East End Runners

So many decisions could have been bad!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Apr 29 Run: Mellon Park Playground

Meet at the Mellon Park Playground on 5th Ave where Beechwood ends. Virginia will take us on a tour of Shadyside - always delightful.

Anna created a layered run of Lawrenceville which took us on both familiar and never visited routes. We started on the hidden path along the Allegheny River - always a great place to begin - then zigged and zagged across the streets. First we visited the tightly packed worker row houses near the river, climbed up to the slightly bigger "manager" homes, dipped down to the commercial district and ended up with a tour of Allegheny Cemetery. The houses were a mix of fashionably renovated, well-kept and not so well-kept originals making it difficult to chat as there always seemed to be something interesting to see. The cemetery was travel book perfect in its Spring finery and we saw two fox cubs!

Since it took longer than usual to cover all this, we decided to try Expresso A Mano in Lawrenceville again. The last time we were there, the group was bigger and we overwhelmed the small coffee shop. Today we did not seem so disruptive, service was quicker and it was overall a nicer experience (although I have a feeling customers may have been happy to regain their quiet Sunday morning when we left). While there were many topics of interest the one that captured me were the working vacations being planned by Wendy, David and Jan through the aid of https://www.helpx.net/. Check it out. We also learned that Anna, who just joined us will be leaving - good news for her and her husband as they will be moving to Glasgow, Scotland but sad news for the rest of us who have been enjoying her company.

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