Rainy Wordless Wednesday

Linking today with:
Nanny to Mommy

Wordless Wednesday - Tree

 Sorry about the words . . . but . . . I am so thrilled to have my new camera!  Simple walks can produce such beauty!

Friday Fence Post #5

I've been participating in the Friday Fence Post fun that is put on my Anitra of Coffee Pot People.  I haven't put the link here before, but you really need to go to her blog and see all the other fence posts!  Some creative stuff!  Andy maybe you would like to participate on Friday's once in a while!   

Here's mine for today!  I love the tree on the other side of the fence! 

Destination? On an Afternoon Stroll?

[Fourth and final installment]

Destination? On an afternoon stroll? We weren't heading for any destination, just passing the time on a blustery day. I guess the end of the path is a destination. What was at the end of the path, you say?


Well, the path ended at another parking area. A circle area to turn your car around adjacent to a concrete pumping station and an abandoned steel bridge above the river. Exploring the bridge, we found it to be, mostly probably, an old rail crossing. The railroad ties were no longer in place, but it wasn't wide enough for cars to pass. If we made an 180 degree turn from the bridge, we looked back down the main street of Gladstone, a sleepy little Portland suburb. This street, called Portland Avenue, if I'm not mistaken, has a rail car track of a bygone era down the middle of it.

Back at the bridge, high above the Clackamas River, the painted green steel was an interesting but cold and stark deviation from the lovely Autumn scene we had been experiencing. We decided not to scramble down a well trodden rut to the river. We really didn't have the energy to try to get back up the hill. Besides, this was a leisurely stroll, not a strenuous hike! So, we spent a little time picking up seed pods from the trees; throwing them up in the air and watching them flutter down like helicopters. I felt like a kid again! As we tired of the pitching and fluttering, we turned around and headed back to the car, retracing our steps and taking one last look at the little park, the river and the autumn color. The end to a perfect stroll!

Once Upon an Afternoon Stroll

This afternoon, after my near meltdown, my husband took me on a walk by the river. The path was on the bluff above the river. And believe me, He didn't want to give me a push and I didn't want to jump! (a little humor :) Anyway, it was a crisp blustery autumn day. We watched the river from a path-side bench, spying out the deeper channel courses and the sandy bars. We made an imaginary route of how we would cross the river, if we had to, like the pioneers of old. We noticed the rock formations, some water smoothed granite boulders and oddly enough, a side bar of what looked like sandstone! From my geology class days, these two seemed an unlikely duo for a river bed.

We enjoyed all the foliage in various stages of fall decay and color. We had a good time identifying trees, i.e. maples, oaks, evergreens, dogwood, sycamore and a few we couldn't identify. Suffice it to say, it was a wonderful afternoon, and it averted what would have been a lousy afternoon. My husband is really pretty savvy about how to deal with his out of sorts wife! It was a great date!