North of Clover Basin, west of Fordham St., south of Nelson Rd., east of Airport Rd.
Total for today: 24,670 steps and 4:26 time.
A lot of fairly new sub-divisions here , which have grown up around rural areas. Still a few farms are within today’s walk, along with homes that not that long ago were ‘out in the country’.
WILLOW FARM PARK
I have never been to this park before, so wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I was surprised to see the big red barn as part of the development. I’m not sure if it’s a ‘real’ barn from an original farm that was converted to be part of the park, or if it’s a new structure that was built in the shape of a barn to fit the ‘farm’ theme of the park. It has restrooms in it, but I don’t know what the rest of the structure is used for.
There were art pieces of a cow, and pig dancing, and a turkey driving a tractor. At the other end of the park, there was also a big letter ‘L’, with what appears to be a telescope embedded into it. As I walked up to it, it appeared to be facing toward Long’s Peak. I thought that was a pretty cool idea, having a telescope for the kids to look through that was always aimed at the top of Long’s Peak.
But I was kind of disappointed. When I knelt down to look through it, I found that it is just a hollow pipe, with no magnifying capabilities. And… it may have been facing Long’s Peak, but if so, there was a tree in the way, so all you saw through it was leaves.
Front side of barn
back side of barn
Longmont (or Long’s Peak?) ‘telescope’
cow
dancing pig
turkey driving tractor
Willow Farm Park hollow stone
BLUEGRASS
I enjoy bluegrass music in small doses at a time. After four or five straight songs, though, I need a break. I think the fast-paced banjo playing tires me out after a while
Steve Martin, better known for his many years as a comedian and actor, is actually a very good banjo player, and released an album a few years ago with his music.
Just a few miles down (up?) the road from Longmont is the internationally-renowned annual bluegrass festival in Lyons… Rockygrass, held at the Planet Bluegrass Ranch.
Rockygrass website
Here are three well-known bluegrass songs that I like…
Rocky Top by The Osborne Brothers youtube
Foggy Mountain Breakdown by Steve Martin & Earl Scruggs, etc. youtube
Orange Blossom Special by Annie Staninec, etc. youtube
I’m kind of proud of this photograph. I encountered an unusually high number of swarms of gnats on today’s walk. I zoomed in my camera to take a picture of one of them, and I like the way the gnats show up in the sun…. tiny streaks of white.
hundreds of gnats
For the second time this year, I had to have my wife Jennifer come give me a ride home. My back bike tire was flat when I finished my walk. I now have two new tires, so I hope I’m okay through the rest of the year.
AND THE BEST OF THE REST of the photos…
Nelson Park neighborhood
Fish swallowing mailbox
I’m proud to say my college room mate is head of the Astronomy Dept. at Penn State
wooden mailbox
awesome flower
grumpy toad and cheerful frog
unofficial electrical box painting
official electrical box painting (work-in-progress… the artist is painting as I walk by)
I like the sentiment (but I think ‘Everyday’ should be ‘Every day’)
somebody got TP’ed
back yard wheel?
impressive back porch
former country road (89th St.)
Is Creg a boy’s name (like Greg and Craig combined?)
Bricks and wheel
These looked like mini-horses to me
Eggs 4 Sale
horse grazing
Cactus on Quail Road
goat?
more goats?
basketball on the farm
farm overview
Quail Road Racing
bike path under Airport Road
back deck clock
backyard barbecue? or smoker?
cattails
Colorful backyard art
rusting metal
rural mailbox 1
rural mailbox 2
I’ve seen this same grumpy angel elsewhere on my walks
Business sign 1
Business sign 2
Business sign 2 (other side)
Pizza
Spa
had dozens of pictures with an amusing ‘Jack’ theme inside (I believe out of business now, though)
good cat
bad dog
interesting front yard rock
I didn’t know Longmont had a horseshoeing business!
my mom used to make chokecherry jam (it was a little bitter, I seem to recall)
what’s left of the wagon
livestock chute
dog mailbox
country lane
unusual street names
fairy whispering a secret
same yard
bird art
Willow Creek
going fishing
unusual vegetation
one nice portal
another nice portal
nice back-door portal
maybe I should have taken this picture from another angle…
http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/parks/park_list/overview/willowfarm.htm Information on willow farm park. The barn was not there originally, but was old, moved to the park, and restored. Besides the bathroom, it has a large room you can rent out for parties and things. I lived in Nelson Park as a teenager, and remember when the park was built, so I was curious myself 🙂
thanks for the info… I figured it was a new barn as it looked pretty nice. I’ll have to go inside it sometime! Mark
I found your page by accident and I really enjoy your photographs and your quest. Are you still walking?
Thanks for the comment! I finished the walking as of the end of 2013, so have
not been walking, at least not in an ‘organized’ manner. If you go to the home
page of my web site, it shows my wrap-up and totals for walking all of Longmont.
I do think I would like to start a similar project in a year or so, maybe walk
some of the smaller towns nearby to Longmont.