Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Monday, May 13th - Downtown Milwaukie and riverfront


We started out directly across from City Hall, in a three-part parking lot that was reserved for city employees on one side and somebody else on the other. The center section didn't have any other cars in it but didn't seem to have any posted restrictions (that pertained to us, anyway), so we took a risk and parked there. We headed up Harrison past the big construction site where they're putting in the newest branch of the Max light rail system and hung a right on 28th. This is a cute area of mostly older homes, and we had a great time dissecting the pros and cons of each. (Symmetrical is nice, but so is asymmetrical if it's done right, doors should be in front, not at the side of a bump-out entryway, planted yards are nice but grass is a lot easier to take care of...that sort of thing.)

Two blocks over and we headed back down toward McLoughlin Blvd, the main road that bypasses the downtown area. Back across another set of railroad tracks, also under construction, then we had to wait for the looooong light at McLoughlin. Across the road is a lot where they keep all of the gravel for the construction project and a water treatment plant. Neither looked like the path we were supposed to take so we continued along the path that looked like the one we were supposed to take, but wasn't. Fortunately my complete lack of navigating skills have made us pretty adept at improvising and we went through a (less charming) residential neighborhood and picked up the path, making this a loop walk instead of an out-and-back.

On the way back we came across a gaggle of canada geese with a whole bunch of fluffy little youngsters. So cute! The lady walking her dog in the opposite direction agreed they were cute, but noted that soon they'd be contributing to the rather large amount of goose poop in the park. Focus on the present and enjoy the moment, random lady!

It turned out that we were supposed to have taken the road past the water treatment plant that looked like a driveway to connect to the path. Oh, well. After that it was just another looong wait for the light and a quick jaunt back to the car. According to the book it's 2.4 miles, which seemed like quite a reasonable distance when we first started. We're getting a lot better, and I'm beginning to think we may actually survive the half marathon Shannon has talked us into this fall!

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