There was a chance of rain last Wednesday morning and the forecast called for the temperature to only be in the high 50s, so it was uncertain what kind of a turnout the Piedmont Recreation Department's Walking on Wednesdays walking group would have for its walk. However, instead of a handful of walkers, the group had the largest turnout in its seven month history.
Twenty four walkers and four K-9 best friends were at the Exedra at the group's standard 10:30 AM starting time.
And instead of a cool, rainy day, the skies cleared as the morning passed, the temperature rose, and it was a beautiful day for a fall walk of about 90 minutes.
The group has an informal objective of eventually walking every street in Piedmont. After a recent
walk to one of Piedmont's small, less traveled streets, Gail Lombardi suggested some of her favorites. One is Wallace Road. The group had walked it before, but Sarah Johnson had a suggested route to it, and they knew they could also go to some of the streets around Wallace
that they had not gone to before. So Wallace Road was the group's initial destination. The walkers went down through Piedmont Park to Wildwood Avenue, past Wildwood School to the Five W intersection of Wildwood, Lower Wildwood, Windsor, Warfield, and Wallace.
The group proceeded down the narrow Wallace Road to Palm Drive where they came upon three very large turkeys that somehow escaped Thanksgiving and were walking the street. These were not your skinny wild turkeys, but well feed and completely unafraid of the walkers and their four dogs best friends, who the birds probably outweighed. Without picking a fight, but taking a few candid photos (see attached), the walkers and their best friends continued on to the steep Sylvan
Way, Boulevard Way, the Piedmont portion of Crofton Avenue, so that they could check it off their
walked streets, Warfield Avenue, and back to the Exedra via a return walk up Wildwood and through the park. Along the way the walkers visited streets that many of them had never seen before, and passed unique homes and gardens.
The home at 486 Boulevard Way with its majestic date palm tree and beautiful natural garden is an example of what the walkers enjoyed.
See attached photo. It turned out to be a great day for a Walking on Wednesdays walk with a record number of old and new friends.