January 22 (part 2) — Old North Longmont

Old North Longmont — north  of 9th Avenue, west of Main, south of Mountain View, east of Gay

I chose this area to walk today because of one reason — the new Taco John’s restaurant opens today!  My favorite fast food restaurant.  The one at the same location closed about five years ago, so I’ve been missing it.  In today’s Times-Call there was a big article about it’s history, and said it will be open 7 days a week, from 6:30 am to midnight.

When I walked by at 11:30 am, there were cars backed up on Main St. about 4 or 5 cars deep!  I stepped  into the lobby for a minute, and it was only about half-full.  When my wife Jennifer came by with me toward the end of my walk, about 1:00 pm, the cars outside were not backed up quite as far, but now the lobby was standing room only!

Jennifer walked with me part of the way today… probably a little over a mile.  I think she enjoyed it, and kept noticing different things than myself.  She is also MUCH more outgoing than I am, so we had a few longer conversations with a few people we met along the way than would have been if it was just me.  So it was a nice change.  Maybe she’ll join me again every once in a while.

I saw maybe 8 tree houses today, many more than I’ve see in other areas.  It’s almost like one kid got a cool tree house, and other kids in the neighborhood kept begging until they got one too!

Major tree trimming was going on at Bross street today… 3 or 4 ‘cherrypickers’ (is that what they’re called?) all up in the branches at one time on the east side of the sidewalk.  At first I thought I would have to skip that block today and come back to it later, because there was a ‘Sidewalk Closed’ sign there.  But fortunately it was only on one side of the street.

I went past a house that was nicely remodeled by Robert Hutyra (spelling?) about 15 years ago.  It’s just about a block from Jennifer’s office.  He had a very interesting story — there was a big article in the Times-Call about him back then.  He escaped with his family from Czechoslovakia in a home-made balloon during the Soviet occupation.

(I haven’t tried this yet, but I just googled his name, and see there is a People magazine article archived about him.  Let me see if I can put a link here so you can read more about him if you want…)

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20090314,00.html

 

(I think it worked…. YEAH!!)

Mountain View cemetery takes up the north-east quadrant of today’s area.  Although this is a little bit outside the purview of my ‘street-walking’, I did make one sweep around the interior of it.  I wanted in particular to take a picture of the front and back of the gravestone from ‘Suitcase’ Jones.  It looks like he must have led an interesting life too!

The west side of the cemetery shows up as Cinnamon Street on google maps… but between 11th and Mountain View, it is really more of a one-way alley.  There are no houses facing on to it, and no street name sign to encourage people to drive through.  North of Mountain View it appears to become an actual street.

Opening Day!

Opening Day!

 

Today's Neighborhood

Today’s Neighborhood

 

some cute bears

some cute bears

 

Goofy and Mighty Mouse keep an eye on the alley

Goofy and Mighty Mouse keep an eye on the alley

 

A backyard climbing wall?

A backyard climbing wall?

 

Tree House # 1

Tree House # 1

 

Tree house # 2

Tree house # 2

 

Tree house # 3

Tree house # 3

 

Tree trimmers on Bross

Tree trimmers on Bross

 

Backyard ghoul

Backyard ghoul

 

Bad dog!!!

Bad dog!!!

 

A Bird Lover

A Bird Lover

 

Robert Hutyra's (former?) house

Robert Hutyra’s (former?) house

 

"Suitcase" Jones front

“Suitcase” Jones front

 

"Suitcase" Jones back

“Suitcase” Jones back

 

Lots of cool gravestones in Mountain View

Lots of cool gravestones in Mountain View

 

You decide...

You decide…

 

Gingerbread house

Gingerbread house

 

Jennifer knows some of the story behind this

Jennifer knows some of the story behind this

 

part lion... part dog... part man??

part lion… part dog… part man??

 

Frogs or toads were all over this yard... this was the biggest

Frogs or toads were all over this yard… this was the biggest

 

Business wall art # 1

Business wall art # 1

 

Business wall art # 2

Business wall art # 2

 

Traffic back-up at Taco John's

Traffic back-up at Taco John’s

 

Bumper sticker of the day

Bumper sticker of the day

 

Good food at a good price!  But the sign is a month too  late or 10 months early!

Good food at a good price! But the sign is a month too late or 10 months early!

 

 

Star Wars family

Star Wars family

 

Looks like a very old trash burner.

Looks like a very old trash burner.

 

I'll be back

I’ll be back

Home business?Home business?

((( Update on 6/30/13  === added the following two pictures from the Lost & Found Theme Gallery yard…

sexy mermaid

sexy mermaid

 

knight of the chessboard

knight of the chessboard

I was intrigued by the ‘Oil Spill 420’ sign.  To tell the truth, I did not notice the swastika on it until I got home and looked at the photo on the computer.  I decided to try googling ‘oil spill 420’ to see if I could figure out what it was referring to.  Apparently the BP gulf oil spill started on 4/20/2010, so that explains part of it.  But there are also sites talking about Queen Elizabeth II, Canadian currency, Egyptian gods, marijuana, and other complicated stuff.  Not sure what to make of it!!?!

That’s about it for today.  I’ll mention the book I finished reading recently… “Flowers in the Attic” by V.C. Andrews.  I used to see this book in the grocery store checkout lines back in the 1980’s, where the paperback version had a haunting picture of a girl looking out of an attic window.  It’s certainly an interesting, gothic-but-modern type novel.  At the time I thought it was for junior high or high school age kids, but it deals with some incest topics that made me realize it’s really aimed at an older audience.  Don’t know if I’d actually recommend it, but it is a different and memorable novel.

Total for today:  22,150 steps, 4:16 time

7 thoughts on “January 22 (part 2) — Old North Longmont

  1. Nearly all of these pictures are within a few blocks of my office, so this is a fun blog for me. I did really enjoy walking with you today. It was a beautiful 50 degree day. I think anyone that knows us, realizes that I am more outgoing than you. So it’s no surprise that my favorite moments of our walk were visiting with a nice man that invited us into his yard to get a better look at his treasures and even into his home to see some of the wonderful work that he’d done, and having lunch with an sweet older lady and an off duty police officer in Taco John’s that we shared our table with. Wow.. that is a VERY long sentence… now you know why YOU are the one writing the Walking Blog! Keep up the good work. I love seeing your pictures and discovering Longmont through your eyes.

  2. I really enjoyed your blog Mark and the photos. It will be interesting for me to follow you since I lived in Longmont and know some of the areas. You have a wonderful way of explaining areas
    and you picked some curious subjects to photograph. So fun, thanks.

  3. Well bro congrats. I can’t belive you are still at it. I had forgot about your mission until Mom asked me to find your websight today. Very interesting. Keep up the good work. Randy

  4. How great that Jenni could join you on one of your walks. As usual I enjoyed seeing Longmont through your eyes. Keep up the good work.

  5. Well, favorite 2nd oldest brother! Looks like I might have to start being nicer to you if you are going to become famous on this blog here.

    BTW, it is just my opinion, but Taco Johns may very well be the finest Mexican restaurant on the planet.

Leave a Reply to sue Marken Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


− 2 = one