The first week of my plan to walk all the Grand Concourse trails in St. John’s has gone extremely well, due to 1) being off work all week, 2) having unseasonably nice weather, and 3) that surge of enthusiasm that always comes at the beginning of a new endeavour. Max and I have gone on four walks, accompanied by different family members each time. After that first walk with the kids around Kenny’s Pond, our next venture out was an evening walk through some of the city streets with just Jason, Max and I. We walked parts of the Elizabeth-to-Courthouse route and the Queen’s-Road-to-Elizabeth route, roughly making a big loop from our house on Freshwater Road, downtown and back up again. I think the city street walks will probably mostly get done this way, since I like city streets at night. Walking around St. John’s by night, especially on warm spring and summer evenings, used to be a great pleasure for Jason and me when we were dating and first married, before we had kids to keep us at home or even a dog to walk. Now that the kids are finally old enough that we can go out on our own for a little while in the evening, it’s something we’re starting to do again.
Last night all of us walked around Mundy Pond.
Today Jason, Emma and I took Max around Kent’s Pond (while Chris had gone to a youth meeting at church with a friend).
Today was another gorgeous sunny day and it was great to be out. While I wanted to set a brisker, more exercisey pace to get the blood flowing (and that’s what Max enjoys too), Emma and Jason, who had the camera, wanted to meander more slowly to stop and smell the roses (or, to be more precise, photograph the ducks). So I circled the pond twice while they did it once.
The trails that go around ponds or otherwise in a big loop are our favourites for family walks because you end up where you started, which is generally where you parked the car. But at some point we will have to address the trails that simply go off in one direction, which will involve either having to double back to the start, or get picked up at the end. But that will have to be another week’s adventure.
This Easter break week I’ve gotten lots of fresh air, enjoyed the sunshine, and walked 10.6 kilometres with Max (distances for other family members vary, but Max and I are setting the gold standard).
April 14, 2012 at 7:52 PM
Congratulations! Keep up the good work. When you face the longer trails I know an elderly couple who do most of their Grand Concourse in a car with the heater on, and you can always call on them for a ride back to your car.
Incidently, great pictures, I’m sure the duck’s family would like a copy for their family album.
April 15, 2012 at 1:38 AM
We may need to take you up on that offer of a ride sometime! I think the duck pictures show evidence of Jason’s time in photo class since they seem much sharper and clearer than ducks usually would.
April 17, 2012 at 2:51 PM
Yay to you!! Max is also really enjoying himself by the looks of it.