3 walks 'till christmas

Today Bonnie came down and we took the scenic route to the south Bethlehem post office.

We left my place, headed out Sioux and then easily crossed Wyandotte. There was no traffic. Maybe people are taking off early for the holidays? Then it was up 8th and thru Lehigh, down Taylor to Packer, out Packer, and down the stairs thru Campus Square. Out Morton to Vine and then to the Post Office. It was hot in there. And busy. Bonnie mailed her cards, I mailed my package. I think the clerk was surprised when I said slow and pokey was okay. It wasn't a Christmas gift. Then it was back home.

At 5:30 I picked up Eryn's children and took them to see Allentown Lights. This is a few of the displays from Lights In the Parkway, spread out throughout the city. The Parkway can't be used because one of the WPA retaining walls crumbled after 3/4 of a century. (Maybe now the city will get the maintenance memo. It's cheaper to fix little problems than hire a stone mason to rebuild a wall.)

First stop, downtown. The new American Parkway bridge and road took us almost to the Arts Park. We parked at the Art Museum at a meter. Because of the arena, you now only get 7 minutes for a quarter. That's $2 an hour.  Clearly meters are the city's cash cow.

The lights go from the Arts Park, thru the Arts Alley, and on both sides of Hamilton till 10th. The menorah is in front of the arena. The light posts on the monument are wrapped like candy canes. (The Nutcracker costume at the top was in the window of Symphony Hall.) Of course the PPL still had their art deco tower decorated with the tree and candle.

The old Hess's soldiers are still being used at Zion church, at the entrance to the Liberty Bell Shrine.  Sadly, no Pip the Mouse show, also a relic from Hess's, at nighttime. By this time Bubba was tired of walking. It's okay. Aunt Gayle was tired of him too. He is a handful.

At Cedar Creek Park the displays begin at the playground with the 12 Days of Christmas, and come back the road thru candy land. Skaters and snow people round out the scenes. Overall it was very nice. However, the giant Happy Holidays that usually greets you at the entrance to the Parkway was dark.  It was the first thing you see at Cedar Beach after leaving the parking lot. Another display right after that was also dark. And the pool house was closed so no Santa or skate rentals. Did I mention Santa was my bargaining chip with Bubba? Poop.

The last stop, Andre Reed Park. Where they hell is that you say. I said the same thing. It's the new name of Irving Street Park next to Dieruff HS. Decades will pass before I remember that. We didn't even get out of the car there. There was 4 penguins near the basketball court. That's it. Not sure why they are advertising it as a location. My guess is that there are no power sources.

After I delivered the children home, I returned home to complete my night of garish Christmas lights—the Christmas Light Fight on ABC. I love garish Christmas houses. I abhor the amount of electric they waste.  I kept the section of the paper with Bill White's light tour. Hopefully I'll see a few of them. I need someone to come along that loves over-the-top displays as well to read the directions.


Tuesday will be a tough walk. it is supposed to rain all day. Plus I'll be schleping Eryn back and forth to Q-Mart. Hopefully her car is fixed soon. Why can't my family have jobs on a bus route?