Yesterday’s bike ride was long, made longer by an nighttime ride to and from Federal Hill for a fundraising party where it was all dancing, so today I woke up sore and tired, legs like lead. But it was Sunday morning, and it was Sunday Morning Hiking Club, so I had to stretch and get on out there. Today we walked through Druid Hill Park. I’ve biked all over that park dozens of times, but I’d actually never *walked* in it–makes it a totally different place. We started at this small section of the park behind the new apartments in Woodberry. The clearing is covered with leftovers from Baltimore’s city marble quarry (or something). And there was this bench–it has a little spot underneath to stow a book, including a little plastic cover to keep the pages safe in the rain. Apparently there are a number of benches like this in Baltimore parks, but it was new to me. Sometimes it’s better to walk. A few hours later and I was home, working, and then, I don’t know if you’ve heard but…the Ravens are going to the Super Bowl!
parks
Fog and Trees at Leakin Park Behind the Old Backstop at Seminole & Kevin Road
I didn’t ride a bike today, but I did take a walk with my Sunday Morning Hiking Club. We did a repeat walk around Leakin Park, and here are some of the things I saw: a rusted out backstop with the winter remains of ivy climbing up one side, stands of skinny, naked trees, the undersides of giant thrown trees caked with mud, two cupped mushroom caps on stalks poking out of leaves, piles of deer shit, the leavings of experiments and observation, piles of corn, a deer stand, a yellow-green golf ball, the front wheel and pedals of a Big Wheel, a baseball worn down to the threads, a plastic grocery bag, an empty and unmarked brown glass bottle, an old tire, green scaly mushrooms growing out of downed trees, a tiny salamander in his tiny tree bark house, a sledgehammer head, and unidentified scat. There were other things, I’m sure, but I wasn’t taking notes. All in all we maybe tramped around 1/20th of the park. Good thing there are many, many Sundays in Baltimore in my future, eh?
Two Row Houses at Chase & Barclay
I had to work today, but not until 1:00pm, so after getting some writing done in the morning. I hopped on the bike in sunny, almost 50-degree weather and zipped down the hill for a quick swim. I make this same ride so often–it’s like the two miles on St. Charles I used to pedal every day. I did my few laps and then raced back up the hill–1:00 comes fast when it’s a lovely day like today, and I was running late. As I made my way up Fallsway I made myself slow down enough to look around and appreciate the scene. I stopped to snap this picture at Chase, looking east to Barclay. There used to be a big pile of dirt in the foreground, but it got slowly moved across the street, replacing the row houses that were being torn down to make room for a new park. A couple weeks ago they started to get the red house ready for demolition, and the white one wore a couple strands of Christmas lights. The red one is getting closer to getting knocked down today, but it’s still there. D. walks her dog in this neighborhood, and she told me the woman in the white house refuses to sell. This might look like an abandoned block, but it’s not–she lives there, and she wants to stay. So she’s staying, and now she’ll live next to a park. I hope she enjoys it, and I hope D. keeps walking her dog over there and getting to know that neighbor across the way. I pledge to keep riding my bike by it, day after day after day, eyes open.
The Stonewall Jackson National Shrine in Guinea Station, Virginia
Ok, I didn’t see it from my bike today. I saw it from N.’s car. She drove me back to Virginia to pick up my car after it broke down there last week. How nice is that? People are awesome. Anyway, I didn’t see it from my bike, but it’s why I have a car, and it’s something I’ll come back and see by bike someday, because the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park has a bike map! Sometimes cars are really helpful. Anyway, this is the house where Stonewall Jackson died after one of the battles at Fredericksburg over the course of 18 months during the Civil War, halfway between the two capitals. Continue reading
View Across the Harbor at Canton Waterfront Park
I finally had time today for a slightly longer ride, and oh it felt good to be on the Surly, clipped in, and just pedaling. I headed down the hill, took a left, and zipped through Fells Point and over to Canton for a swim, and it all just felt like the right kind of home. I stopped on my way back to snap this picture at Canton Waterfront Park. It’s a familiar view at this point, the naval ships and industrial parks and rising condos and all the ugliness behind those things, but today it was all water and sky and Baltimore just felt beautiful. I made a quick stop for eggs and toast before snaking my way to Gough Street and the ride to Little Italy, back through Jonestown and up the Fallsway to home. Oh yes, that’s better.
Beer Cans on the Jones Falls Trail Under Hampden
It’s Sunday, time for another meeting of the Sunday Morning Hiking Club! Our member with a good sense of direction and the commitment to get us somewhere good was under the weather, though, leaving A., S., and I to our own devices. We didn’t go far, just heading to Hampden. After a couple of false starts we managed to get on a trail following the Jones Falls, which still runs through Baltimore, underneath all the streets and expressways named after it. Continue reading
Sunset Behind Bare Trees in Druid Hill Park on the Jones Falls Trail
I had one of those perfectly lovely days, the kind where you wake up where you’re supposed to be and spend your morning doing things you’re supposed to be doing, and then there’s a meeting, but then you’re on your bike riding through the park on an unseasonably warm day. That part’s wrong, but like so very many wrong things, it feels so good. It was like springtime on my bare legs as I pedaled along, I swear. Continue reading
View From Middle Branch Park Out By Harbor Hospital on the Gwynns Falls Trail
My dad was in town for a visit and I had the day off work, so we rented him a bicycle so we could ride around Baltimore together. I had about a thousand rides to take him on, but we didn’t have forever and he rented a bike not built for climbing, so I just took him down the hill and on the Gwynns Falls Trail around to Middle Branch Park. I led the way, using my hand signals, being reminded to point out road hazards, and thinking just a few turns ahead. Continue reading
People Gathered at the Maryland Heights Overlook at Harper’s Ferry National Park
Ok, so this isn’t what I saw riding my bike around today. It’s what I saw riding my bike around today. It’s what I saw yesterday when S. and I lugged our over-buffet-ed Thanksgiving selves up the side of the hill that felt like a mountain, and as you can see, we weren’t the only ones who had the idea yesterday. Continue reading
BMX Rider at Carroll Park Skatepark at Bayard & Herkimer
It’s cold and windy in Baltimore, but I needed to go on a bike ride today, badly. I remembered my father’s insistence that “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing,” piled on my wool and layers, and hopped on the bike to see what was happening out there today. I flew down the hill to downtown and then took an unexpected left to follow the anti-marriage equality truck to a rally at War Memorial Plaza that was ostensibly “Not a protest. Not a festival. Not a rally. Not a time for speeches, sermons, stumping or pontification.” Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 