slatington

Well, I couldn't do it. I had scheduled a walk in Walnuport and nobody sent a RSVP that they were coming. But instead of walking in the hood, I drove to the trailhead at the appointed time. Just in case someone changed their mind. No one did.

So I'm hanging at the trailhead waiting—I arrived 10 minutes early believe it or not—so I took my selfie. Now what, pray tell is this obsession with selfies lately?  I read an article by a larger woman who does ultra run (50K+) and she takes a selfie every day to keep herself motivated. Miss a day. Miss a selfie. Seems harmless, so I'm giving it a shot until the end of August. We'll see how I do.

There are three trials at the Slatington Trailhead—The D&L, the old D&L which is now the Walnutport Canal Trail, and the Slatington Heritage Trail. I've been on them all multiple times. The bike rental guy wasn't there, so that wasn't an option. I decided to walk to the Fireman's Statue.

There was a lot of Pennsylvania History markers, and Slate Belt History Markers. I'm wondering if the route into town is part of the Heritage Trail. I looked it up. Nope. As a side note, if you click on the link you will see that it's created in one of my favorite (sarcasm) typefaces—Papyrus. Now I understand why the donation box near the bathrooms (I-4.5) was done in Papyrus. I guess it could be worse. It could be Comic Sans.

Did you know that Slatington was the blackboard capital of the world for more than 100 years? Neither did I. Walking not only improves your fitness, but time after time, it also works out those brain cells.

 Every Amrican Legion needs a gun. This one is no exception.

Finally I got to the statue/fountain. It's much smaller than I remember as a child. The walk from the trialhead was only a half mile. That's a stroll.

So I remembered reading on Roadside America (no, not the mini village in Shartlesville where time has stopped) that the real statue was in a graveyard 1/4 mile away, at the top of the hill, on Cemetery street. I love that website because everything is weird. Anyway, I started walking up the hill. I saw lots of cool stuff. Some historic houses, some beautiful Victorian Mansions, a reservoir, but no cemetery.

I ran out of sidewalk and was in the next town. I turned around and went back.  On the way back I saw this restored ghost sign.

I picked up the car and then headed out to find the cemetery. It was exactly 1 mile away. I'm not sure if the statue is bigger, but the base sure is. This thing is massive.

I was headed back to the car and saw cannons. Always an important element in a cemetery. Especially one named Union. Indeed there were two. Pointed at the poor soldier. It was a GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) monument. Why would they point the cannons at their guy?

All in all I walked 3 miles.