3/20/2010 Monument Valley Park, Colorado Springs

Finally a real walk. I was never so glad to put my tennis shoes on and head outside for an uninterrupted walk. It was 17 degrees outside when I left for class this morning, but by the end of the day, it had risen to 40 and most of the snow was gone, at least on the roads. I really wasn't prepared for snow and cold. When I left home a week ago, the weather forecast for here was much better, so I didn't bring a heavy coat, hat, or gloves. Now at home if I went for a walk even in the 50s, I have my hat and gloves on, but compared to the early morning temperatures, this afternoon felt real warm. I did some quick research online after my class, and headed to Monument Valley Park which is just a few miles from my hotel. It is actually on the national register of historic places. It is a very nice park with a beautiful trail along Monument Creek that was developed in 1904. Lots of people were out walking or jogging, and I got there just as the sun was dropping below the mountains. Twice now I have done walks just as the sun was setting, and the light it casts really creates some beautiful colors. My walk was 2.56 miles out and back on the trail, a dirt trail raised above the river. The mountains were to the west and south, and it was quite pretty. The Creek that runs along the trail has little waterfalls every so often.

 Heading out on the trail was pretty good. The first time I walk a trail, there's a bit of excitement in what I will discover, if I will get any great pictures, so the walk out or the first half of the walk always goes pretty fast. The walk back or the second half is another story. Tonight the story was COLD. After the sun went down, the temperature dropped pretty quickly. In fact it was down to 34 degrees by the time I got back to the car. I had no hat, no gloves, and only a wind/rain jacket for a coat. My ears, face, and hands were pretty cold when I finished. But it sure felt good to walk. You can see my route and data here: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/650711

3/19/2010 Airports and Snow

What a switch a day makes. 2.9 miles today, mostly in airports: LaGuardia, Minneapolis, and Denver.  It was a beautiful day when I left New York; in fact I heard the temperature got to be near 70 on Friday. By the time I got to Denver, however, it was 30 degrees and snowing like crazy.  I made a conscious effort to walk as much as I could in between flights, but when I got to Colorado and it was snowing, I was a bit concerned. I had no hat or gloves. I headed to Colorado Springs in near blizzard conditions, as the picture shows. Of course, I had to take my hands off the steering wheel to get this picture, so I guess it wasn't that bad. After all, you could still see pavement. However, there had been many accidents as this snowstorm hit people by surprise, so I pulled off at an Outlet mall and did some walking there to add a few steps to my mileage.  I did go into a few stores, but I bared the weather and walked as much as I could. Mind you, this was an outside mall. I am looking forward to being able to go for a REAL walk tomorrow. Hope it doesn't snow again.

3/18/2010 New York City

I clocked in 3 miles today, some while teaching a class all day and the rest walking around the city; mostly up and down the Times Square area.  It was a beautiful day in the city again, very warm. A light jacket is all that was needed. Our training was in a building right next door to Radio City Music Hall, but I didn't see any Rockettes.

 After teaching all day and then getting back to the hotel, Heidi and I headed to the theater district to have dinner and attend the play Memphis. We had a great dinner and the play was wonderful. I was a bit dubious when a stand-in was playing the lead role, but I can't imagine anyone doing a better job. The music was excellent as was the story. If you ever get the chance, don't miss it. After the play and a bit more walking, in search of ice cream this time, we headed for one last memorable New York City activity, a carriage ride in Central Park. We had a great driver, it was a beautiful night, and a perfect ending to a quick stay in the city.

3/17/2010 St. Patrick's Day in New York

Wow! What can I say? Being in New York on St. Patrick's Day has been quite the experience.  We arrived in town just as the parade was getting over; the only error in planning so far.  After checking into our hotel, we headed for the World Trade Center Memorial. Last time I was there was at least 5 years ago, and quite a bit has changed now. They have an information center that shows what the memorial will look like when it is done. They plan to have it finished on September 11, 2011.  It is really going to be a beautiful memorial. Quite a bit of work has been done on the site already. It's not easy to get a look into the building area, except through some elevated walkways they have built around the perimeter, and even then you can't get too close to the glass.
After a trip to Battery Park to look at the Statue of Liberty, we headed to the Empire State Building via Chinatown and Little Italy.  I couldn't believe the lines at the Empire State Building, or in fact, that they now charge $20 to go to the Observation Deck. How can a family afford that? It took over an hour to get to the top and back down, but it was worth it, as we were presented with a beautiful sunset.
 I have been to the top several times, but never have I seen a sunset from there. After that, time for dinner! Corned Beef and Cabbage--what else would have on this day? Well, Richard had Shepherd's Pie. I was amazed to see many, many firemen in dress uniform drinking and dancing, and all out having a good time at Legends where we had dinner. I am guessing they were in the parade today. Lots of crazies out tonight, and Time Square was pretty amazing. It was hopping with people. We had our pictures taken with Elmo (for a small fee), a fireman, a police car, and Miss Pakistan who was in Times Square for a photo shoot. Like I said, interesting evening. We walked a lot today; in fact, 5.3 miles! Whew! And add to that 6 floors of stairs we chose to walk up (and back down) at the Empire State Building to beat the crowds. THAT nearly killed me--not my knee; my lungs. All in all it was a great day to be in New York City and one St. Patrick's Day I won't soon forget.

3/16/2010 Boston

Finally a good walking day again! After teaching all day, and logging over two miles during class, my friends Heidi and Richard and I walked from our hotel to the North End of Boston (the Little Italy area), via a few pubs along the way, including the Bell in Hand Tavern (the oldest bar in the country) and The Purple Shamrock. This picture is outside the Bell in Hand Tavern.

 We walked past the Old North Church, actually all around that block, after a great Italian dinner at a nice little restaurant.  It's pretty amazing to think about the history that took place on some of the same land streets we walk on here. We followed the Freedom Trail for part opf our walk tonight. Our evening walk was 2.3 miles, and it was a beautiful evening. It was a good choice to walk back to the hotel after dinner and not take a cab. Yesterday was the end of several days of major rain back here, so the blue skies were much appreciated by all. Our training site had a beautiful view of the Charles River and all day we could see the rowers and sailboats making use of the good weather. Our walking route tonight can be seen here: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/646283

Tomorrow we head to New York City. Lots of walking planned for tomorrow as we will cram in as much sightseeing as possible.

3/15/2010 Airports and Hotels

I only managed 1.75 miles today; not much compared to how I have been doing, but flying cross country is hard to get in the miles walking. I left Seattle at 6:30 AM today and arrived at my hotel in Boston at 9:00 PM (6:00 PST), nearly 12 hours later. By the time we went for dinner and did some prep work for tomorrow's classes it was very late. Probably 1/2 the walking was at airports, the other half was down the street a few blocks and back for dinner. Our flight out of JFK Airport in New York to Boston was delayed nearly two hours, but they kept delaying it like 30 minutes at a time, so we really couldn't wander off too far. We settled for chairs in a bar instead!  Tomorrow will be better, I'm sure!

3/14/2010 Busy Day of Walking

Whew! Today was a busy day. Being a procrastinator, and also hating to pack, I put off all preparations for my upcoming 10 day trip until today. I clocked in over 2 miles of walking through parking lots and stores before I arrived in Seattle tonight. Now that I am walking every day, I look for parking spaces father away from store entrances. No need to take the parking spots that are closest. I'll leave those for people who need them. No pictures today. Flying out tomorrow morning for Boston, then New York on Wednesday, and Colorado Springs on Friday. Busy week ahead. Not sure about tomorrow. Might be a treadmill night at the hotel or a 30 minute walk at JFK waiting for our flight to Boston. Wonder how many miles I could walk on the plane if they let me just pace up and down the aisle? Unfortunately I have a window seat, so that won't be very likely. I haven't ever seen anyone do that, but on a cross country flight, that wouldn't be a bad idea. However, they do seem to keep the seatbelt lights on for a good part of the flights these days. Stay tuned! Interesting week ahead.