overachiever day

My walks today:
3 dog walks
1 trip to the farmers market
1 trip to Union Terrace Park
1 trip to Allentown Canal Park
1 volkssport walk

Yep it was that kind of day. None of it was really planned.

Lydia had an emergency and is spending two nights with us. So there-in lies the dog walks.

I had planned on walking with Bonnie to the Farmer's Market. But in the meantime I had picked up Lil Bug to do her Silver Award research. She wants to do a park cleanup.

We all walked to the market, then took the scenic route home past the Comfort Suites to add tags onto the walk directions. I had to update them for the HMT.

When we arrived home, we walked the dog. The full loop down to Broadway and back.

Then we headed off to look for trash. I heard Union Terrace and Canal Park were pig styes.  They weren't. Union Terrace, who's name was apparently changed to Joe Daddona Lake and Terrace, was fairly clean. Even the dirty places—the ball fields—were pretty clean. On a scale of 1-10 I'd say it was maybe a 3.

As with most Allentown Parks, they are a tribute to the work of the WPA. And, as with the other parks, they really need a stone mason. Budget cuts stink. But so does history and beauty crumbling. Thank goodness I live in a city that appreciates their history.

I love the reflection in the water here.

I needed to use a bathroom and there was a comfort station. IT WAS OPEN. A bathroom in an Allentown Park was open. (I-3.5)

We returned to the car and headed to Allentown Canal Park. I showed the teen where her mom grew up and where she was baptized.  The road into the park was littered, but not horribly. Mostly near the parking lots.

The interior of the park was a little worse than Union Terrace but not bad. Frankly it was mostly remnants of fireworks. Especially on the riverbank. We walked to the boat launches and thru the the woods and arrived back on the canal path. We decided to check out the pavilion, and for fun, to see if the bathroom was open.

We reached the top of the stairs, there were two men at the picnic tables. The pavilion area was a bit dirty but not horrible. They said "It's your lucky day, the bathrooms are open." What is the chance of bathrooms being open twice in one day in Allentown? (I-3.5)

I dropped off the teen and headed home. Angel and Lil Miss arrived about 5:45. We all took Adonis out for a walk. We took the long route up to Cherokee and encountered a dog. The tween did great at holding him back.

The original plan was to go to Allentown and do the volkssport walk. The sky was getting blacker and there was an impending, potentially violent thunderstorm, forecasted. Instead we headed out for the second half of the Bethlehem South volkssport walk. There were lots of outs in case we needed them. The first part is supposed to be 6K, the second 4K. We shaved off a block when it started to rain. And we probably shaved off a block or two at the beginning since we started at the hotel. But it still measured only 1.75 miles. Clearly not 4K.

We arrived at the car as the skies opened up.

After the rain stopped. Lyd and I took the dog out for yet another walk.

Full day. Crazy day.