BOOMER WALK IN COOK PARK

A boomer walk is like any walk.

Put on a pair of shoes and lay one foot after the other. Simple, right?

But since it’s a boomer thing, there’s more.

There’s always more. In this case . . .

In this case you strap on ankle supports, wrap knees, and tape up hammer toes.

From there it’s a shoe choice: Walking Store shoes, or REI shoes?

Could be a rain and mud adventure, so REI.

Every boomer walk is an adventure. That’s how we like it.

It’s either a walk with the adventurous spirit, or we’re some sour-pussed old fart on a death march prescribed by a doctor

It’s an exercise prescription of good medicine that goes down hard.

You’ve seen them.

They’re out in the leisure wear they bought for their latest Caribbean cruise vacation, trying not to sweat it out.

And big white New Balance shoes.

It’s a look, and they deserve credit for trying.

 

Boomer Walk Style

If you didn’t know me I could be mistaken for someone living under a bridge.

I think it’s the rainy element.

For protection and warmth I wear a long sleeve t-shirt, a vest, a zip-up hoodie, and a Columbia waterproof shell jacket.

I wear the hoodie so I don’t get cold and damp when the waterproof shell soaks through.

Add a pair of sweat pants, (Thanks Barry,) and water proof shell pants over them and I’m off.

Okay boomer, off to where?

Off to Cook Park.

Julia Tigard (Mrs. Curtis Tigard) served on the Washington County Park Committee and knew that Washington County did not have sufficient funds for the development of the 36-acre property as a park so she assisted John E. Cook in convincing the County Court that Tigard had the funds to develop a public park and that the 36-acre property should be deeded to Tigard. This was accomplished in the summer of 1962.

This park property was mainly wooded, but had some open space for future recreation.

John E. Cook remained active with fundraising to add new facilities and amenities to the new park through BBQ chicken roasts and sales, selling over a thousand pounds of BBQ chicken a year to a responsive community who wished the new park to succeed.

So successful were the efforts of John E. Cook in securing the original 36-acre deed to the property for the park, in fundraising for its development, and in securing public access that the Tigard City Council re-named the new park Cook Park in his honor.

 

Off to that Cook Park.

But instead of the usual route I found a new walkway over the wetlands.

It’s over my shoulder and in the top image.

Now everyone can get out into the middle of the vastness with all the other critters.

 

Why The Empty Space

This is the view from the new path.

What do you think? I think it’s a Tigard jewel.

No soccer fields, play grounds, volleyball courts, picnics shelters; no pathways in or out, just the new walk that hooks up to the regular paths that go along the far edge by the Tualatin River.

This is part of Cook Park set aside for nature. All of the other facilities are on the other side with parking lots and baseball diamonds.

No one is playing ball out here. The only game is a slow walk on the even surface while scoping the land for animal activities.

Who knows what’s out there at any particular time.

I know what’s not out there: snakes and gators. Thank you, Oregon.

After a contemplative stroll, I picked up the pace ever so slightly and passed by the other structure:

The elevated train tracks lead to the river and a bridge.

Beside the railroad bridge a pedestrian bridge for hearty souls crosses the river, and a boomer walk is nothing if not a hearty soul.

And adventure, don’t forget the adventure.

Now anyone  can walk from Durham Road all the way to Tualatin in a straight line instead of talking the long way around the park.

That comes later.

 

Out And Back

There’s something special about crossing borders from state lines, the county line, and city limits.

On this boomer walk I’m accompanied by my son and his dog. (Hey Tyler, hey Sadie)

On the Tualatin side a trail ran along the river that we took out and back.

We talked about when to turn around. I said Wilsonville, he said the Tualatin Bridge.

He was right.

One of the interesting parts of the boomer walk was seeing how technology has improved construction, and this walk showed it all.

From 1929 here, to the modern footpath over the Cook Park wetlands, there’s a lesson: more steel and concrete, less wood.

 

Instead of heading back the way we came on the new footpath, we turned left once we got back to Tigard and took the long way home.

To my surprise, equal to my surprise at the new walkway, the dock at the boat launch was gone.

Kid and I speculated on what will replace it. I said a more spread out recreation area for kayaks and food trucks.

He pointed out the area near the riverside where the closest park bench was, except you can’t see it this time of year.

It’s underwater.

Since he’s a good story guy, I said, “What if they decided to pull the bench out like the dock, and there was a body chained to it?”

And we were off.

 

Why would someone be chained up and dead?

What did they do? Who killed him, since he probably didn’t do it to himself.

We chatted it up all the way from the river to the high school parking lot with story development.

Out of nowhere a car passed a little too fast and a little too close.

Kid: Where did that come from?

Me: I don’t know, but they just changed the story. Instead of some guy chained to an underwater bench, how about we open with a car being drug out of the river with the dead driver inside. Now we’ve got a body. Next is motive.

Kid: It’s my science teacher from Middle School who was doing shady work on the side in his home lab and made the wrong discovery.

Me: I remember that guy.

Kid: And his discovery led to his death. But who did it?

Me: We’ve got a whodonit right here in River City. Call my agent.

Kid: You’ve got an agent?

Me: I will if we keep the Cook Park Murder Mystery alive.

Kid: Now it feels like a boomer walk.

Me: I feel it all the time.