My Version of the Winter Walk-Off

March 3, 2018

One of the most fun things in my current lifestyle, is the ways I've met new friends.  I now get to pick from the cream of the crop of people who share many of my values, sense of humor, view of the world, and hobbies, from across the country as I volunteer.  And I've had my blog as long as I've been a resident volunteer and have made several virtual friends  through sharing blogs with them or finding their blogs.

One of my first virtual, than real friends is Les Parks, from Norfolk, Virginia.  He writes TWO blogs, one to document his garden and sometimes his work garden, The Norfolk Botanical Garden or other interesting places involving plants, while the other blog  documents his kayaking trips. Since gardening and paddling are probably my top two passions, I soon was commenting on his blogs and he on mine.  Then, just before I was due to work in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, he described a paddle he had done that left me envious.  I asked him if we could get together and paddle when I got up his way. He responded by inviting me to paddle at Merchant's Millpond State Park.

Of course I agreed and drove on north past my assignment to the park to camp before our planned meet-up.  I was already out taking pictures when a car drove up with a kayak on top and a voice said "Marilyn?"I responded Les? and we continued our conversion as though we had known each other always. For that story, click here.

Les invites bloggers to link to his Winter Walk-Off.  I've never had a blog that could fit that category, when he runs it in March, but this year I actually have a few that could qualify. This will be my entry.

My weekend - actually Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday,  was supposed to be cloudy and rainy.  So I planned to do local stuff. I went to Columbus to check out their botanical garden and spent an enjoyable few hours there.  Then I decided to go down and take a walk on the Riverwalk. This is some of what I enjoyed.

The trail begins by an island and where there is a huge wave train where kayakers come to play. Other people fish along the river.  I walked along the river and then had even more fun walking back through the historical district on a street a few blocks from the river,  where there is a great diversity of home styles and colors.  Come along and enjoy a beautiful spring day.

A long view to the island a a few islands

Kayaker in bottom of wave train

I think this must have been a hammock party up the hill from the trail

I loved this color combination, although it is a little washed out from the strong, late sun

How could anybody be unhappy living here

This house was the pretty blue you see at the end and beautifully landscaped

These owners won the award for most plants in the smallest space

There were a lot of craftsman homes

This was almost small enough to fit me

This tree was amazingly large

There were lots of pretty ladies

I walked a few extra blocks to see the entire church under that beautiful steeple but the rest was pretty blah

Another glorious color combination

I was excited to find a dogwood tree starting to bloom - the blooms were at the top while the buds were lower

Loved the architecture of this house as well as the crisp paint job

As I went down the street, the houses got bigger

Suddenly I was out of the neighborhood and back in the city

Then I reached an area with lots of restaurants, bars, and trendy stores - tulips decorated the medians

I loved the chess players

I appreciated this concept to give cyclists a fighting chance

Although this "bike' was pretty intimidating

This seemed so much like New Orleans that I had to cross the street behind my car to capture it

And even the iron work looked like New Orleans

Although this was a 'winter' walk-off, I didn't find much evidence of winter, except for a few dormant trees.  I'd have to call this a spring walk-on.

To enjoy other winter walks, check out Les's blog and the comments.