yee haw! my volkssport trail was approved!

"Hi Gayle,
At our meeting last night, we all agreed to add Bethlehem - South to our Year Round Events for 2014.  ...

By the way, everyone was excited to hear about the new Beth. walk.  I think it will be very successful."

You cannot believe how excited I am. I had to do more work last night before it could be turned into national. I needed directions to the hotel, what special walking programs it qualified for, and agree to the 2A rating.

2A means moderate hills and pavements.

"Special programs" are walks you do toward a goal. Like finding 20 diners, cinemas, that type of thing. While we were doing the test walk, Dave kept asking about water towers, and pointing out flag poles. Now I know why. Honoring our Flag is a special program. As is Water Towers. The south Bethlehem walk qualifies for  Flags, Cities in Song, National Register and Fraternal Organizations. Locally it also qualifies for two Pennsylvania counties—Northampton and Lehigh.

Here's the synopisis I wrote. I'm sure they'll tweak it:

This walk takes you thru Lehigh University, the South Bethlehem Greenway (a rail-trail), pass the skatepark, and thru the former Bethlehem Steel. Right now the redeveloped area includes a casino, hotel, outlet mall, PBS station, arts campus, skating rink, and of course, Steel ruins. The walk continues into Fountain Hill past the mansions of 19th century Bethlehem movers and shakers.

In fall I'll have to actually write the trail. This won't go into effect until January. I have a lot of history to look up!