fitness challenge—horseback riding

I can't remember the last time I went horseback riding. It was with Girl Scouts, at a dude ranch, and I had the worse allery attack ever.

Thankfully that didn't happen this time. (Thanks generic Claratin!)

My friend Pam suggested this activity after our paddle boarding adventure. She found us a Groupon, so we saved big bucks on this outing. (Groupon could be hazardous to your budget. Must stay away!)

Fitness friend Dawn also came. Riding is on her bucket list. Dawn and I met at the Rt 33 Park and Ride and we headed up to "Bangor". I have no idea where we were but Bangor was 15 minutes south. We left at 10 for our 11 ride. It took 45 minutes. Google suggested 37. Dawn brought the GPS so that save us from getting lost.

We arrived and parked and waited for Pam's family to arrive. They got lost so they were late.  Pam brought her husband and both girls. Hannah came home from college to ride today. She really wanted to come.

Dawn got the first horse. It probably took a good 20 minutes to load us on to horses. I left the others go first, so I got the last one — Rocky. He likes to walk fast so they make us stay at the end. He didn't like it. He kept creeping up on Pam's horse and getting his face in her horses butt. "Rocky, stay out of Pam's tushy!" He didn't listen. He wanted to be in the front. Hannah's horse had pretty white spots.

Rocky like to hug the trees and my knee actually hit a stop sign. His love of trees also may have gotten me in trouble. We were on the way back and Pam said, "watch, poison." Too late. I thought that my shirt got the bulk of it, but perhaps not. After I showered I noticed my hands were red and bumpy. I might have transferred the poison from Rocky to me when I got off. We'll see.

I'm not sure how much exercise this was. I guess a lot would be muscle control. Almost isometric. Maybe. Science is not my strong suite.

During the ride we discussed other fitness challenges. Pam suggested belly dancing. Alas, I thought of that also but no one I found so far offers single classes. Connie, who's 16, wants to try pole dancing. If only we were in Kentucky. Maria would do a class for us.  However, Sweat Like A Girl, which is in Nazareth, you need to be 18. But they do have drop-in classes for a wide variety of classes similar to what Maria offers...

Tomorrow is the Via Marathon. All our nrmal haunts will be cluttered with people. Roads will be closed off. So we're going to walk in Trout Creek Park under the Susquehanna Street bridge.

Storms brewing. Night all.

monocacy trail

We were scheduled to walk the Parkway at 9 this morning. At 8:25 Lyd arrived with the dog. At the same time the phone rang. It was Bonnie. "I overslept. I'm not walking today." So instead of walking in Allentown we stayed in Bethlehem.

First stop, Hotel B. We had to refill the Volkssport box with start cards. That's usually a very popular walk, but with the south Bethlehem walk and the new Allentown walk, it's getting minimal traffic.

We headed down to the historic district and up Conastoga Street to the trail head. It's so humid, we were soaked. Then headed out the trail to the Burnside Plantation where we visited the gardens and the police horses. When we reached Paint Mill Road, we crossed the railroad track, and used the track at the old 24/7 fitness center, then turned around, retraced our steps, and headed back to the hotel. With a stop at the Millers garden.

When we returned home we took the dog for a long walk, bumping our total to almost 4 miles.

Tomorrow I have to head out early. My sister is coming at 10.

snowy day!

Today was the volkssport Bethlehem walk. It was snowing, and they are calling for six inches. Only four of us came.

We met at the start point. Pat passed over many supplies for my job as trail tender for this area. Including the new walk box and cookies for the southside Comfort Suites. I didn't deliver it today. Maybe this week. Then I can see the ethnic tree display.

We did the 2nd 5k of the Bethlehem walk because of the weather. I had never done it in it's entirety. It's one of those crazy Volkssport loopy walks to get the mileage in.

We were careful walking, but Pat still fell in Nisky Hill Cemetery. After that we were extra careful.

When we returned to Main Street, we went to Granny McCartney's for breakfast, then head to the Sun Inn for the Christmas Village. There we met Bonnie's favorite horses—George and Raven. George has on the antlers. Not as many vendors were there because of the weather. But it was nice.

We hiked back to the car and went to the Russian Orthodox churches bazaar. It' time to stock up on pierogies. I almost bought halupkies too, but I could hear my roomie saying we can make those. yeah, we can, but they are not the same.

Last stop, the post office. We arrived as they were closing, but they took Bonnies cards to hand-stamp anyway. That was nice. Mine are not hand-stamped this year, since mine are more of a New Year's greeting. Only the solstice and Christmas fall in December this year. With a card list that includes Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Atheists, and Pagans, I didn't feel that season's greetings or happy holidays worked. Maybe next year our calendars will be back in sync.

At 3, I'm off to my brother David's house. I need to take his package in.  Hopefully the roads are not too bad yet. The snow is starting to accumulate. I haven't decided if I'm going to take off a layer of snow or not while I'm there. They want the snow to change to sleet/ice and maybe rain. A snow pack makes it easier to clear that crap.