Lost in Translation - Monday, August 10, 2020

Today, we headed to Auburn, Washington, to do the 10k White River and Parks Volksmarch. Our start point was Game Farm Park. It was easy to find where we were supposed to park our car, but we were lost by direction #3. I think we were on the right track until we got to a description in the directions that said, "LEFT TURN on path at the end of the soccer field (house on left, soccer field on right)." There was no house! That made us second-guess the first two instructions. We thought we had followed them correctly. There was a map on the back of the instructions, but it was not detailed enough to help us. 

We asked a local in the park to point us in the right direction to the street we needed, but he could not help us, neither could a woman getting into her car. 

There was a street nearby (Riverwalk Drive, the street we drove down toward the park on). This was not where we were supposed to be, but we punted and followed Riverside to R St. and took R St. to where it met back up with directions we COULD find. We wasted a lot of time in the park!

At the corner of Riverside Drive and R St., we found this beautiful sculpture called "Reflection."

"Reflection," steel sculpture
 by Abe Singer.

Once we were back on track, we did a good job of following the route. It was simple enough to go out and back on Loop 1 along the White River Trail, although we did have a question about part of those directions as well. After some exploration, we were able to figure out which trail we needed to be on the second time we came to the intersection.

The White River has this color because of glacial flour,
silt carried downriver from the glaciers on Mt. Rainier.

Here are other impressions of our walk today with commentary as needed.

Rapids on the White River.

White River.

Plant ID: noxious weeds.

Plant ID: Native plants.

Warning posted along the White River.

A nice, wide trail.

The walk goes through a disk golf course.
Today, about six guys and
one dog were on the course.

We did a short walk on a horse trail
(which was very clean, by the way).

Loop 2: This section of the walk went the opposite direction along the White River. There were a lot of trees on the first (and last) part of this loop, but they gave way to more sun when we reached the dog park. This is Roegner Park. (You see the sign for it when you cross the road to Mill Pond Park.)

Artwork in Roegner Park.

Southern Lushootseed language (Native American).

Another view of the sculpture.

White River with cool shadows in the sand on the bank.

At this point, we crossed Oravetz Rd. to Mill Pond Park. It's a lovely little park with a pond and a fishing deck. A family was there and the kids were excited about the fish they were catching!

A young family fishing from the pier at the pond.

 A small, aerating fountain
in the middle of the pond.

There was a picnic table across the
bridge and we took a short rest there.

From Mill Pond Park, we quickly headed back to Game Farm Park. We went back into the park the way we SHOULD have exited it at the beginning (but instead got lost.) 

As we were going back into the park, we saw this awesome car parked in front of a home! As soon as I started taking pictures of it, the owner came out to see what we were up to. He built this car to show. He told us all kinds of stats about it, but I'm not a big car buff, so I don't remember all the details. He said he has won five gold ribbons in car shows. He's really proud. It is quite unique!!

One-of-a-kind!

What a beauty. It has all kinds of bells and whistles.
(It's probably gotten a few whistles as it goes by, too!)

We found our way back to Diane's car. When we returned to the car, we puzzled over the first few directions again. However, we never quite figured out the directions that got lost in translation. 

After the walk, we went to Dairy Queen for lunch. The dining room wasn't open so we picnicked in the car.

Thank you to the Over-the-Hill-Gang Volkssport Club. That's all she wrote!