Back on the horse...or our feet, as the case may be

Western Massachusetts has been a lot like London in the winter this month -- rainy and gray and depressing. Yesterday's relative sunshine got me very interested in walking today, so that's what the small dog and I did.

We cut through Van Horn Park and started working our way down. We traveled down Mooreland to Carew, then turned right onto Parkside. We took that to its end, turned around and then started down Lexington. Lexington is another one of those weird streets that splits for no reason whatsoever, so we turned onto Mayfair, then Chapin, then Lancashire, which put us back on Lexington. That led us all the way down to Chestnut.

We turned off Chestnut onto Montmorenci, where we came across the popular Mima & Andpas convenience store. I didn't take a picture of it because there were a billion people hanging out outside. I don't like taking pictures of people. They might get mad at me.

We went back down to Chestnut and turned up Chapin, coming across Childrens' House Day Care and Preschool, which specializes in infants through kindergarteners, and the Springfield Ronald McDonald House.





We turned off Chapin to go down Medical Center Drive. That took us right through the Baystate Medical Center.





The future husband and I have been to Baystate twice -- once for me and once for him. Both times the wait in the emergency room has been horrific (three or more hours) and they forgot about me after they gave me some morphine to knock me out, but other than that, decent care.

We turned off of Medical Center Drive onto Springfield Street, turning off that onto Caseland. We turned off that onto Shefford, checking that out to finish it up, and then taking Caseland up to Armory. Then it was back through the park on the way home.

211 down, 13 to go

Freedom from Liberty

We have finally finished Liberty Street! Huzzah!

I had the morning off today, so I decided a small dog I know and I should take a walk to finally finish a certain long street. We headed down Carew to where it meets Liberty and turned right. We quickly came upon Sullivan Keating Moran Insurance.



Next to that was the Peking House. An anonymous reviewer on Insider Pages gave the place three stars, writing, "This place has the hugest live lobsters for sale. Food was alright. Prices were reasonable. The place itself needs a little cleaning. The crab ragoons are delicious."



Near the Liberty Street entrance to Van Horn Park is La Iglesia Hermanos Unidos en Cristo (the Church of Brothers United in Christ) and the National Federation of the Blind of Greater Springfield.



We wandered on down past quite a few houses before crossing over Newbury, coming upon Downey Side.



Downey Side's philosophy is rooted in the conviction that every child deserves the right to a permanent and loving family. It is our purpose to work in partnership with the government as a licensed adoption agency to place America's waiting children, who otherwise would remain homeless. We are dedicated to family life for all children and strongly believe that a healthy permanent relationship is the best prevention against homelessness, according to the Web site. Downey Side began in Springfield, Mass., in 1967 when Fr. Paul Engel placed a 17-year-old boy in the home of Margaret Downey. The Springfield Office is proud to be the first Downey Side office and where it all began.

I'm intrigued by the idea of adopting older children, and I've always wanted to adopt. I'm not sure of the hubby's feelings on older child adoption, but we have plenty of time to talk about that. I doubt they'd let a pair of 24-year-olds adopt anyone.

We loped on down Liberty for a while before we came across Academy Hill School. (In the photo, it shows that the school is on Carolyn Price Way, but I'm not counting that as a street, as the Web site states the school's address is on Liberty.) Academy Hill serves bright, gifted and curious students in kindergarten through eighth grade.



Next up was ABC40's news studios.



Further up, across from the Liberty Street entrance to the Springfield Plaza, sits an AutoZone, Pizza Wings & Things Ristorante and a Rent-a-Center.



There's also a Westfield Bank next to the Rent-a-Center.

We cut through the plaza to get to St. James to head back home.

204 down, 20 to go

Atwater Park

Today, the small dog and I journeyed into the land of big, beautiful houses and lush, green lawns -- we went into the Atwater Park sub-neighborhood of Liberty Heights.



We had taken Newbury down to Farnsworth and then started making our way down Springfield Street. We turned onto Atwater Road, checking out Weaver on our way down. We did a quick up and back on Bedford before doing Green Lane and Atwater Place. It was a little noisy down on that end -- Atwater Place is right next to I-91. We turned onto Atwater Terrace, scoping out Candice Circle, as we made our way back to Springfield Street. We took that down to where it meets Chestnut, then turned around to start making our way back up the hill.

On Springfield Street, across from Baystate Medical Center, is Naomi's Inn.



Both Yahoo reviewers gave the place five stars. It's touted as a place to get away and relax, even if you live in the same city. With a ranking like that, it could be a fun place to go next Valentine's Day.

We meandered around Derby Dingle (love it!) and then around half of Shefford before checking out Crestwood. We took Armory back up to Springfield Street, at the corners of which sits the Grace Church of Christ.



This is the stop sign next to the church:



I think it spreads a good message. Especially considering it's kitty-corner from St. Matthew's Cemetery.

On our way back, we swung through Van Horn and the small dog had his first encounter with a turtle. I thought it was hilarious.



203 down, 21 to go