Day 21: East Liberty/Larimer

Unique Streets Walked: 10

Miles Walked: .74

Street Names: Dix, Larimer, Auburn, Ashley, Mayflower, Braden, Carver, Dodge, Paulson, Tyler

Today I took another walk with George. I had promised him that we would go to Target after our walk and as we entered East Liberty I realized he had fallen asleep in the car. I parked on East Liberty Boulevard and saw that the street sign on the next intersection said Larimer Ave. I never knew where Larimer was and had only heard of it because of a butcher that makes some of the best sausage in Pittsburgh. Henry Grasso Co. has been on my list to visit at some point on my walks and I got hopeful that maybe that would happen today.

I got George out of the car and he was surprisingly chipper for just waking up from a nap. This cheerfulness was short-lived. We walked on Dix Way towards a colorful modern building with a rain barrel and solar panels. At the time, I had no idea what it was because the only signs I could see were sun-bleached beyond legibility. Google Maps tells me it is a rain garden. We spotted a small wooden bridge. George ran towards it and attacked the gravel with his face. If you weren’t aware, falling down is a serious sign of an overtired 3-year-old. Miraculously, there was no bloodshed. A few wails and tears later and he was on the middle of the bridge doing a dance.

We walked through the garden towards Auburn Street and saw some tree stumps set up to look like tables and chairs. More lining a pathway to the dining area had door hardware affixed to their sides. There were model antique cars on some of these stumps and I somehow succeeded in convincing George not to take one. These were not The Giving Tree.

Did I mention that it was cold? I had my mittens but George lost his 167th pair last week. I couldn’t in good conscience wear mine while he went without, so we both froze. That’s parenthood for you. It was sunny but very windy. The night before the area had heavy sustained winds with gusts of 60mph. People all over the area were without power and as of this writing (9:53PM 2/25/19) some still are.

It wasn’t as windy today but it was still biting. We saw evidence of last night’s wind all around us. Pieces of a doorframe littered a sidewalk. Roof shingles were all over the street. A large tree was laying horizontal with its soil skirt over its legs. George pretended like he was standing on top of the tree (sort of, I mean, he is 3.)

The whining got louder (George’s audibly, mine internally) and we decided we’d had enough. We passed a cool Airstream…

and got back in the car. We got to Target and both decided we couldn’t wait until Summer.

Relive ‘East Liberty/Larimer Walk!’