Fit To Ride
Awareness of the outside world. National Recreation and Park Association.
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Three more local parks from my walking adventures. I realize that Birmingham-area parks are of limited interest to people who do not live in the Birmingham area.
a) Humor me. Now that I’ve started this project, I like to keep track of new places.
b) Enjoy the pretty pictures.
c) Think of it as a study in urban land use. Where do we build parks? Why do we build parks? Who uses them?
I have a two walking trails near me, both associated with towns. The parks and walk loops proliferate as one heads into town. Must be an urban/suburban thing.
Seems to me that the Romantics decided nature was inherent “good” for us and the idea stuck. So we build green spaces into our cities. Such spaces definitely get used, but they don’t necessarily have to be be green. A shared urban space could be a plaza or an outdoor mall. Nature used to be a scary and dangerous thing that we wanted to be protected from. Once nature was no longer trying to rend us limb from limb, we deemed it cute.
I almost majored in Urban Studies in college. Decided that would be a stupid thing to do in the wilds of New Hampshire.
Anyway.
The suburban parks I have found are almost all associated with creeks. I assume the nearby water makes the site more expensive to build on. Since the land pressure is not high, developers toss in a park, call it an amenity, and move the house lots a few feet down the road.
July 13, 2021
1.14 miles
31:43 minutes
July 20, 2021
1.03 miles
34:27 minutes
Walked through the puddles on first pass, then back and forth to avoid them. [My Non-Virtual Life, Weather Update] photo
July 20, 2021
1.15 miles
44:34 minutes
July Stats
Daily one mile walks – 11
Weekly dance class – 3, one closed for holiday, one missed for blacksmith.
Biking – 0
Long walk [Hitting The Bricks, Walk Report, Splash of Color Dash Virtual 5K]
Update. Daily mileage to [Biking and Walking Virtually, Mississippi River, Part One, Minnesota]
Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 
You are so blessed with parks! We live in the mountains so walks are really hikes. Tons of hikes available but a gentle grade for a walk without cement is rare. It’s nice to see all the places you walk.
Wish I had parks like that around here. Maybe there are some and I just haven’t found them. Have my doubts, housing is pretty thick around here. Who lives in all these townhouse developments that are going up?
Maybe it’s a Southern thing? Or a low-density city thing?