The Color Run: Alley Art Outlaws

On Saturday, I ran with a group of friends and family in The Color Run, a fun 5K  (more of a walk, skip dance than a run) that benefits a different charity in each city where it is held. Earlier in the month, my friend Bobbie helped me cobble together a ghetto stencil with our team name: ALLEY ART OUTLAWS.

As race day approached, Howard and I got checked in and picked up our registration packets and tee-shirts.

Then it was time to do some stenciling on the shirts.

We took public transportation to the race, and Bobbie caught a shot of us arriving.

Saturday was race day. Part of the team was made up of family: my husband, two daughters, and four of my grandkids.Don't we look fierce?

We picked up members of our team as we arrived and here's a shot with most of us together.

Enough chitter chatter. Here's how our day played out.

Mount Angel Abbey: Right in My Backyard

I took my parents on another Wednesday Wanderings this week. Our destination was the Mount Angel Abbey, located about a dozen miles northeast of Salem. Here's a description from the Abbey's brochure:

Mount Angel Abbey is a community of Benedictine monks founded in 1882 by the Abbey of Engelberg in central Switzerland. The Abbey shares a monastic tradition that has been a vital part of the Roman Catholic Church for more than fifteen hundred years.

The Abbey adventure starts with a lovely tree-lined drive up the hill, Stations of the Cross all along the roadside walking path.




We then arrived on the campus of the Abbey and started our visit using the self-guided walking tour that was available in a brochure.


First stop, the Abbey's Museum. The museum unexpectedly turned out to be more of a natural history museum than a religious one. We discovered pig hairballs right next to a crown of thorns. And a mutant calf right next to the Class of 1953 photo op! It was eclectic and random. My kind of museum.













We continued on our walk, roaming the grounds and visiting the church (where a monk was playing the huge pipe organ on the second floor), the library, monk's cemetery, and finally a cup of coffee in the Abbey coffee shop.