The Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community is an annual event that I think usually falls the first Saturday in June. This year, like everything else on the planet, it has gone virtual. You had the whole month to finish the walk.
Last week Angel and I decided to do the walk today. We chose the Karl Stirner Arts Trail because we could get ice cream when we were finished. Allowing ice cream and the neighbors dog to come along assured that the teen would be on board. That's Buddy above. Bonus: Buddy is a hypoallergenic breed. I can pet him.
I picked up the team and we headed off to the trail. The lot was full. That's fine, we'll park at the silk mill ... that's where the ice cream is anyway ... and walk over the pedestrian bridge.
We moved the car, parked, and looked toward the bridge. It was closed. They put macadam paths to the bridge and it was still wet, so the bridge was closed. We had to walk through the silk mill, down 13th street, thru the parking lot, to get to the trail. Oh well. It added an extra half mile to the route.
The dog reminded me of Adonis. He had to smell EVERYTHING. And he was clueless what to do at the dog park. The teen ran around but he wasn't interested in following her. And he had no interest at all in doing the labyrinth.
It was a nice walk and we broke no speed records. We headed up to Owowcow. The best ice cream ever. I had it the first time from a cart at a farmers market. Choosing to walk at Lake Noxamixion was always the excuse for going there. Now there's on in Easton. I'm in trouble.
Angel and I went in and the teen stayed outside with the dog. Silly me forgot "mocha" is code word for coffee. My hot sweaty brain thought it was extra chocolate, chocolate chip. Imagine my surprise when it first was in my mouth. It was quite the shock. But I ate the whole thing. My mouth still tastes like coffee.
Speaking of my mouth, at lunch I got something stuck in my tooth. As I was picking it out I lost an old silver filling. Thankfully the dentist has reopened and I have an appointment Thursday. Oddly, my tooth hurt much more before. I even ate the coffee ice cream without an issue.
Yesterday I didn't walk really. We went to Intercourse fabric shopping for a wedding present. One shop was two stories and the first floor was about a third notions. Another third was black fabric, and the final third red, teal, blue ... all the standard Amish solid colors. It reminded us that we were not in the Lehigh Valley anymore. A different store was staffed by Amish girls.
We had Bonnie's grandson with us. For a 6-year-old he was pretty good. He was getting rammy so I had him count the bolts of fabric. One row had 116. Another 128. That meant the one section of the store had over 4000 bolts of fabric.
When we were done shopping the child wanted lunch. The problem was C19. Most places are takeout only until we go Green Friday. He wanted nuggets and French fries. We went to Wendy's. While we were waiting in the drive-thru line I looked on google for a nearby park. We'd have a picnic. One of my walking friends has dubbed 2020 as the Year of the Picnic. There were several. One had a huge play set. We didn't pick that one. It would be taped off. There was another one four miles away. We went there.
Tulpehocken Park was a long skinny park that runs adjacent to the Tulpehocken creek. We parked at the covered bridge parking lot where there was a pavilion, a (locked) comfort station, and tables spread out on the lawn. We chose a table near the creek and under a tree for lunch.
I could not find the covered bridge. Tulpehocken Park features one of the last five covered bridges in Berks County — Wertz Bridge. I went looking for the bridge and a trail too it. We were in the covered bridge lot, so it had to be somewhere. I could faintly see the bridge. I had hope. I walked up the lawn toward the parking lot and found a very obvious macadam path along the road. If we would have come from the other direction we would have seen it and the bridge.
I thought it was a half-mile away. It was less. Bonnie was driving and she said we could go exploring and we did. The child's reward for being good in fabric stores. After crossing the bridge the was a whole network of trails, a visitor's center, and a historic area. This park is on my list of places to return to.
When we were done shopping the child wanted lunch. The problem was C19. Most places are takeout only until we go Green Friday. He wanted nuggets and French fries. We went to Wendy's. While we were waiting in the drive-thru line I looked on google for a nearby park. We'd have a picnic. One of my walking friends has dubbed 2020 as the Year of the Picnic. There were several. One had a huge play set. We didn't pick that one. It would be taped off. There was another one four miles away. We went there.
Tulpehocken Park was a long skinny park that runs adjacent to the Tulpehocken creek. We parked at the covered bridge parking lot where there was a pavilion, a (locked) comfort station, and tables spread out on the lawn. We chose a table near the creek and under a tree for lunch.
I could not find the covered bridge. Tulpehocken Park features one of the last five covered bridges in Berks County — Wertz Bridge. I went looking for the bridge and a trail too it. We were in the covered bridge lot, so it had to be somewhere. I could faintly see the bridge. I had hope. I walked up the lawn toward the parking lot and found a very obvious macadam path along the road. If we would have come from the other direction we would have seen it and the bridge.
I thought it was a half-mile away. It was less. Bonnie was driving and she said we could go exploring and we did. The child's reward for being good in fabric stores. After crossing the bridge the was a whole network of trails, a visitor's center, and a historic area. This park is on my list of places to return to.
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