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.