Vancouver, WA

OK, this isn’t really about Sonic, just that when I needed an ice cold drink after walking what felt like forever…there it was, on the horizon! Located at 192^nd just south of Mill Plain, this new to Vancouver Sonic has two rows for carhop service and a nice covered outdoor area for people like me who either drove and parked elsewhere, or walked.

Did I mention I had never been to a Sonic before? They have two back-to-back order boards for walk-ins but no directions for how to order, or at least I thought I looked all over the board…even tried out the little credit card looking thing that said Sonic Card and had four touch pads with all the arrows pointing up. If I had looked a little closer, I would have noticed that there was a BIG red button that said something like “push this to order” right beneath that strange card slot. When I finally figured out how to give an order, they couldn’t understand my name…no I didn’t say “Mighty Mouse.”

Have you ever had to stand in the middle of a crowd and scream your name several times at a board? Then I didn’t know how to pay for it. It was not one of my smartest moments. Maybe it was caused by heat stroke. It was HOT out and I had been walking for at least an hour.

I have planned to walk this route ever since I first saw the sidewalk winding along 192^nd Avenue. The sidewalk begins shortly after exit 10 from Highway 14 and goes all the way to SE 1^st Street. I parked at a small mall between 31^st and 34^th Streets, grabbed my backpack and opened the door. Mistie was ecstatic when she found out she was invited and from the second she jumped out of the car she was leaving her scent everywhere. She is a larger Yorkie and one of the smartest dogs we have ever owned, though Yorkies are extremely hard to house train.

The portion of the walk I was most interested in runs alongside a heavily wooded area and there is a small pond situated near the walkway. When I went to take a picture I realized Layla is usually with me to hold the leash and I really needed two hands to take the picture. I swear Mistie knew what I was trying to do, because when I quietly asked her to stay, she didn’t pull on the leash at all while I took this and all the other pictures.

We passed a long hedge of blackberries, which will draw pickers in August, lots of bushes with pretty feathery looking flowers about four inches long, a whole field of Queen Anne’s Lace and, the most important thing…shade; intermittent but very welcome.

I should have turned back after the first block of walking in the sun, but I kept thinking the industrial district was closer than it was and I could get an ice cold drink. I had water in my backpack, but by then I wanted ice cold, not just cold, and a place to sit for a few minutes where it was more comfortable than the ground; then there was Sonic, where my story began. The walk back was much slower, but my ice cold drink lasted till we got to the car, and Mistie only had to leave her scent in shaded areas. Weird.

This is a great walk for any age group, including wheelchairs and strollers, just make sure you have some protection from the sun because it can be brutal.