Yesterday, upon the stair...

When I was a kid, my dad used to share goofy poems with us.  He had a great sense of humor, if you like corny.  One poem that I remember went:

Yesterday, upon the stair,
I saw a man who wasn't there.

He wasn't there again today,
Gee, I wish he'd go away.

Today upon the map I saw a bridge that was supposed to be there; a covered bridge, that is. I did quite a long study, in an effort to discover whether it was within walking distance. At last, I announced, "Let's take a walk up to that covered bridge I told you about."  I was sure I had it nailed.

We got the dogs into their harnesses and packed a backpack with useful hiking accessories.  I had mentioned to Jill that we could stop by the park office and inquire about the bridge, but she replied that since I had done all this research, there would certainly be a covered bridge to admire.









 This was actually taken last evening, but it shows the dogs are always ready to go.
      

 
Well, you guessed it: "It wasn't there again today. Gee, I wish it would go away!"  Nevertheless, we had a lovely hike from the park to the westernmost neighborhood of Westfir.  We crossed the Middle Fork of the Willamette River, then walked along the highway, which becomes North Fork Road. Eventually, after about a mile and a half, we came to the bridge I had located, only it wasn't a covered bridge; it was just a bridge.

We crossed over to a lovely little neighborhood of modest but mostly well-tended homes perched between the mountain and the North Fork of the Willamette River.  One of the nicer homes is for sale. It is 1888 square feet with two car garage, across the street from the river. The asking price is $139,000. So, if you ever wanted to live in a community of under 300 inhabitants, here's your chance.

 This is the view from the "uncovered" bridge.

On the way back, Jill said, "Oh, look! There's Sadie."

 

Here's a shot of the Middle Fork of the river.

Another shot of the river. Can you tell I like water?








We calculated that the walk to and from the bridge was a total of about 3 miles. The walk around the neighborhood was probably an additional 1/4 mile.  We haven't heard much from the girls this afternoon.  There is a lot of snoozing going on.