durham where we did those trails as well.  It was cold, but it was nice.  Jane2 brought her friend from Portland with her, Madeline, and they were both happy to do walks in the park and not a city walk.  
At lunch we divided the group.  All of the people who wanted to have MSG in their lunch, went to Pacific Breeze.  The rest of the us (22), headed over for a Christmas Tea at the Lavender Tea House.  I can't believe we didn't get a picture of the desserts.  What a fabulous lunch.  Linda said we should do it at least 4 times a year, starting with Valentine's Day!  
A lot of awards were given out today, including one for me.  Ed gave me an award from the AVA for 5 years of Service.  I hate being the recipient of those things, it's sooo embarrassing.  At the Teahouse we gave out even more awards:  Three 15 year service awards were given to the following:  Barb Ness, Sharon Klein and Bonnie Mitchell.  A 5 yr. Service award was given to Angela Manley, and Starr also received an award for her work as a photographer/blogger for the Merrywalkers.  We also recognized the behind the scenes Merrywalkers:  Mary Ann (VP), Nare (Secretary), Mike (Treasurer), Lou Ann (Social Secretary and Box Monitor), Lynette (Membership Chair), Joyce Venjohn (Adopt-a-Road), Diane Adams (our very own Calendar Girl), Sandra Reid (Trail Master), Carolyn (Publicity and Box Monitor), and Kathy Enders and Mary Fribley as Box Monitors. Oh, and thanks to Jamie and all of her workers at the Lavender Tea House for giving us such a wonderful tea!
Have a great Thanksgiving!  

Joyce has been our "Adopt-a-Road Chair Person" and makes sure that we clean Edy Road at least four times a year.  Thank you and Happy Birthday!

Today we got there plenty early to start the walk.  We had a group of 7 of us, 3 did the 10k and the rest of us did the 5k.  Dick said we would miss the nicest part of the walk if we did the 5k, so Judy was nice enough to tell us where we could park so we could walk on the beautiful trails and see the beautiful homes.  I'm so glad we did that.  All of us really enjoyed our walk through the trails in Happy Valley and we couldn't believe the prices on some of these homes.  One was spectacular, with a view and I think the price was about $280.  Holy cow.  Judy said we would be doing a lot of hills, but no one minded it because we were able to see the best of the best, so it definitely made the trip well worth it.
After, our little group headed over to Bob's Red Mill for lunch and shopping,
Next week the walk will be right here in Tigard, Albertson's.  I think we will do another "best of the best" for the "slow" walkers and then after, we are going to head over to the Lavender Tea House for Tea and sandwiches.  I need to call them for a reservation, so, I already know of at least 10 that are going, so if you would like to come, please let me know.  I'll be calling the Tea House tomorrow to set up for at least 1 table of 10.

We have so many new members we are trying to put the names up there so the new ones can figure out all of the names and us old ones can remember the new ones!
They have started to reserve a table for us at the coffee shop, so now we are set on having a secure sitting area and we don't need to bump anyone out.  
I also picked up another blanket for our "Blanket Walk" which gives us 2 New Blankets, but we have a good 2 weeks to go, so  hopefully we can end up with a lot more.  So, remember those blankets, and if you can't make it to the walk you can drop them at my house, the Sherwood Pet Clinic or Crossroads Veterinary. Both will be collecting new and used blankets.

We knew we had to do the 11k on this one so we wouldn't miss anything, and we didn't.  It was beautiful going through Oaks Bottom Refuge and the park, right after the church is beautiful with the old lamppost. There is nothing like seeing all of those "craftsman homes" throughout Sellwood.  And there is nothing like a walk through Westmoreland Park.  By the end, we were so tired, but it was so well worth it.  We then headed over to the Mexican Restaurant where my fellow walkers had lunch downstairs, while I was up at the OTSVA meeting.  I missed Dick's talk on the mapping, but he said we are going to get a group walk going for every Saturday and Sunday in January, so that should be nice.  Everyone was talking about the new book, the 4M's, Mountains, Monuments, Museums and Murals, so now all of us have to get together and see what YRE can we get that stamp.  

Laurel was one of our newest walkers who joined us today.  She really had a great time with the 10k walkers, and told us "I was so happy they walk a 20 minute mile."  Andrea brought her dog, Zoey along, so we had our little "slow" group of Andrea, Barb, Sandra and Mary Ann and the 2 dogs.  I'm trying to figure out if the 10k walkers are doing a 20 minute mile, we are probably doing more like a 45 minute mile!  But, I have to remember, when the people that say you need to walk at least 3 times a week for a half an hour,  no one every says, you need to walk a 20 minute mile, they just say be out there, and we are!
Not much picture taking opportunities.  When I get so close to Moulton Falls I wonder why am I not walking there! 
We also opted out of Thai Food and we headed over to our favorite, Burgerville, and today we tried their new chicken with cranberries.  Not too bad, but not as good as their burger, but the sweet potato fries were great!

Not only was it bit, it was beautiful.  Barb made sure to tell us it wasn't edible, but our group only gets mushrooms from the store.  
Today we had another new person out with us, Leslie, so our group of Snails is growing by leaps and bounds.  In fact, we are trying to put names on our banner so the new ones, and the old ones, can try and get a handle on who is who!  And for those who wondered about the pair of rain pants that were left in Bill and Lou Ann's car at the Moulton Falls Walk, well we found the owner.  BILL BRENNOCK.  We decided to mention it at the walk we didn't get anyone to claim the pants and Bill said "I wondered why I couldn

Today we headed out for the Bethany neighborhood right near PCC Rock Creek.  It was a nicer walk than last time, we didn't have many busy streets.  Again we opted only for the 5k, but during one portion, we ran into a lot of the 10k walkers going past us, hence we were able to grab a few photos.  today I'm missing my other photographer, Starr, who is out on a hunting trip with her husband.  
So we don't have any pictures from Vancouver, but we did try and capture as many as we could while we were out there.
After the walk, the Merrywalkers headed over to Helvatia Tavern.  God, that burger really hit the spot.  Sometimes you just crave exactly what you ordered, and that was today.  We shared a big plate of fries and onion rings as well.  We had Mary, Donna, Mary Ann, Sandra, Diane, Cheryl, Ruth and her friend - so there were quite a few of us out there.
If you get a little dizzy with the slide show, just go to the pictures tab and do it individually.  Being that's the newest thing on Weebly, I feel like a found a new toy!