Trip Report
We started off in a slight drizzle, but everyone had prepared for a rainy day so we took it all in stride. Our first stop was the Albany City Park along the Willamette River where we had our usual goodies and coffee. We arrived at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm about 10:30 and stopped first at the gift shop where everyone scattered - but most looked around the well-stocked gift shop and other shops selling tulip bouquets and bulbs. The Tulip Festival was under way and there were many buses and people and several tents with crafts. Most of our group walked out to the fields and our bus drove the rest of us. The fields of tulips were very colorful and everyone was taking pictures. It was not raining but windy. There were large planters everywhere with different varieties of blooming tulips and tents where bouquets, bulbs and other plants were being sold. We left about 11:30 with everyone taking away something.
We arrived at the Upper North and Lower North Falls parking lot and it was raining hard. Most of our group hiked to the Upper North Falls, a distance of about one-third mile. We found a covered area to eat lunch and then left for Silverton. Arrangements had been made by Ethel Allen’s daughter; Bonnie McKee, to park the bus and have a tour of the murals by Vince Till, Silverton’s first citizen of 2000. He gave us some history and then we had a walking tour to view the murals around town, most of which depict historical events in and around Silverton. We left around 3:00 and stopped at the Oregon Gardens, a short distance out of town on the Stayton Hwy. There is lots of construction and the area is very well planned to be completed in 2001. Most of the work is being done by volunteers and there is really not much to see yet. The restaurant is completed and was hosting a group of 600 the next night. We returned home around 5:00. Thanks to our driver, Don Moorhead and to Ethel Allen and Rosella Jones.
Undaunted by the rain were Ewart & Margaret Baldwin, Helen Barnard, Betty & Lloyd Bissell, Dorothy Blumm, Marian Borchardt, Mary Bridgeman, Ingrid Carmichael, Mary Lee Cheadle, Doral & Rose Mary Etter, Margaret Fea, Henrietta Gimmel, Dora Harris, Evelyn Hile, Yuan Hopkins, Tilde Jensen, Rosella Jones, Virginia Kapsa, Helen Knowlton, Dodie Leppman, John & Lenore McManigal, Cleora Mersdorf, Barbara & Walt Miller, Joyce Mixer, Evelyn Morse, Frances Newsom, Virginia Prouty, Liz Reanier, Edna Robertson, Rose Rosner, Barbara Shoemaker, Dick & Janet Speelman, Cristy White and leaders Bette Hack & Ethel Allen.
