ice cream for breakfast

This weekend is the Susquehanna Riverwalks. Three days, three cities, we did it in one. Okay we're nuts.

Bonnie, flat Sam Spartan and I headed out at 6:30. I over slept and didn't wake up till 5:48. Shocking, I know.  Sam was in the Alumni Magazine for NCCs 50th. You're supposed to photograph him going places and see how far NCCs influence and alums go.  If there's a game, I will play it. Above he's having a coke in the Burning Bridge Tavern in Wrightsville, PA. Yes, he does have a pin in his head. He's a Spartan. He can handle it. (#NCCliveshere)

We are almost to Lancaster and 3 miles away from Route 30 when the traffic came to a complete stop. It took an hour to get to the exit. The cars they were towing away looked like crumbled tinfoil.

The walk was sponsored by the Susquehanna Rovers, White Rose Wanderers, and the Penn Dutch Pacers. It began at the Columbia Crossing River Trails Center.

 There were three IVA flags hanging around the building. If you missed it, you were blind. Sam didn't. He even hung out with one.

The first walk took us all over Columbia. Including the Old Route 30-Lincoln Highway, marked with these coins. Sorry Abe is upside down.

 It also took us to the Turkey Hill Experience. The building looks like it might have been the original factory. There's a giant cow out front, and a water tower on the highway side. You do have to pay to get in but you can stuff yourself full of ice cream and their drinks. (I don't like their drinks. Way too sweet. That's saying a lot from a girl with a major sweet tooth.) But we got senior price, and an additional 10% off because something didn't work. It wasn't bad.

 At one station you could create your own flavor of ice cream. Mine was chocolate with strawberries, raspberry, red hots and pecans. Sounds disgusting, right? Then you could make a box. This box every design rule there is. And I couldn't change the Hobo on the lid. I left the computer pick the name.

After Turkey Hill, we veered off the Columbia route and picked up the Wrightsville directions, crossed a bridge that was 1.25 miles and stopped for lunch at the Burning Bridge Tavern. It was a BBQ place and the brisket was excellent. This sign was inside. I used these dyes many years ago.

Doing the 5K the bulk of this trail was the bridge. We basically crossed the bridge, went around a block and came back.

After checking in and having our books stamped, we got in the car and headed to Marietta.

 The trail was hidden but they clubs added these huge signs. You couldn't get lost.

 This was an out and back on the NW Lancaster County River Trail

 This was the only historic site on the whole walk.

There must have been issues in Marietta, because these signs were on several lawns.

Then it was back into traffic and home.

Miles/Steps:  20,094 steps. That's just short of 10 miles
Bathrooms:   I-4.5 at Columbia Crossing. I don't think we were in any others
Wildlife:        Heard lots of birds. Didn't really see anything.
Weather:      mid-80s, bright, sunny.
Extras:          Found 15¢. If you ever have a chance to try Turkey Hill Blood Orange Sorbet. Do it. It's fab.

signs

Yesterday I had picked up the girls and was coming down 3rd street and saw one of these signs. I got so excited. The girls were puzzled.

For three years my class has met with the firm that's doing this, to learn about the environmental graphics process. I was excited to see them realized.

Today my walk too me on a sign hunt. I especially wanted to see if the "mileage" signs made the cut and they did!

 In the process of taking sign pictures I saw this flannel shirt on the front of the Banana Factory. Cool, right?

 But then I saw another at the Skateboard Shop.

What's up with the flannel shirts?

Miles/Steps:  It was close to three
Bathrooms:   Didn't use
Wildlife:        Squirrels
Weather:      70s, bright, sunny.
Extras:         I found a penny.

the ditch

Yesterday was the Volkssport walk at White Clay Creek State Park in Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania. But officially, it's just in Delaware.

I took Khawala, Dila and Bonnie with me. It was nice when I picked up the girls. It was still nice when I picked up Bonnie. By the time we reached Lansdale it was getting dark and gloomy. The girls fell asleep, and I missed the exit. By the time we reached the park it was dark and gloomy.

So we signed in and got back into the car. Bonnie isn't cleared for hiking yet, so the plan was to go to the Arch Monument (which marks Pennsylvania/Delaware line), park, and then hike to the tri-state marker. I pulled into the macadam spot, left everyone out and as I was locking up noticed a no parking sign. Shit. In my role as Debbie DoGooder I could not leave the car in a no-parking zone. By this time it was drizzling. So I spun around and parked on the other side of the road where there were rocks. I found out quickly they were covering mud. I sunk in and couldn't get out.

We decided to hike and deal with it later.

The rain had slowed down a bit and we could actual take our jackets off. The marker only says M and P, because that portion of Delaware was still Pennsylvania then. We saw a lot of other people on the trail. It's quite popular. At the checkpoint we even saw another group of hikers.

 We continued walking and ended up at this funky bridge.  Shortly after crossing it it started to rain harder. It continued for the next hour.

 Part of the girls program is to volunteer. Bonnie and I were to do the table. They were to do the checkpoint. They were troopers in the downpour. Khawla is wearing Bonnies raincoat at this point, and Dila is using Bonnies umbrella. The check-off sheet was soaked, even with plastic over it. Bonnie sat in the car and played games on her phone.

Meanwhile I had to deal with the car. Several people stopped and tried to help. They tried to push me out and got covered with mud. Since there was no cell service, another went home to call AAA from the landline. Good thing because, as always, my battery was dead. (I really need to take it to be fixed. There is clearly something wrong with it.)

Ten minutes later he was back. AAA wouldn't let him call it in. He was going down the road to a spot he thinks might have service. Five minutes later I heard beeping and his arm was out the window. I ran down. She needed to talk to me. First thing she did was confirm my info. Fine. Bt then she wanted to add email. WTF? The worse part was she insisted on an address. We told her multiple times were were in the WCCSP, on Hopkins Rd., at the Arc Monument. Any local would know this. We are now 15 minutes into the conversation. This good samaritan was going above and beyond. Finally he says, will longitude and latitude work? He turned on the GPS and gave her the info.

The final straw was when she wanted a call back number. We told her repeatedly that there was no service and I was depending on the kindness of strangers.  Finally, we were done. The wait would be 60 minutes. WTF.

I was still waiting in the rain, it was slowing down and more people offered to help.  The organizers came to pack up. I sent Bonnie with Pat to ride back, and  send sent the girls with Bill Ridge to walk back.

We were packing the car when the tow truck came. There was nearly an accident because going one way someone stopped to let us cross. Since they stopped, so did the person coming the other way. But the person behind him wasn't paying attention and had to throw on his breaks. It was a nasty mess.

Khawla took a video of the tow truck. He was a big guy, but like my sister-in-law Rae. And he moved like a ballerina. My golly he was flexible and agile. I was a tad jealous.

I was really stuck. It took three different wenches to pull me out.  I got back to the start point before the girls got back. They slept most of the way home.

I'm sure they had stories when they Skyped mom.

Miles/Steps:  4.3 of actual walking
Bathrooms:   L-3.5  OMG it was dark. The "windows" were covered with vents, and I think they painted the fiberglass.
Wildlife:        1 pair of mallards
Weather:      high 50s, rainy, damp
Extras:         More than 20 cars stopped to help. Restores my faith in humanity.

easter walk in hellertown

Since I had no grading to do this weekend, I decided to work on the "to-do" pile. One thing was re-routing the old Hellertown volkssport walk to include the rail trail. The old walk had a lot of circles. If you looked at the map it was a 3-leaf clover.

It took awhile but I thought I had it. I didn't. I found that out Easter morning.

I began by walking over to the Heller Homestead. It right across from the park.

It has the original houses, root cellar and remnants of the barn. There are 2 paths. The one is macadam and takes you to a ball field.

The second is a nature trail that takes you thru the woods. They do not connect. I tried. Nor do they connect with the rail trail. Bummer. Idea one. Smashed.

Then  I walked the rail trail in both directions. It was surprisingly busy for a holiday. Everyone must have been exercising before dinner. Or maybe they had no plans, like me.

I left my sister Sharon at the park in the pavilion. Each time I walked past she started gathering up her stuff. I'd say, not done yet, sit down. One time she called me over to tell me she killed my Kindle. She didn't. She just couldn't see it in the sun.

I found all the entrances and exits to the trails, and more importantly which ones connected with sidewalks. Some are not pedestrian friendly. I only went as far as Meadow Road.

 Coming back on Main street -- I needed shade. The rail trial is hot with bare trees! --I saw this plaque on the 1776 tavern. It used to be a Mexican place for as long as I can remember.

There was a little free library, so I grabbed Sharon some paper books. I really need to put some books in the car. I'm always withdrawing and never replacing.

After collecting Sharon we drove the rest of the route. A whole 2 miles of it had no sidewalks. Drats, back to the drawing board.

Miles/Steps:  It was close to five
Bathrooms:   I-4.5  I only washed my hands since I was picking up trash for my project.
Wildlife:        Hear lots of birds but didn't actually see any
Weather:      80s, bright, sunny.
Extras:         I found $2.01!  The $2 was wrapped around a coffee order. I'm thinking it was the change. Those fancy coffees are more than $2.

lehigh parkway planet walk

I really hadn't decided which was I was going to walk today. I had some ideas yesterday, but they were mostly east and north and frankly, I didn't feel like driving. Now if I was going with someone it would be a totally different story. But I was alone.

I finally decided on the Parkway. Haven't been there in a while, so I called Bonnie. "Going to the Parkway to walk. Wanna come?" She was busy. You'd think there was a holiday tomorrow or something.

 I decided to park at Bogarts bridge and then decide after I was there whether to go to the fish hatchery ... which I rarely do ... or head into the main park. It didn't really matter. There was a 10K going on (Down's Syndrome) and the whole parkway was full. I decided to go with the flow into the regular park.

I noticed two things immediately. The signs for that invasive moth like I saw in Trexler Park, and a lot of new "houses". I think this style is for bats. There was 5 or 5 different kinds. 

Everything looks different without trees, so I took a lot of pictures. Of course, that was part boredom. No taskmaster making me keep moving.

 It was overcast and a little dark but there was still ample opportunities to take reflection photos. Gotta tell you, I like a good reflection photo.

I also decided to document the Planet Walk. 1 foot = 1 Million Miles. The first 5—sun to Venus—are really close together. The rest get further and further apart. This begins under the iron bridge and ends at the covered bridge.

This walk is from 1996, so Pluto is still a planet. You'll get no argument from me. But then I'm an "artist" not an astronomer.

It was a good walk. Even though fitbit told me I had no active minutes.

Miles/Steps:  3 miles-ish. Maybe a tad less
Bathrooms:   didn't use any -- there was a race going on (yuck! have you seen the bathrooms after a race?) -- but there are now port-o-potties at the bridge parking lot.
Wildlife:        2 robins, 2 woodpeckers drumming, 3 male mallards having a fight. My guess it was over who gets to mate with the girl. If my phone had juice, I would have videoed it. They were pissed.
Weather:      high-50s, gloomy, cloudy, damp.
Extras:         I took water at the races water stop. The cute little girls were not checking race bibs.

wildlife bonanza on the d&l

All week it's been gorgeous. I have really done much other than my "dog"-walks because I've been up to my eyeballs in grading.

Today I was determined to go, and I didn't want to be in the 'hood. Instead, I went to the D&L in Bethlehem in search of the giant snapping turtle. I didn't find him. But I did find that this little over grown garden area is getting some well-deserved TLC. And they are installing a brick path.

In a three mile walk I saw a blue heron (the stocked rainbow trout are an all-you-can-eat-buffet),

more than 15 turtles, two pairs of mallard ducks (or was it three), a swan, a pair of Canadian-American geese,

and a shrine. I wonder if this is where the tree trimmer was killed a couple years ago?

I also saw a boater, fisher people

and a kayaker. The trail and all the waterways (there are three) were a buzz of activity. There were runners, bikers, and a hiking group from the Allentown hiking club. They were very nice. I'm going to join them. They have a bunch of different hikes, and work on trails. One thing that really interests me is the night hikes. Right now I can't go because of school, but if they have them in the summer, it would be terrific.

The water in the canal looked clean and

 the cattails that burst over the winter looked both beautiful and creepy.

 The G fell off the 'no swimming sign. I wanted to add a apstrophe to make it correct. But I didn't have a sharpie.

 The boaters get a warning in the canal, but not the hikers. I guess it's okay if we get hit by falling debris.

 The steel looks great reflecting in the water.

Finally, here are the stairs to the bridge. Look how big and beautiful they are. Now if they'd only finish them so we could use them!

Miles/Steps:  3 miles-ish. Maybe a tad more
Bathrooms:   didn't use any, but the bathrooms on Sand Island are usually open.
Wildlife:        Blue heron, 3 pairs of mallards, 1 swan, a pair of Canadian-American geese (let's face it. These guys have never seen Canada!), squirrels, and a lot of small birds. The trail was noisy. Every bird was doing an "I'm horney, let's mate" call. No bunnies though.
Weather:      mid-60s, bright, sunny, breezy.
Extras:         trees are blossoming, weeds are flowering, and everything is becoming pretty.

the at books came

Angel, the (then) teen, and I will be embarking on a summer adventure. The Volkssport Appalachian Trail hike in Pennsylvania.  Rocks and roots. Can't wait. 

In Pa. the trail cuts around the southeast corner and heads to the Gap. Rumor has it that the SE corner is easier and a little less rocky than the NE. We'll see. All the registration is done online and you can walk as much or as little as you want. The Ackerman-Parry's are physically fit. One is under 15. It will be hard keeping up with them.

We need to do one section a week to get all 10 in by the end of summer. Thankfully distance doesn't matter.

Let the adventure begin.!

bethlehem-north volkksport walk

Today I had a lot of choices for people to walk with. There was a Get-Out Lehigh Valley walk in Peace Valley Park and a Volkssport walk in Bethlehem. I chose Bethlehem. No road trips today. I have a poop-load of grading to do this weekend. There is only four weeks left in the term! To make it even better, Bonnie came along.

She picked me up and we headed to the Hotel Bethlehem. The Main Street ramp was closed for a race. We had to go all the way to Martin Tower and around. We ended up parking on Broad street and racing to the hotel. There were very few people there, Apparently we weren't the only ones stuck in traffic. The event started at 10, but we didn't head out until nearly 10:30.

Lots of hills, bad sidewalks, and there were no incidents. Bonnie and I broke off at the 5K mark and the others moved on for the 2nd 5K.

Miles/Steps:  5K
Bathrooms:   didn't use any 
Wildlife:        Birds
Weather:      50s, bright, sunny.
Extras:         trees are blossoming and they are pretty

i saw this while walking

I saw this while walking in Elin's old neighborhood on Sunday. I thought it was clever. I wanted to post it on Instagram, but you couldn't read it small.

"You can't buy happiness but you can buy pizza and it's kind-of the same thing."

I chose to walk here because I needed to take items to the church for the Easter egg hunt. I had way too much fun at the DollarTree.

I parked at Sharon's house, and walked out to Center to Elizabeth carrying my shopping bag of goodies. Then down Main, looped around, and worked my way back to Sharon's house. 


Miles/Steps:  2.5 maybe? They call the stretch from the bridge to Elizabeth the Moravian Mile. So it was almost 2 miles north and south, and then another 6 blocks or so east and west.
Bathrooms:   didn't use any 
Wildlife:        None, not even a pigeon.
Weather:      50s, bright, sunny.
Extras:         I entered a church and there was no lightning. Of course, I did not go in the sanctuary ...

i discovered this while driving.

Why do I notice things like street signs. The word just pops out at me.

The other day I was driving to school from work and I turned onto Northampton street. Maybe someone unusual was at the bus stop. I don't know, but I saw a sign that said "walk". I had to find it.

Wednesday it stopped raining and I got out of work a few minutes early. Perfect day to find the sign. I remembered where I turned on to Northampton, so I parked there and started walking. By the time I reached the middle school I found the sign (and 4 murals that I'll need to go take pics of another day. No time that day.)

What I find interesting about this 2 mile walk is it goes up one side of the street and down the other. Either direction there is a heck of an uphill by the State Theatre.

When I got to school I googled it. There are actually four walks. Angel said she saw a sign at the square. (Which is a circle. Clearly the founding fathers did not know geometry.) There are two more routes in Easton, each only 1 mile.

When I went to get the screen grab today, google took me to St. Lukes webpage. Apparently in addition to sponsoring Tail on the Trail, the also do this. That took me to the commonwealths page and there is more in Bangor! I might be able to get Angel to do these since she went to Bangor High. Or maybe she'll never want to step into town again. I bet they have good ghost walks.

Or maybe Bonnie and I can do them the day we go up to Stroudsburg to do the Mural walk. I've downloaded the Easton and Bangor walks.

Now it turns out that there are walks like this in 14 counties around the state. Who knew? These people need better PR!