tail on trail completed

Today was the last day to log my miles for the Tail on the Trail. The program ends Sunday with the Marathon. It is also the last day the website will be up to record. So Bonnie, Dawn and Lydia, get those numbers in!

My total miles from the start June 1, I think, to October 31 is 559.10. I averaged over a 100 miles each month. So did Bonnie. Her total might even be higher since she pretty much walks every day.

looks like I'm walking nyc in my bra!

Today registration opened for the July 26th moonwalk in NYC. I wanted to do this event last year. But I found out too late.

From the website:

The Girls are back in town … and the boys, so sign up now for Walk the Walk’s famous Power Walking challenge. Thousands of women and men will be choosing from a Half Marathon (The Half Moon) or go all the way… a full 26.2 miles the Full Moon Marathon distance, and you can be sure that every step that you take is not only going to help you become more honed and  toned…. your fundraising will help to give New Yorkers the best care for breast cancer,  for the best outcome, regardless of their circumstances!

Plus…what make this challenge really exciting and unique, is that everybody will be wearing the charities trademark, decorated bra!  Not what you would expect to do on a Saturday night and  if that takes you slightly out of your comfort zone then think ‘Rockettes’, think magical jewels and feathers to sparkle your way around Manhattan.

I mailed the others in every two feet, and my friend Gail from the 3-Day. Hopefully someone wants to come along. If not, I'll go alone. I signed up for the half, and the 4-5 hour time slot so I can have fun along the way. It went to 7 hours. The times started at 2. Really, 2? Who can walk 13.1 miles in 2 hours? Not even super-walker-Michele can do that! Mostly, it's so they have enough shuttle buses to take you back to the start point.

The walk starts on Randall's Island, the campsite for the Avon. You meet at 8 pm and eat. The food is vegetarian and organic. You had a choice between pasta and rice. (Bonnie, rice...no gluten...just saying.) At 10 pm you hit the streets.

And I only have to raise $150. That's probably already in my spare change jar. But if you want to donate to this insanity, click the half-marathon link above.

If you want to participate in the insanity and join Bonnie's Boobies, than click on this link. The more the merrier! Oh, and the pink footed boobie birds will get a makeover for this race.

big bird!

Bonnie and I have walked nearly every Tuesday and Thursday this term. I have both mornings off, and she is out with her hand injury. When you walk that much you need to be creative or the routine becomes boring.

Last night I saw on Channel 69 that a life-size Big Bird was brought to our local PBS Station. He's made of Peeps. Peeps are made in my town. It only makes sense. Walking down to visit Big Bird. The perfect walk.

We left my house and headed up to St. Luke's. We went out Ostrum and Brighton, down the bridge ramp and out 2nd/Columbia. Then it was down Webster to First, and out to the Steel. The PBS station is on some of the redeveloped property.

We arrived at PBS and the door was locked. Oh well, they aren't open. Then we heard a click. Apparently they keep it locked all the time. Bird was right there in the lobby. His feathers are Peeps, with the heads cut off, and smashed a little. His legs are Bunnies, and the pink rings are Peeps. His snout is also Bunnies. Oscar is also made of Peep bodies, but they were dyed  dark green.

It was terrific. I can see why Just Born, the makers of Peeps, wanted it here for PeepFest.

We came home the Greenway and found the new Crepe store on New Street, and stopped for groceries. Total, it was about 4.25 miles.

These walks always end with a late big breakfast, since I eat dinner at 3:30 pm before class.

ft. hill playground. a mostly photo essay.

Today was sauerkraut making day at casa Stephens, so Bonnie didn't walk. Lydia did a 5K yesterday and received a killer blister for her trouble. So we decided to take an easier walk. It turned into Walking: Extreme (Overgrown) Children's Play Edition.

 We headed down the hill, out Itaska and Broadway to Bottom Dollar. We headed up Dodson to the ball field. Around the ball field, back down the hill to the recreation trail. What a view.

We took the recreation trail down thru the park and landed at the bugs. I chose the snail. I really didn't fit on the seat so I sat on his back. Then I started bouncing. It's a great core workout. Try-it. Lydia tried the two seater bee and fit in the seat! I'm not that flexible.

Then it was off to this arched ladder thing. Is this what they call Jacobs Ladder? Not sure. But I climbed up one side and back down the other. I didn't fall off!

 Hey, we had these at the Dirty Girl. I can do this. And look ma. No mud.

Then we arrived at the actual play set. The only way to get to the rope walk was thru the tunnel. I fit! Thanks for the butt shot Lydia.

 Over the rope walk to the slide.

I had to go down the slide on one cheek because it is designed for children's butts. Not fat old women. I wanted to go down the curvy one, but there was a puddle at the bottom. It would have been no fun walking in wet pants!

Finally, we arrived at our initial designation: the swings.

When we finished playing at the playground (officially the Stanley Avenue Recreation Area) we headed out Stanley Avenue, Down Hoffert, then east on Delaware Avenue.

That's where we found two great Halloween houses. (Not a single person had their Christmas decos up yet. I guess that's next week.) When we arrived at Bishopthorpe we came home. It wasn't quite three miles. But the dog still need his walk.

"i've never seen so much pink"

My 11-year old niece saw a brochure for the Making Stride Breast Cancer walk at a subway. She convinced her mom, brother, Bonnie and I to join her team—The Pink and Powerful. Mom was the team captain because 11-year-olds don't meet the age requirement.

We decided when to meet. Eryn and the kids would meet us about 9. They live 6 blocks away. I received several texts, the most important being "we are waiting at the pink Camero." She loved that Camero and wants one when she can drive. I told her Uncle Dick had one when he and Auntie got married. But his was blue. I think she was a bit jealous.

It was cold this morning. Thirty-seven degrees when we left my house.  Everyone had lots of layers on. We had about an hour to kill. First the registration line, then we just went from vendor to vendor. We even had our picture taken in a photo booth. Hopefully in a few days I can download the electronic image. They gave each of us a strip. That has never happened before.

Finally it was time to line up. After a countdown we were off. We headed up Lehigh street to the Fahy bridge. Lil Bug had never walked over the bridge and was fascinated by the river. By the time we crossed back, Lil Bug was walking with Bonnie and I was walking with Eryn and KoolJ. We walked around the city center, out Church, up New and down the alley by the city garage. We returned to Main Street and headed down to the Hotel B., down the ramp and thru the historic area. Finally it was out to Union and back Conastoga. There were people in pink as far as you could see. I picked grey shirts because of Kool J. Though we did see one on a guy that was regular green camo and in huge hot pink said "Boobie Brigade". There were all men on the team. I need to keep that in mind for next year. 11-year-old boys aren't comfy wearing pink.

Kool J was tired. I think that's the furthermost he ever walked. Lil Bug asked when she could come with us again.

day three—canals, bridges and zoos

Bonnie says I should not blog when extremely tired. I make lots of typos and create the worlds worse sentences. Since I do not want Miss Schmidt to come back from her grave and haunt me, I went back and fixed it. I've also added photos. The sign is on the Francis Key Bridge.

We decided Saturday night to only do the 6K on Saturday. Then we could go to the zoo. Walking started at 8.

We arrived at check-in promptly at 8 and headed out the same direction as every other day. Once we crossed the Francis Key Bridge, on the right side this time,  into Georgetown, we headed under the bridge and walked on the Chesapeake and Ohio tow path. It's much different than our D&L. It's very narrow, and lined with walls or factories that have been converted into apartment/condos.

Even their boats are different.

The trail ended and we headed into town, walking toward the Kennedy Center. Around the Center, back over the Teddy Roosevelt and back to the hotel. We had about a 15-20 minute break while the Army 10-mile runners crossed the road. I have no idea how many people were running, but it never let up. When it thinned a hair, we were able to get across.

Earlier int he day we found out that there was a Volkssport Zoo walk. So when we were having our books stamped, we asked. The volunteers printed us the info and we were off.

Starr was having a really bad day. First she wouldn't pick up, then she was slow. We were nearly across the bridge when she was telling us to cross the bridge. This provided some serious issues in town. It probably took a half hour for a 10 minute trip. Also, there was detours. If she said "recalculating" one more time I was going to scream at her. Finally she got us to the McDonalds checkpoint. Finding the zoo was easy.

Finding parking was not.

 I now understand why the pedestrian gate is so large. They want you to use the bus, train or foot. They don't want you to drive. We ended up parking at the end of the zoo. We did the volkssport walk fromt he middle to the end and then from nearly the beginning to the the middle. We cut off the walk from McD's part.

Heavy traffic coming home, but all in all a good weekend.

Our only selfie of the weekend.

day two, the exorcist, getting off course, and a visit to the white house

Today I was signed up for the 12K. I figured 10 one day, 15 the second, 10 the third. Instead Bonnie thought it would be fun to do the 21K—13 miles. It turned out to be 24K plus.

The day began with opening ceremonies. I was quite disappointed that Surgeon General didn't come. She sent a Lieutenant. Walking is one of her initiatives, so I thought since it was in DC this was a must attend event. Apparently not.

After signing in, we left the hotel and began the walk the same way as yesterday using overpasses and pedestrian overpasses. Then we headed over The Francis Key Bridge and into Georgetown.

Remember when I did the 50K, I couldn't find The Exorcist stairs? Today, there they were. Right in front of me. We went up them. The Belgium walker passed us. He's wearing the blue jacket in front of Bonnie.

We reached the top and Bonnie said the Belgium walker didn't come back down. He might know a shortcut. We tried. We got close but then ran into Georgetown University. A maze with no street names. We had no campus map. We had the map they gave us at the start that was poop. After an hour of walking we were two blocks from The Exorcist stairs.

Back on course, we headed into the woods. It said it was Rock Creek National Park. It was a rustic trail. Hard to walk on, with few other paths. We walked about two miles with minimum signs, and no crossroads. I didn't even think we'd ever get out. But we did. Then we crossed a street and went back into the woods. Repeat a mile later.

Finally we emerged near the National Cathedral. There we found Bill, another member of the Wanderers. (he'll be testing my South Bethlehem walk.) We walked together till the cathedral. Then he continued and we went in. It's beautiful. I was there many years ago and had forgotten how beautiful it was. We also met up again with the singing Germans.

We exited the Cathedral and headed down Massachusetts Avenue past all the embassy's. The checkpoint was the Danish embassy. I've never checked in with a cop standing by. (Actually I think he was secret service.). Then it was about six miles down Massachusetts. Massachusetts has a bunch of circles. We got off course and ended up on Connecticut.  Poop. Off course again. Instead of backtracking we decided to look at the lame map. It looked like Connecticut ran straight thru and met up with Massachusetts again. We got some burgers and headed off with positive energy and full bellies.

Connecticut ended at 15th. The road was blocked. Lot's of cops. And restricted signs. The White House was dead ahead. We went to visit the Obama's and tried to get our bearing again. Just when we thought we were lost yet again, there was the Washington Monument—Constitution Avenue. We were only 14 blocks from the next checkpoint! While we were deciding which way to turn a really cute guy asked if we were lost. He confirmed that we were going correctly and walked with us for several blocks. He's an aide to the Republican senator from Maine. (She helped broker the compromise.)

By going our way, off course, we ended up seeing a lot more of DC. We actually were on the Federal Heritage Trail.

We came back Independence, thru the Smithsonian's, and stopped to ride the carousel across from the castle.

Another check point was ahead. The check points were spaced quite odd this time. At the Monument we turned down 14th and headed back to Constitution.  Out Constitution then up Virginia to 25, and past the Kennedy Center. We missed most of the monuments on the mall and that was disappointing. Apparently that is one of the year round walks.

Several times during this journey we considered taxis, busses, subways and bike rentals. We kept walking.

At the Kennedy Center we entered a bike trail that ran adjacent to the highway, crossed Roosevelt Island, and returned to the hotel.

My pedometer read 41,960. The first time I've crossed the 40K mark.

freedom walking festival, day one

The Freedom Walking Festival has been held for 12 years in Washington DC. I found out about it last spring. It's part of an IML wlking series that does 26 walks all over the world. Often, they run concurrently. So if you have a lot of disposable income, it would be a great thing to do. I don't. Nor do I fly, so other than Vancouver, I'm pretty screwed.  (Vancouver would be a fab road trip. Now all I need is a month vacay. If I'm going that far, might as well go to Cali., and maybe Mexico, and come home thru Texas ....)

I digress. I usually do.

We left my house at about 6 am. We wanted to avoid rush hour in Philly. We hit a tiny bit of Wilmington's and none of Baltimore's. Not so lucky in DC. And it was past 9 am. Clearly everyone is still getting the hang of going back to work.

We arrived at the host hotel in Arlington at 9:30. Clearly it was way to early to check in right? Wrong. We went to the desk to see if it was safe to park, and our room was ready. Can you believe it? By 10 we were out checking the neighborhood. That's when we found Freedom Park.

Freedom Park is an overpass across the road. Finding the entrance was a challenge. Bonnie ended up asking a woman cleaning the windows. She told us to go in the front of the building turn right, go up the elevator, go right go up the next elevator and we are there.

The ABC televisions station was in the building. We went up the elevator and ended up on a parking deck. Couldn't find another elevators so we went up the stairs. Bonnie was first, and found the stations satellite dishes. We came back down to the lobby. The entrance was right there next to the tv station. We got out, walked around and found 2 street level exits.

It's all concrete/pavers with some plantings and small trees. It has none of the charm of the High Line in New York. I bet it's really busy in summer.

Sign in for day 1 was at noon. We went back to the hotel at 11:45 and there was already a line. Our start cards are above. Wow, are they different. Look at all those races!

The directions began at the hotel conference room. They took us out of the hotel, over an overpass, a pedestrian bridge and thru yet another concrete park. Then we took a trail / bridge to Roosevelt Island. Nearly 5K of the walk was in that park.

We came out of the park, worked out way thru town and to the statue of Iwo Jima. There we had a terrific view of the Washington skyline. Next stop was the carillon, the edge of Arlington Cemetery, and then we headed back into town.

The checkpoint was at an Irish Pub. We ended up going back there for dinner. It was a little further than we thought!

Day one—12K. Then we walked to the restaurant which was another half mile. Then to the social which was a few blocks. Then for frozen yogurt. I still had class to do, so I worked till 11. Bonnie fell asleep at 9. About 11:30 I discovered that my pedometer read 24,088 steps. Had I know, I would have walked up and down the hotel hall till I reached 30. Bummer.

the pony express arrived!

Our Volkksport books have finally been delivered. Now let's see if they take 10 days to come back Priority Mail.

I'm awaiting confirmation from the recipient. But for the first time in over a week, I am hopeful.

update
They came back the next day!

new students, mosques, pay phones, and lions

This morning I met my new international student from Tunisa. Eid is today, and I asked her if she wanted a ride to the local mosque. She was thrilled. She was bringing three friends.

She thought the service was at 7:15 am, but I got a text that it was 8:30. Then my phone started making the battery is dying noise. We went back and forth a couple times, and decided to leave at 8:00. I know that the mosque has a small lot. So I decided to check the mosques website to see about parking. Good thing I did. The service was at 8. We decided then to leave at 7:30. Then my phone dies.

I head out at 7:10 and arrive at school. No kids. At 7:40 I thought maybe they were at the ISA office. I ran across campus. Nobody. Then I ran back. Finally we connected. They were waiting inside. I was outside. They were expecting my call, but the phone was dead.  Finally we head out. They'd be fashionably late. They were okay with that. We pull onto 22 and it's a parking lot. Accident. It took 20 minutes to got from 191 to 512. Normally that's a two minute ride.

We arrive and it's over. Even if we would have arrived on time we wouldn't have gotten in. I didn't realize that there was that many Muslims in the Lehigh Valley. There was a line for the 10 am service. I told them we'd wait. But then they saw a friend, and his parents invited them for prayers and dinner, so I took them back.

I needed to call Bonnie about walking. I needed to go to Walmart to pick up Pat's Rx. Can you belive there is a payphone at Walmart. The last one, I think, on the planet. Bonnie would meet me when I got home.

Bonnie arrived 5 minutes after I did. We headed out to walk. Up Sioux, out 8th, and thru Lehigh.  We kept going up and up in Lehigh and didn't recognize the neighborhood we came out in. It was 60s 'burbs with split levels and ranches! I saw the blast furnaces, and said to Bonnie, we'll walk toward the blast furnace. Quickly we came to Hill Top Avenue and knew exactly where we were. We headed towards Zollner and I got an idea. Let's look for Volkssport check points.

These are questions you need to answer when you walk, so they know you finished the route.

For the 5K:
CHECKPOINT 1: At 4th and Taylor is Holy Infancy 
Roman Catholic Church. In what languages are services offered? __________, ____________, ______________. (English, Spanish, Portuguese. Oddly no Latin.)

For the 5 and 10Ks: CHECKPOINT: How many smokestacks are on the 
furnaces?__________________. This can be from 6-10. (Depending on which direction you are looking.)

And for the 10K: CHECKPOINT: What was the name of the original commuter railroad which this rail-trail replaced?_______________ (Philly, Easton and Windgap RR Co. formally opened on July 2, 1855.)

To do this, we ended up weaving up and down the "presidential" streets.

Our last stop was 3rd and New Streets. We wanted to visit the Nittany Lion that's been hanging out there for about a month. He's a promotional gimmick for Penn State LV. (I'm surprised he is not covered with graffiti!

However, he would not cooperate for the selfie!

i found my pants!

You may have noticed since it's gotten cooler, I'm wearing these nasty, baggy jeans in every picture. That's because I couldn't find my pants. My one sister always gives my clothes to her twin, so I just figured the twin had them, and they were gone. Today while walking I got an idea and it panned out. Yeah!

First and foremost it's Columbus Day. I don't really care about Columbus, but it's also my sister Barb's birthday. And for the greatest gift ever she is going to become a great-grandmother. that's both exciting and terrifying. I am not old enough to be a great-great aunt. Though everyone knows I'm a terrific one.

So after calling Barb and singing Happy Columbus Day to You, everyone finally arrived. We headed to Easton to do the Palmer Bike Trail. We picked this trail because it was paved, and hopefully the leaves would be dry after days of rain. For the most part they were. The black walnuts, on the other hand, were still quite the hazard.

We parked off Land Mine Road, at the park, and headed east to Easton. The original plan was to turn around and go back, past the car, and continue west. When we arrived at Easton High, I said the trail continued to Wilson, and we decided to go further. At Northampton Street, the trail goes downhill and then back up the other side.

Lydia asked how far we had gone. Bonnie told her. I warned her there was a long hill if we continued. But continued we did. Down the hill, and along the path to the football field. That's where we turned around. The next hill would have taken us to the Pump Park trail.

After returning to the car, we continued to walk to the playground. No walk is complete without swings. Two minutes after we arrived a horde of teenagers showed up. They took up all the swings except the one Bonnie was sitting on. Really? Don't they have a mall to hang out at?

Park plans foiled, we returned to the car again. Our total mileage was about 5.5 miles.

After a stop at the far for eggs and pumpkins, we headed home. Adonis was waiting for his walk.

Tonight, after supper I remembered to look for my pants. I dug out my winter "drawer" clothes and there they were. With all my long sleeved t-shirts. I can retired these baggy jeans after they are washed.

Oh, and the package I told you about yesterday. Still AWOL.

collegeville, boyscouts, and a lost fitbit.

Today was the Collegeville group walk with the Liberty Bell Wanderers. Right off the bat we went the wrong way. They car turned onto the turnpike. I wanted to take 663. But Bonnie's map reading skills came in handy once again and we got there almost on time.

But we couldn't find anyone.

 The instructions said at "Rednor's, between Sears Hardware and Wendy's". Couldn't find anyone outside. Didn't see anyone inside. Bonnie finally recognized someone. They were indeed inside, but oddly hidden at the end of the checkouts near the potties.

We didn't have our books, and needed to get insert cards. Our books have been on a wild adventure. I'm starting to think that I will need to start over.

Two, maybe three,  weeks ago we did the two walks in central Pennsylvania.  The checkpoint was closed. I arranged with the Susquehanna Rovers to mail the books, they'd stamp them and return them. Problem is the books haven't arrived. Bonnie and I decided to do the prepaid envelope— "Priority mail".

I mailed it Sunday after our walk at the LV post office. I figured it would be there Tuesday, Maybe Wednesday, and be back Friday, maybe today. Instead it's been bouncing all over eastern Pennsylvania. Clearly there is something wrong with the address. Why don't they just return it? It left the LV went to Harrisburg, back to LV, then to Philly and has been sitting in Harrisburg since 4:43 am on Friday. That little "i" button says it's being delivered. It arrived at 4 am. It should have been delivered yesterday. Nothing. Today. Still nothing. What the hell is it doing?

Up to this point I was a big cheerleader for the post office. Now they are on my shit list. I'm angry. Just return my damn letter and I'll drive it to Harrisburg. Clearly, I should have done that initially.

I digress. Rant over. Back to the walk.

We left the store and headed to the Perkiomen Trail. We walked thru town, and then headed to Ursinus College. It's a really nice campus.

Phil and Murial Berman have a art museum there, and the campus is littered with sculpture. I took some time to check out what this girl was reading, and kept those boy's away from her.

We left campus, and walked a good distance up Main street and into the modern 'burbs, then the 70s 'burbs, then into the old money neighborhoods, and back to town.  At the community park Bonnie and I waited for the others and swung on the swings.

It was dreary when we started, but by the time we finished it was bright and sunny.

We stopped at the car for water and purses, and I discovered my FitBit was gone. I hoped that it was at home. (It wasn't. It's gone. Devastated.)

We decided to head to Wendy's for salads, and noticed almost everyone going in the pizza place. We ended up eating with the other Volkssporters.

Then we headed to Redner's and the cub scouts were selling popcorn. We picked what we wanted, tormented children by making them do the math instead of using the calculator ("You must be a teacher.") and then realized we didn't have enough money. So the boys put the items aside, we shopped, got money and picked the stuff up. The roomie was very happy when we got home.

Tomorrow we'll do the Palmer Rail Trail.

making strides against breast cancer

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is one of the huge 5K walking event. Your with 10K of your favorite people. You don't walk very fast, and I often run into people I know. I was not planning on doing it this year. Not a big fan of the mob scene. Even if they are dressed in funny pink clothes.

My 11-year-old neice niece (aka half of "the twins") has started a team called the "Pink and the Powerful". (Well, actually her mom did, she's 11). She specifically asked me to go. I can't say no to the children. They know this.

I sent an invite to the other's. Don't know if they will come. I think I'll also see if my new international student wants to come too. I'll have to explain what it is. I don't think they have these in Tunisa. Maybe she has a pink head scarf.

If you want to join us, here's the team link.  No registration fee. They expect you to raise money. I don't raise money. I put in a donation but you don't have to.

Her twin is also on the team. Is this logo too feminine for a boy in middle school? Maybe on a grey or black shirt?

 

 I keep thinking it should be Pink Is Powerful.

Not much walking happening this week. Bonnie and I walked on Tuesday, but not Thursday or today. The rain is relentless. Hopefully we'll go to Collegeville to walk tomorrow.

i was tall enough and still couldn't ride the carousel!

Today was the Perkasie Volkssport walk and the Fall Festival in Menlo Park. Now I love to walk, but I like old carousels even more. I even took a $1 for my three rides.

We met at a pavilion. The roomie went along, and by the time we arrived she wanted to sit in the hot car instead of the park? What was the point of going? Google said it would take 45 minutes to get there. It took a half hour so we were early.

I was #1 signing in. First time ever. Mostly because we are NEVER early. The first portion of the trail went thru residential, business, and industrial areas. We made a lot of circles.And passed a lot of Pizza places. We jokes that there should be a special program for walks that did not pass pizza places.

 

We took our picture under the trolley tunnel in front of the mural. You'll have to look at Lyds pixs on FB (when she posts them) to see the mural. Look how happy Lyd is in this pix. It didn't last long. She received a text with some disappointing news. She was not a happy walker. This could be why I never take my phone anywhere. News can wait—happy or sad.

From there we walked thru the three parks in Perkasie. There were some nice hills. We were almost back before we walked across the suspension bridge, and past the covered bridge.

When we got back to Menlo park, the roomie was out of the car and waiting. We checked in, and headed to the festival. It looked like the carousel was opening. We checked out the crafters and the home-party sales people and got some snacks. Then the roomie pulled up a bench, and we headed off to the carousel. It wasn't open. It opened at noon, and it was only 11:40. No carousel for us today!