day 12 of 18, ghostly edition

Tonight I did the Christmas Historic Haunts tour of downtown. It was fun. Sadly not terrific exercise. But no ghost tour is. Some of the stories were repeats from what I heard on the Revolution one a couple of years ago. The guide was terrific. And the candles were a nice touch.

It began at the Moravian Book Store. (I would have loved to build that tree, but I would not want to re-shelve all those books!) I arrived about 10 minutes before the start. Every time I picked up a book I told myself "no time to read". Five more minutes and I would have spent a $100. My willpower in all things stink. I did buy one book after it was over. It's at the end of the post.

When the guide arrived, a clerk past out the candles and we were off. We headed south on Main, and stopped at the Brethern's House.

Then we moved on to the old Chapel, God's Acre, the Sun Inn, the Hotel Bethlehem and then back for the final story to the Bookstore. The Sun Inn's ghost was documented in an episode of Ghost Hunter's on SyFy.

Clearly, we did not walk far. Maybe, a half to three-quarters of a mile.

This was my purchase. Moravian Walking Guide and Tour Book. It includes walking tours for Nazareth, Bethlehem, Emmaus. The design is weak, but it's packed with stuff. That tiny oval says "Pennsylvania". It made me think maybe there were others for additional Moravian enclaves, like Winston Salem. But since it's published by the Nazareth Historical Society, I doubt it.

day 12 of 18

This is a two-walk day. Will that make up for the two days I didn't walk? I don't think so.

Today the pictures begin with my house. I only decorated outside. Ebenezer Scrooge's evil twin is inside. I didn't realize when I took the picture that the bag of trash was on the porch. (The chairs are facing each other to help keep snow off them during winter.)

I headed down the hill and out Itaska. Then out Broadway toward CVS.

I stopped in the Wells Fargo parking deck to take pictures of the graffiti art project, but too many cars were blocking it. On the way out I noticed this sign.

When I arrived at CVS, I wanted to see if they had leftover Christmas balls—I have a commission for name balls. Alas, they didn't. I'll keep looking. The clearance sales should last most of the weekend. If not, I'll get them next year.

Then I head up Fourth to Delaware.

This house probably looks better at night. Its at the corner of Seneca, 3rd and Delaware. Right on the curve.

I decided not to go out Delaware and went out Seneca instead. I've always loved this door. I was glad they had wreaths on it so I could take a picture.

This porch in the 500 block is a little cluttered, but I really like the sled and skates. The Halloween cauldron is a nice touch.

When I reached Bishopthorpe I headed home. It was only a mile and a half. But it was better than sitting on my butt.

Shortly, I be leaving for the Christmas Haunted Walking Tour downtown. I should get another mile or so in. And hopefully be entertained.

Tomorrow, we will be doing the Downingtown volkssport walk.

haunted christmas walking tours!

I stumbled into a Christmas ghost tour this morning in Historic Bethlehem. This is what happens when you slow down to look at all the nativities in the Moravian Book Stores window.

The walks have been running all month on weekends. I'm going to try and go Friday night. This is certainly on the docket for a group walking adventure next year.

From the website ...
"Ghosts of Christmas Winter Walking Tours 

scary Ghost Stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago…

Join us for a spirited look into the ghosts of Christmas past…Long past? Well, Bethlehem’s past…

Our new winter version of our popular Historic Haunts Ghost Tours will give you chills, and not just from the cold! You’ll hear tales of early Moravian Christmases, learn some local legends, and discover why we are known as Christmas City, U.S.A. Spend an hour with a costumed tour guide and a candle to light your way, while you visit the beautiful Historic District of Downtown Bethlehem and find out if the buildings hold more than just history. Many visitors have experienced Bethlehem’s past in a very vivid manor, and perhaps you will, too on our Ghosts of Christmas walking tour!"

Lydia and I did one during the day a couple years ago. It's interesting, fun, and doesn't burn more than about 5 calories. But you get to use a candle. How cool is that?

Now they need to make one for the south side. I bet that dead steel mill holds a lot of stories ...

no I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

Honest. I just have not been doing much walking. While I am looking for my mojo, I am gaining all the weight back it took me years to get rid of. I am eating like it is the end of the world. I've totally lost control.

The excuse of the moment is the end of the term. I am up to my eyeballs in grading. Chained to a computer like it's a prison sentence. Free time is spent chauffeuring people to and fro.

But it's bigger than that. I think I finally pinpointed it.  I've all my walking buddies are unavailable. I need to re-learn to walk alone. And that's hard. I hate solitude. Blame it on mom for having me last. I thrive in choas. Megan is now working. Bonnie is baby sitting. Lydia has no access to a vehicle. Betsy is injured. Angel is almost living at Target till the holidays are over. Even my colleague moved to Virgina. Everybody is unavailable.

In addition, I am sidetracked by Christmas.  

So far I worked on Christmas gifts. (I'm way behind.) We gone to the lights at the Lehigh Valley Zoo, and made candy house with my niece, her cousin and my friend. Next weekend we are all baking cookies and then sharing so we have more flavors and less quantities.

And Bonnie and I drove the baby to Christkindlmarkt. A mile and a half and we took the car. Sinful. But we wanted a happy baby with St. Nick. Ultimately, he did not care for the experience. (Over the weekend the wee one learned to stand up.)

Saturday Bonnie, Lydia, Megan, baby and I did go to Litiz for the Volkssport "Walk Through Time". It was held at 10:11 on 12/13/14. Cool, huh?

Litiz reminds me a lot of Bethlehem. I guess it's the German and Moravian influences. And it's packed at Christmastime. It was crazy finding a parking spot. We had to walk about a mile to the event, and it was so well attended that they ran out of maps. So we had to wait. Babies don't like waiting.

The route was pretty much a square. It went past Wilbur Chocolate, Linden Hall, and the Julius Sturgis Pretzel factory. Oh, and Hendricks' Flower Shop. I'm sure they thought we were nuts taking a selfie in front of their place.

The baby was pretty good. Talking a lot. We were pretty close to the finish when he became really unhappy. Mommy took him with her to get the car and his food. He was screaming by that point.

After getting our books stamped, I headed for my car and Bonnie and Lydia looked for a restaurant. We ended up going to Pork and Wally's. A lot of Liberty Bell Wanderer's showed up there also.

They we nice. The even nuked the babies food so it wasn't icy cold from the car. He had taken a power nap on the way back with the car, and was perfectly happy again.

Bonnie had "ham wings". They looked delicious. It was the shank portion and made to look kind-of like a lollipop.   Smoked ham on a stick. How could you go wrong?

After lunch we headed to Wilbur, and then back to the Pretzel Factory for the tour. I know I went to a pretzel factory when I was about 12 on a school trip or girl scout trip. But I think it was in Reading. I don't ever remember being in Litiz before.

Nice day. And it's a nice day today. Must get my lazy fat butt outside for a walk.

snakes alive!

Sunday morning the bus pulled out at 9 am for St Mary's City. The first capital of Maryland. The 10K was taking place at the old city, now an interpretive park. I had been up since about 5:15 working in my class.

We arrived in St. Mary's and were greeted by the Freestate Happy Wanderers. The park was closed, but the FHW had permission to use it, and made arrangements for the bathrooms to be open. When they boarded, we were told to use the bathroom on the bus, because the park had no power from a storm the night before!

We got our instructions and did the "city" section of the 5K first. Why I am holding a roll of fat in my hand in the picture, I have no idea!

It was a cool place, and we spent more time being tourists and not enough being walkers. It took about and hour and a half to do the 5K. We got turned around a couple of times.

Highlights of the first section included "The Dove" a tall ship—and an ospry nest. We had seen several of them on the cruise last night also.

After coming up from the ship we headed thru an old cemetery on the campus of St Mary's College of Maryland.  Then back down the hill to find Cross Point Cove. There the instruction were a little vague, and we met up with Sue and Lou (last pix) from the FHW. We spend most of the rest of the hike together, getting lot and found.

Bonnie was in the lead for this hike, and found this birdhouse. She used my camera to take a picture. As she did, a snake slithered out. You can see the bulges in his body where his meal was sitting. Not sure if he got the eggs or the babies. But her got something. He also looked like he used that pole a lot!.

Sue and Lou moved on, as we explored the statehouse gallows. We continued to follow the instructions which took us into the woods. Again, Bonnie, the snake finder, was in the lead. Sh stopped dead in her tracks. Another snake. We waited for him to go back into the forest. (We heard at the start/finish there was another one in a birds nest in the barn.)

We had about an hour left, and didn't think we could finish the second 5K. So we decided to walk for 25 minutes, then turn around and come back. It probably wasn't necessary. We waited about fifteen minutes for walkers who were still in the woods.

Our final stop, before retuning home, was the AnnMarie Sculpture Garden. I could have spent much longer there.

a beautiful weekend

I had the weather on my computer set for Nome, Alaska. It is -22 today as we "await" Bonnie's arrival.  Back at home it's 58. Home is better.

This weekend we concentrated on training for our upcoming 10K, 5K and the stair climb. We also wanted to get Bonnie closer to Nome. She's only 75 miles away after this weekend!

Today we left my house, headed out Cherokee to Brighton, over the Hill-to-Hill Bridge and I gave her these choices: Fahy or Mini Trail Bridges. She Took the Fahy. So we went up Second Ave. to Prospect, past West Side Moravian, up Third to Union Blvd, and back Conestoga.  Up spring, thru the "pee-pee" tunnel and the blacksmith's grounds. Then up the stairs thru Zinzendorf Plaza.  As we headed up Main, Bonnie noticed the Season's was open and we went in and tasted oils, vinegars and salts. Bonnie bought two and I carried them home. Weight training.  We then headed up Broad, down High and Church and finally over the bridge. When we started we were three or four blocks away!

Back on the south side we went down the ramp, out Adams and caught the Greenway. Went out Graham Place and picked up Broadway, headed way up Ontario, down Sioux and home. Total mileage 5.5+ and 120 minutes.

After passing so many markers today, we decided to do all of the history trails this summer. I hope I can get the audio files unzipped. Then I'll need to find an iPod to put them on.

Next weekend is the St. Patty's Day 5K, so I hopped into the car and went to the dollar store. I wanted the Dr. Suess type hats, but Pat told me I'd carry it. Ended up buying dilly boppers. Bonnie's say "Kiss Me I'm Irish." Also stopped at Piggie Park for my Diamond Diva gear. More pink!

Speaking of Divas, I need to get tank tops and start putting the edging on for the stair climb. I have to do five. I'm going to use fun fur yarn and crochet strings. Maybe two or three rows long. I need to also go to Party City and get tiaras to wear. Our team is Dicks Darling Diva's. We're named for Lydia's dad. I also need to dig out pictures of Dick, Henry and Dad to send in for the tribute walk.

Back to walking. Yesterday we did a disappointing 3.75 miles in 90 minutes. But it was almost all hills. Since I don't have time to do 30 miles practice walks, I add lots of hills. Think it might be good for my endurance. I have no science to back it up, but that 100K is in 6 weeks. Gotta try something.

It was a great weekend for walking and Bonnie's totals zoomed up this weekend 210 minutes!

80 stops. 80 stories.

While downtown today I noticed how many of the blue Historic Bethlehem signs there really were. Last fall I discovered they were for the self-guided walking tour, and looked online for information, but didn't find any. Today I found the link.

So I went to download it and you had to pay for the files. No,, let me correct myself. You had to make a donation of a specified amount, then they sent me a link to the walks.

I think it's money well spent.

There are six different tours. Founders, Monocacy, Westward Expansion, Victorian, Farmland to Industry and Steel. I'm downloading the files now, but there appears to be audio clips plus the maps.

Maybe on cooler weekends these will be good, fun, interesting alternatives to 5ks.

walking tour

Today was the Ghost of the Revolution Walking Tour. It was hot. But fun. Not really exercise. But Market Street from Main is one helluva hill.

I dropped Lydia, Sharon off at the Moravian Bookstore and went to look for parking. The tour started and stopped there.

The stories were typical of all ghost tours—lost love, dying soldiers and people still protecting their city. With the revolutionary war as the backdrop. We zig-zaged all thru downtown and God's Acre. Along the way I even learned a couple of things.

Brethren's House. Lyd in yellow, Sharon wearing the hat.

Our guide was a good story teller and dropped bunches of big names—Washington, Franklin, Handcock, Lafayette ....

At the end she asked if there was questions. I had one but didn't dare to ask. Why is a Moravian Tour Guide wearing jewelry? Especially jewelry typical to the late 19th-century? And lace?

my niece is on a roll

Meet Adonis, a St .Bernard/Pit Bull mix. About 5.

My niece has had a tough two years. Both parents died, took care of her dad for a year, bariatric surgery a year ago June 8, and the final straw, losing her job.

I've been trying to get her to go walking and it's always next week. Posted 5Ks for her. Maybe next time. Nothing. She was unhappy that she stuck at -108 but really didn't do anything about it. She was in a super-sized funk.

That all changed when she adopted a dog. Adonis needs to be walked everyday. Suddenly, she rediscovered she likes walking. She's back on her program and has turned into another Jillian. (I guess I'll have to call her Jilly.)

When's the next 5K?

When do you want to go walking?

Want to go on a ghost walk?

She's posting walking jokes and walking slogans on my FB page. One of my favorites is from yesterday.  "Unless you faint, puke or die KEEP WALKING." Turns out it's on a tee shirt. From Jillian. Figures. I like the slogan, might contemplate buying it. But really I don't think puking is a reason to stop walking. Do you?

In a way, it's motivating me too. Maybe I'll get out of my blue funk. I'm also getting emails finally from the Volkksport people. Maybe I can try one of their walks.

End of week update:

I didn't walk Thursday or Friday. I was at a conference in Jersey City. Sat all day and ate high calorie food.

This morning I got up, grabbed Sharon, and we hit the streets for the Lehigh University loop. It's just over three miles. It's barely 12:30 and I already have my 10,000 steps in for the day.

Lydia is coming shortly with the dog and will take him for a walk.

Tomorrow, I'll drag Sharon out for a morning walk but Lyd and I are also going on the Ghosts of the Revolution Walking Tours. Weird, it's at 3 pm. In daylight. Do ghost come out during the daytime?

Monday is the Tortoise and the Hare 5K in Wind Gap. It's supposed to be hot and humid. Just like last year. There isn't a lick of shade on the route.

Weigh in is tomorrow.

I wanna go here

After my disaster at the gym I went to the barf-a-teria in search of healthy food. (wait, wait. Now it's a "food court". Same crap. Different name.) I ended up getting a salad and a slice of veggie pizza. It would have been good if it wasn't soggy.

I took both back to Communications Hall to eat. The Communications department rips apart the Sunday NYTimes and plasters it on the wall. Right at the table I chose was a three-full page article on "Hiking Into History". Suddenly the disaster in the gym seemed far away. I was in love with walking again. I no longer cared that I was out of shape.

From The Times: "The Ridgeway is the oldest continuously used road in Europe, dating back to the Stone Age. Situated in southern England, built by our Neolithic ancestors, it’s at least 5,000 years old, and may even have existed when England was still connected to continental Europe, and the Thames was a tributary of the Rhine." The ancient road is about 40 miles.

I wanna go. Now. But there's a couple of problems. Money, time, and oh, yeah, I don't fly.  But it's another goal. One that I can save money for. Time I can plan. Especially if I include enough for a ocean voyage. A girl can dream.

If you have a dream of walking thru ancient England, you can come along. Here's the website to visit in the meantime.

Again, I borrowed the image from Wikipedia.