Author: Daniel Van Rossen

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Hoyt Arboretum Walk

We knew it had a possibility of being a wet day so we decide to stay closer to home this time. We decide to do a walk around Hoyt Arboretum and Washington Park a place we had not ramble through in quit a while. Lori knew of a place we could park for free so we would not have to dash back to feed the meter. Once we got our raincoats on we were off.

We had wondered if there would be any Fall color and right off we found out there would be. We first head through the rose garden and then took the Mac trail up from the Elephant House to Hoyt Arboretum. It was great fun to be back on trails that I had done for fifteen years with the rambles. Only this time we were not doing it in the dark and we could stop and enjoy the beauty. After several hours of walking we were ready for lunch and headed off to Goose Hollow Inn that claims to make the best Rueben Sandwich in the world. Once again a fun outing.

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Vancouver Waterfront Walk

I needed to get out for a little exercise before a rain front was to arrive and I had not visited the Vancouver Waterfront in several months so that was the place to go. I have walked this area a number of times over several years now and it has been interesting to see that changes that have occurred. The Vancouver Waterfront Park area has gone through quit a transition and this time I found several new buildings under construction. My route was just over 6 miles and it took me a little over two hours to do.

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Durant at Red Ridge Farm

This time we were off for a visit to Durant’s to explore the property and have a tour of the Olive oil making process. This outing was planned by Lori as she had been to the place before. We got there early to give some time to explore before our official tour began. We parked by the wine sampling building and check it out first. From there the path goes through the garden plant section and on to the gift shop. We were to start our tour from the gift shop so we checked in early. We had some time to kill so we walked down to the lavender and flower garden and then returned for our tour.

It turned out that Lori, Jeanette, Sylvia and I were the only ones to show for the tour so we got a private tour. The feature part of the tour was the Olive oil processing area. We were a few weeks early this year to see the crush but it was quite so we could walk around the equipment. After the tour of the Olive oil processing we moved on to the sampling. After an explanation of what there was to sample we left to sample the olive oil and vinegar as much as we wanted. It was a fun time sampling and blending olive oil and vinegar to make different combination. The ladies found several the liked and made their purchases. Then it was off for lunch at Murryhill Taphouse.

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LL Stub Stewart State Park

This was not the hike we were hoping for. The forecast was for heavy rain coming in about 2 pm so we were planning on getting a quick exploratory hike in at Stub Stewart State Park before the heavy rain arrive. Well the the heavy rain arrive about four and half hours early. I for one was not prepared for hiking for hours in heavy rain. We went ahead with the gear we had hoping this was just a shower. Mushrooms were out in force with a large variety of them popping up. As the trail got muddier and slippery we decide not to follow the old climber’s mantra “it does not have to be fun to be fun” and turned around. We got in a little under 4 miles with a little over 500 elevation gain in two and quarter hours. After peeling off soaked rain gear we headed for lunch Helvetia Tavern. We decide this was a good shake down hike to test our rain gear and prepare the wet season ahead. I found my fifteen year old rain coat was not up for the season ahead.