Sunset, Kailua-Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii, March 11, 2024

Sunset, Kailua-Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii, March 11, 2024
Sunset, Kailua-Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii, March 11, 2024

Thursday, June 18, 2015

They Had Us Going in Circles - Tues., June 16

Vancouver, Washington was our destination today. Susan and Darren met me at the Pearson Airfield where we checked in for our 10k (6.2 miles) Volksmarch.

International Volkssport banner at the Vancouver start point.
Starting point line at 8 a.m.
Line for two single bathrooms.
Soon after leaving Pearson Airfield we began learning about Vancouver's history. A plaque commemorates General U.S. Grant being stationed at Columbia Barracks, Vancouver, Washington, in 1853.

Pearson Airfield is very historic, going back almost to the origins of mechanized flight. See the full history in the photo below.


We walked around Pearson Airfield, along the Columbia River, and past Ft. Vancouver. It was at Ft. Vancouver that I finally bought my National Park Senior Pass for $10. Woo hoo!

Pearson Airfield
Bronze statue of Princess Ilchee
created by Eric Jensen in 1994
Calla lilies
Part of Ft. Vancouver
Ft. Vancouver

These flowers are in the garden outside Ft. Vancouver. Ft. Vancouver, under the auspices of the Hudson Bay Company, once governed the West from Baja Mexico to Hawaii to Alaska. How's that for a lot of territory?

Hollyhocks
Darren and Susan M.
Darren, Air Force officer, retired, and aviator
The walk today consisted of two 5k "circles." We are completing the River Walk portion. Our next 5k "circle" is the Town Walk portion.

A home I fell in love with!

The next two photos are the home of Brigadier General George C. Marshall and his wife Katherine, who lived here from 1936 to 1938. At that time, he was in command of the Third Division's Fifth Brigade and directed the region's Civilian Conservation Corps camps. He went on to serve as Army Chief of Staff during World War II, then as Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State. He also served as head of the American Red Cross. In 1953, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to reconstruct postwar Europe under the Marshall Plan.
The Marshall House
The Marshall House
The Grant House below: When the U.S. Army arrived at Ft. Vancouver in May of 1849, they built nine log cabins for shelter during the upcoming winter. This is the only remaining structure built during the initial years of Army occupation at Fort Vancouver. The Grant House was never the residence of Ulysses S. Grant, although Grant did serve as a quartermaster from 1852-1853 at Ft. Vancouver.

The Grant House
Marshall Community Park
Colorful mural in Uptown Village, Vancouver, WA
Wacky McWiener food truck
Pearson Airfield mural downtown
A wall of small potted plants
The beautiful "Academy" building below brought back memories. We attended a wedding there years ago.
The Academy
Me being goofy
Our two 5k loops were just about over. Lunch loomed large in our minds. After we had our Volksmarch books stamped, we went to McMenamin's Pub on the Columbia River. Our lunches were okay. Susan and I had salmon, Yukon Gold mashed potatoes and "seasonal vegetables" which turned out to be brussels sprouts. Darren had a veggie patty sandwich. The best part of the meal was the Yukon Gold mashed potatoes. Oh well. We had a beautiful view of the river from our table (which I forgot to take a picture of).

You can see the Columbia River through the end of the arbor.
Susan's hobby is making stained glass windows and she set up a tour of a glass factory for us. We drove 15 minutes to Uroboros Glass.

Display of different types and colors of art glass
 The top of the lamp below is made with Uroboros Glass.


Stained glass art hanging in office
Textured glass
Quality control station - looking for imperfections.
Awesome dragonfly stained glass wall
Uroboros is adding this retail space
How ingredients for glass are combined
Flits: crushed glass to add color when
molten glass is in the oven
Part of their glass inventory
My favorite piece of art glass in the factory
This tour was about 20 minutes long, but it was so interesting! I couldn't take photos in the kiln area where they melted the glass, then shaped it. Once the glass was taken out of the oven, it was put with another color, then plopped on a table where they quickly folded the cooled outside portion into the middle, and ran the whole thing through a wringer-like device so that a flat piece of glass came out. It was then immediately put in an oven.

The tour was over, but Susan and Darren were going to stay to choose glass for Susan's next stained glass art project. I was in my rental car and headed back to Mom's where I took a 1/2 hour nap.

At 4:45 p.m., Kimmie and Doreen, two of Mom's friends came over for dinner. Kimmie brought egg rolls and a rice noodle/vegetable/tofu dish. The weather was awesome and we ate dinner on Mom's back deck.

Doreen, Mom, Kimmie on Mom's patio
Me, Doreen, Mom, and the golf course
While we ate, we were entertained by hummingbirds at the feeder, a flicker in a pine tree, a goldfinch, and starlings bathing in the bird bath.



The temperature was 78 degrees, but very pleasant in the shade of her patio with a slight breeze blowing. After our meal, dessert was strawberry shortcake. Oh so good!

Quite a day today. Tomorrow, Eugene, Oregon.

4 comments:

  1. Catching up on blogs brings back so many good memories. You are catching up and so an I on reading them. We hope to be on the road sooooon, to see family. I've been in a rut, and reading all the blogs is like we are traveling with you. Vicariously, as some of our friends say about our blog. It is great to read other peoples views of some of the places we have been to. And some new places to look forward to.

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  2. I am amazed at how much you see an learn on your "marches". Love the Marshall house. It's really beautiful. And so is your mother's patio with all the birds.

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  3. Not a very flattering face on the Sacajawea monument, you'd thing the artist would have done better. :c(

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    1. CORRECTION: Not Sacagawea as originally posted. This sculpture is a bronze statue of Princess Ilchee created by Eric Jensen in 1994.

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