July 4, 2018
It was a perfect balmy evening after a warm summer day when we met at the Capitol. We headed across 12th into the Chemeketa Historic District and walked up and down those streets with their fabulous old homes. Then we headed over by North High School and studied the wonderful nature mural on the side of the Straub Environmental Center. Afterwards we walked to Waldo Park and reflected on the war memorials there. We finished up by walking through downtown and on to the Willamette campus. We spent some time in the Martha Springer Garden where there were a mixed group of nutria and mallard ducks hanging out on the edge of the Mill Race. A casual theme of this hike was to explore as many of the bridges over Mill Creek and the Mill Race as possible. Along the way we enjoyed the patriotic decorations that were on a lot of the houses and saw many sidewalk barbecue parties and small fireworks displays. Participants were Barbara Dolan, Sylvia Dawson, Jane Maute, Susan Arbor, Diane Schoenrock, Marcia Hoak, Lin Crimshaw, Pam Wasson and leader Carol Soderberg.