Day 189- Urban hiking

Day 189- Urban Hiking

Well friends, it has been a month--a whole month since we were last together.

No, I had not forgotten about us. I just needed a wee vacation to get myself all together again.

General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association was in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and so I took the train down there and then slowly made my way back up via Greyhound.

It gave me a lot of time to see these fair states of ours with a lot of time to think, and read and reflect.

The highlights of my trip were walking around strange cities and seeing what I can find.

Some call this "Urban Hiking" or "Urban Exploring". It is the process of hiking through a city instead of nature. It is one of my favorite hobbies. It is a great way to get to know a city, have some exercise and it is free--or mostly free.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to urban hiking. One is the pre-planned route. Doing a little research of the city beforehand can show preplanned historical walking tours, art crawls, or architectural tours. Boston, for instance, has the Freedom Trail, a historical walking tour of Revolutionary Boston. Washington DC has Heritage Trails sprinkled throughout the city. Philadelphia has a walking tour of the Mural District. Chicago has a walking tour of the Art Loop. Or you can plan your own. Sarah Milstein gives the following advice on planning an Urban Hike for friends:

Plan your route, and — this is going to sound crazy — assume you’ll go a mile or maybe two an hour. With a group, you’ll move a lot more slowly than you expect. We usually aim for about five miles (www.gmap-pedometer.com is good for figuring out distances) and include about six points of interest and two takeout food stops.

The other school of thought is the just-show-up school. That is what I did for my trip through the South. For both Savannah and Columbia, I just showed up. While approaching each city, I would ask my neighbors on the bus if any one could recommend sights in the city to see. I kept a budget of how much I was expecting to spend in each city for food, drinks, and souvenirs. Then, I went to the visitor's center and picked up a map. I would then just walk. I would walk up and down streets looking at buildings, gardens and art galleries. I went to brew pubs to eat and would ask the locals who worked there for highlights. And I would just walk. I saw great things. I read every historical plaque I could find and absorbed the cities.

Some highlights of my trip include:
Paula Deen's Restaurant- The Lady and Sons
The Mercer-William's House from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Savannah--Location where Jingle Bells was written
The South Carolina Statehouse and the Vista Arts District
The South Carolina Holocaust Memorial
The Memorial to the inventor of modern day gynecology

After a week of walking and exploring, I burned off 5 lbs from my waistline and took nearly a hundred photos.

It was a great week. And I have urban hiking to thank. So, head out into your city and see what you can discover.