The official Van Horn Park post

I set out with the small goal of finishing all the streets off of Newbury today, and the small dog and I did a bit more than that. It was very warm and started out sunny, and then it got darkly overcast and I felt maybe a dozen sprinkles hit me, but the rain held off until we got home.

We traveled down Carew to Newbury once more, turning left onto Huron. We took that all the way down to St. Lawrence, finishing that up, and then turned right off of Huron onto Connecticut. We had been checking out Connecticut all the way from Farnsworth. We turned right onto David, took that to its end, turned around and then turned right onto Wentworth. We took that to its end, turned around, got back onto David, and then turned right onto Tacoma. We followed Tacoma up to Liberty and took Liberty down to the back entrance of Van Horn Park.





This is the small back pond, which turns totally green with algae by the end of the summer.



Where the trail splits is one of my favorite features of the park, a natural staircase formed by the roots of trees.



As we wandered along the trail, I noticed an awful lot of these bastard caterpillars, which can kill whole trees. If I had my way, I'd squish them all but it's the natural order for them to do their thing.



This photo was taken up by Armory Street, by the park entrance closest to Springfield Street. This is my favorite spot in the entire park.



This is the view of the big pond from the bridge on Armory Street.

We followed the sidewalk up Armory to the main entrance to the park and walked in on Catafalque Drive, which is basically the driveway to the park's parking lot. Van Horn offers a splash pad, a playground, several baseball diamonds, tennis courts, a basketball court, a picnic area and even a doggie water fountain. When we were done at the park, we took Armory up to where it meets Carew.

Across Carew from Our Lady of Hope is the House of Huang, Kenny Travel and Tours Income Tax and Kwick Kleaners and Laundromat.





The House of Huang received a glowing five-star review from a person on Yahoo! Local.

Across Armory from those shops were the Racing Mart, the Image Makers II and Jasmin.





The Racing Mart is your typical convenience store; Image Makers -- I'm telling you, you need your hair cut, you come to Liberty Heights; and Jasmin's Creations offers women's clothing and serves as a bridal boutique.

Next to them was El Pilon Restaurant, which Yahoo! Local user rubia gave five stars, stating, "You have to go to this restaurant, I give them an A+. It's one of my favorites. Very good with customers. Fresh food everyday. If you're looking for some spanish food, this is the place to go. Oh, and don't forget to ask for a Natural juice. I tried the tamarindo one and it tasted so good I asked for another one."



Next to that on Carew is Gerardo's Transportation and New Millennium Barber Shop.





After passing the barber shop, we turned left onto Raymond Place to begin our series of short, dead-end streets. After Raymond it was Morrell Street, Van Horn Place, Mystic Court and Dineen Street. Once we'd finished those, we got up to the corner of Carew and Liberty, where Access Family Chiropractic and Facchini & Facchini PC sit across from a Cumberland Farms gas station.





Amanda S. wrote on InsiderPages.com "If you are looking for a chiropractor that really cares about your well being take a look here. Our family is feeling great because of this business. It is amazing how much better life is without aches and pains. The staff is cheerful and helpful. The office is clean and nicely decorated especially for the holidays." The office specializes in whiplash, sleeplessness, no noise or twisting treatment, migraines, fibromyalgia, fat loss and chronic fatigue. They also offer free consultations and free financing. (The "kinky" sign on the side of the building is the best feature of the office in my opinion.)



Facchini & Facchini PC specialize in work place injury, wills and estate planning, serious injuries, real estate - residential/commercial, personal injury, medical malpractice, defective products, criminal defense and car accidents, and they do hablan espanol.

We continued following Carew back up to where it meets Newbury. Just before the corner building is A&H Printing Company.



On the corner sits Angelo's Barbershop, Junction Skatepark and H&K Hair Design.



Junction Skatepark is "a skatepark for skateboarders by skateboarders" -- no bikes, scooters or roller blades allowed. This place is always busy and the kids that hang out there are pretty awesome. They always compliment the small dog and I.

181 down, 42 to go

Adventures off Newbury

The small dog and I headed back down Newbury today to finish more of the streets that jut off it, starting with Upton. We took that to its end, turned onto Milford, and then turned up Park Road, taking that straight across Newbury onto Doyle. We finished Milford today, as we started it on Friday.

When we finished Doyle, we headed over to Morison Terrace, which is the home to Glenwood School.



We crossed Newbury to check out Whitmore, then headed down to Parkin, and then back across to Thornfell. We took Thornfell to its end, wandered down Hartley, then back up Thornfell to Lynwood. Then it was back across Newbury to Francis, which we took all the way down to St. Lawrence. We took that over to Ontario and followed that up to Newbury.

On Ontario is Donna's Family Day Care.



Once we finished Ontario, we were approaching our two-hour benchmark on our walk, so I decided to take us home. There are only a few streets left off of Newbury.

169 down, 54 to go

Gray skies do not deter us!

Despite the darkly overcast skies, the small dog and I managed to get quite a bit done today. We headed down our street to Merrimac to Nottingham, turning onto Carew before turning left onto Liberty. We headed past the plaza toward the bridge over I-291. There's a large cemetery right next to the highway, St. Benedict's.

Once we crossed the highway, we headed down Armory (because it and Liberty do that weird criss-cross thing) to Napier Street.



Here is a link to L.E. Belcher's Web site. Also, if you look in the background to the left, you'll see a sign for American Safety and Supply, which offers everything from flashlights to jumpsuits.



Acme Metals & Recycling has been offering "innovative recycling solutions since 1938," which is great. I'm a big fan of recycling.

Also, down on Chandler is the Springfield Towing Alliance. This business had some issues last year.



East Coast Custom offers "auto body repair, welding, mechanical repair and tire repair" but oddly enough, doesn't have a Web site and isn't listed in the phone book. Hmm.

Napier, as you can see, offers oil, recycling and automotive customization. We turned off Napier to check out Chandler before heading back up Armory. On the way down toward the railroad tracks -- the easterly limit of Liberty Heights -- I came across I.B.S. Electronics and Security and Puerto Rico Bakery and Restaurant.



I.B.S. specializes in "Industrial Services, Commercial Services, Sales, Residential Services, Fire Systems, HUD Fire Alarm Certification, Installation, Fire Alarms Installed/Serviced, Data Cabling." In November 2007, Cindy S. gave them a glowing review.



This particular Puerto Rico location is actually Puerto Rico II, the original being located on Main Street.

Across the street from Puerto Rico, Warwick Street heads off, so we decided to check that out. The first big building we came across was the Sunshine Art Studios.



I can't tell if this building is still in use or not, but I think it's a wicked cool building. Here's the story of Sunshine Art Studios.

Up from that was Comcolor. Comcolor offers full service digital media.



At the end of Warwick, we turned onto Heywood. We came across this building, which looks abandoned and most likely is:



On the corner of Heywood and Liberty is the Youth Assessment Center for the Springfield Police Department. We turned left at the end of Heywood onto Liberty, following it down just past Vinton, where I snapped this picture of the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center:



The center is run by Captains Douglas and Bethannie Dolder.

We went back up Vinton to Franklin. At the corner of Franklin and Underwood is Our Lady of the Rosary Parish Hall.



We turned right onto Franklin before turning left onto Underwood. We took that to its end before turning back onto Franklin and then turning right onto Webster. A lot of these streets were one way, and small dog and I were walking the wrong direction.

We took Webster down to Liberty, turning left onto it before turning left again onto Murray Hill Avenue. We took a left kitty-corner to head onto Crane Street, following that up around to Halsey and taking that to Nursery Street part 2. At the corner of Nursery and Franklin is the greatest store ever, the Franklin Street Super Market.



Free delivery? That's awesome.

We crossed Franklin to finish Nursery, heading back toward Liberty. We turned left onto Liberty, then left onto Columbia Terrace. We turned back around and continued heading back up Liberty. We turned left onto Tracy and then right onto Franklin, which turned into Genesee. At the corner of Liberty and Genesee is Gurdon Bill Park. It is not as fabulous as Van Horn, but I do love me some green space.



We turned left onto Armory and then turned left again onto Ledyard, and checked out Wolcott Street part 2 before heading back across the highway.

I didn't mention this before, but in the island created by the criss-crossing of Armory and Liberty, there's a state trooper barracks. Good to know those guys are right down the road.

Only four streets left to officially finish this side of Carew!

119 down, 104 to go