Writing Wrongs wrapped up today at noon. I had two choices. Go home or go somewhere. I picked B.
As I established on Friday, I didn't take sneakers. And I started heading toward home trying to pick a place. Then I decided the Pagoda. Totally back on the other side of the city. Oh well.
Again, I tried my GPS. I got maps, but no voice. When I arrived at the area where the parks are, there were a lot of triangular turns and the 15 minute trip took 25 minutes. It's hard to follow when the GPS doesn't talk and there are no stop signs for you to look at the directions. As I was driving up the hill I noticed a lot of trails. Many were over grown, but a few were still well groomed. I need to find out the names of the parks to get trail maps to explore there. I know it will be rustic and hilly.
When I finally arrived at the Pagoda I was a bit surprised. I remembered a big green lawn. But it was built up, more like a park. But the park was not new. It is showing signs of wear, and many "paths" were closed. I'm guessing for safety reasons.
In case you haven't seen this tourist trap, the "Pagoda is 7 stories high, 28 feet wide, 50 feet long, standing 620 feet above the City of Reading and 866 feet above sea level". If it was open I could have climbed the 87 stairs to the top. But alas it was a holiday and it was closed.
There were poop-loads of spotted lantern flies. I personally squished at least two dozen. Everyone was walking around and stomping bugs. The half dozen college-aged Indian men on the floor above me were having a contest -- who could stomp the most bugs!
I was wearing flip flops, not even Birks, so I wanted to stay on paved trails. None of the trails going down were open. It was frustrating. I saw one that went up. But it was rustic, I decided to take it. I'm an idiot. I could have broken something, and left to die covered with spotted lantern flies.
I was able to get a much better picture from that point of view. Coming back I saw the paved trail. How I missed it going up is beyond me. It was crappy but better than what I took up.
The GPS failed me coming down as well. All those triangles without street signs. I needed a navigator. I was on a main street and going down hill. I figured sooner or later I'd end up in the city. That's when I saw this tower. It's the William Penn Memorial Fire Tower and stands 120 feet tall, with 120 steel stairs. It is only open one Sunday a month.
When I reached the bottom of the hill I found Route 12. It went east. I took it. Then I saw a sign that said Allentown, and took that road. Ultimately I ended up on Route 222 and headed home.
I didn't do much walking, but I had fun. And it delayed homecoming for three hours.
When I got home I tried to show Lydia how the GPS didn't talk. It did. I'm wondering if it doesn't talk in the car because it's synced to the car's bluetooth. I'm going to test it tomorrow.
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