redevelopment

A lot has been happening in south Bethlehem. There is construction everywhere. It looks like the phoneix does rise from the ashes of steelmaking.

Yesterday, my walk was a tour of redevelopment projects. Above it the corner of 3rd and New. At one time it was 3rd Street Chicken. Then it burned down. They ripped down everything on New street past the RR tracks, and Graham Street. To the back side of the sneaker store. Third they took the vacant lot and the Maze garden lot. And they took Graham street and everything on it to Vine Street.

Facing Third is a 6 story building with store space on the bottom. Lehigh will have officces there, as will St. Lukes.

The New Street side to the Greenway is still the building.  Eventaully, the greenway will go thru there. (The development is called the Greenway Gardens".) There are bridges to carry people from the deck to the offices.

The entrance to the parking deck is on New and the exit on Vine. It is at least 5 stories.

I remembered my dollar store selfie stick and could actually take a not creepy picture of myself.

On the greenway the trees were wrapped for winter and theylook like sculpture. I think next year, colored burlap!

At 4th and Polk is another building and it goes all the way to the old bank (now the Social Still) at Pierce. The back bumps into Mechanic Street.

Across the street at the Steel, Northampton Community College is also being renovated.

The museum now has signage, a plaza, pieces of rusty machinery and fencing. It looks like a real museum.

Finally, the construction is done on the Fahy Bridge. You can walk under it. And up it. Those stairs are a dream compared to the old ones.


Miles/Steps:   3-ish miles
Bathrooms:     I-3.5, Banana Factory   
Weather:        50°, drizzle to heavy drizzle.
Extra:             In the morning, I volunteered at the homeless shelter. I parked and ran in. It was 5am. I didn't see that I was blocking someone's driveway. At least I wasn't towed.

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it took all week to post saturday's walk

Wow. What a week. Between grading and a design project from hell I've not had five free minutes. Okay, that's probably an exaggeration, but it is Olympics week ... But I haven't watched much of that this cycle either. First time ever. Usually I'm glued to the set.

Saturday afternoon and evening it snowed. At 6 AM  Sunday, I was out shoveling and the snow was already melting. The temperatures were supposed to reach the 50s. By 10 am the roads were clear and I could walk.  The snow was melting like crazy.

Lydia returned from work about 10:30 and I asked if she wanted to walk. She suggested we take the dog. That's fine, but the walk would not be long or fast. And I really needed to move.

We went to Monocacy Park, parked and headed into the "nature" area. It was slippery. I took the dog from Lydia. There was water on top of the snowy ice.  You walk a few feet in and the trail forks. One goes to the creek trail, the other goes straight toward the Monocacy Trail.

We took neither. It was a swamp. As you stepped there was four, five inches of mud ...with water on top. We turned around. I was only wearing muck-lucks. Lydia had sneakers on. As we were heading to the park-side with gravel trails, a family was entering. They had boots on. They got to the mess and turned around also. I didn't feel so bad.

We crossed the street and headed into the park.  The gravel helps a lot. Soaked up a lot of the water.

Then we climbed some steps. I had to get some exercise somewhere. I think the dog liked it. (Sorry for all the butt shots.)

We saw several people fishing.

After crossing the bridge and doing more stairs, we walked around the bathroom building and headed back on the sunny side of the park. The trails here were relatively clear. Then it was up the stairs and across the street and back to the car.

52 week hike challenge:  6/52  It was at least 1 mile and we were out an hour
Miles/Steps:   +1.25 mile 
Bathrooms:     locked
Wildlife:          All the geese and mallards were at one place. From the look of some of the waterfowl, there's been some cross breeding happening. I really wanted to get a shot of the mallard with a green gooseneck.  
Weather:        50°, partly cloudy.
Extra:            There was a man feeding the waterfowl under the sign that said "Do not feed the ducks and geese".

my first real walk all week (5/52)

Today I took a walk. It was in town, and probably shouldn't count as part of the 52 Hike Challenge, but I will. WIth this wacky weather it's the best I could do. Especially I since I didn't have one last week.

Where did I walk? I did errands on foot,  including going to Aharts and CVS. Exciting, right? Yeah, I thought so. Barely worth a blog post. But I did get an hour of interrupted walking so it counts.

Sunday, I was supposed to go to snow-ga. They cancelled Saturday night. The heavy rains and melted snow and ice, making the park a soggy mess. Then it rained.

Monday thru Friday I did manage to walk a minimum of 9K steps without actually taking a walk. Scenic routes from parking lots. Walking around buildings. Multiple dog walks. My goal was to break 10K everyday. I didn't quite make it on Friday. I'm about 1K away today.

Right now it is snowing. They say 3-6 inches. Maybe I cna actually get my snow shoes out. But then it should be gone by Tuesday when it will be 7-. Wacky weather.

52 week hike challenge:  5/52
Miles/Steps:   2.5 mile 
Weather:        370°, bright and sunny when I left. Cloudy and overcast when I returned.
Extra:             I finished the winter Trail Winter Challenge this week.

fat girl not walking

What a hell of a week. We had snow, we had ice, we had wintery mix, and now it is pouring like heck.

I tried walking and it was too dangerous. Hardly anyone did their sidewalks.  I did do mine. An inch and a half of snow and wintery mix is heavy. I also opened the drain so all the water would run into the sewer. I guess I didn't really realize how heavy a Slurpee was, because that's what I was shoveling. Minus the red dye #40 and sugar.

Yesterday at my all day training, I walked loops around the building. Between each session I also made loops. You might laugh but outside of shoveling it was the most working out I've done all week. I ended the day with 4 miles on my FitBit.

Happy Birthday Alison!

golv: i needed my yak traks today (4/52)

 Today was a Get Out Lehigh Valley walk, this time at Jacobsburg State Park. It was billed as a winter walk in the woods...thinking there might be some snow. I don't think anybody expected a layer of ice.

The bridge was out, so instead of entering the park a mile off the highway, we had to drive all the way around the park. The parking lot is right on the other side of the closed bridge. (I wonder if they will add sidewalks to the new one?)

We met in the lot and headed up a trail toward the eco-center. Then we entered the woods and there was a little coating of snow and black ice on almot all the trails we took.

Uphill was bad. Downhill was worse. People fell. Thankfully I didn't. I walked on the edges in the trails, in the crash. Yeah, sometimes there were bushes and stuff to deal with, but that's easier than ice..

The creek was partially frozen.

We've had some crazy weather. Sub-freezing, to spring like, and back to freezing. Many of the river and waterfalls in the state were frozen solid, with ice dams. I don't know what force broke this ice dam, but the ice was heaved up on the creek banks like boulders.

There was even ice in the meadows. This plant is a mulla (ptilotus exaltatus) It's a printy pink in the summer. It looks cactus-like in the dead of winter.

 The walk ended with a stroll down the Henry's Woods path.

52 week hike challenge:  4/52
Miles/Steps:   3 mile 
Weather:        30°, windy, bright and sunny. The wind hurt.
Bathroom:      I didn't go in. But I heard they were HEATED. Hense they were popular. Outside the bathrooms are hitching posts to anchor your pets while you're in the bathrooms.
Wildlife:         One single bird. A nuthatch, maybe?
Extra:             The Trail Winter Challenge began on the first. You only need 30 miles in one month. Easy.

HAPPY 50th ANNIVERSARY BARB & GARY

go red at cedar creek parkway

The Allentown Health Bureau sponsors the Million Clicks program in the Allentown parks. Yesterday they sponsored a Wear Red event to kick off heart month. It was at noon. I think they did that hopping people would come during lunch. Less than ten people came, and I think 70% were city employees.

It was bone-chilling cold. And the wind was nasty. I wasn't dressed for Cedar Creek Park where it is all wide open.

We assembled at the picnic pavillions and only walked that side of the trail. Waiting for participant was cold.  Freezing cold. Walking helped warm us up. We were going at a good clip and I still didn't sweat.

Afterwards I went to the farmers market. They still haven't filled the huge hole left by Berholder's retirement. While there I saw my friend Pam and her son Nate.

They took a group pic for social media. As soon as it's posted I will grab it.

52 week hike challenge:  n/a
Miles/Steps:   1 mile 
Weather:        overcast, windy, bitter cold. 16 degrees at noon.
Bathroom:      I forgot to check if it was open!