Tree cave
I have a new lunchtime walk. I work in a “business park” south of the little Planet Ann Arbor Airport. Our park used to be a farm. The owner was Mr. Avis. Maybe you’ve heard of Avis Car Rental? Some of my co-workers have been around long enough to remember Mr. Avis being driven around the grounds of his business park in a golf cart. Me? I had to google where the heck Avis Drive was when I went in for my first interview. Avis? Hmmm, sounds like a car rental place…
I have a loverly little eight-mile commute. I’d like it better if I could walk to work but this isn’t too bad. It takes some doing to run errands during my lunch hour. It is a half mile or so just to get out of the park. But I sometimes do run errands. More often, I take a walk. My systems analyst user design type job is, let’s face it, sedentary, although it takes my brain into wormholes you can only imagine. Alzheimer’s? As long as I have this job, you won’t be gettin’ me! But I am not a sedentary person and I need to get out and walk or whatever during my lunch hour.
There is a built-in nature trail in our business park that I can walk and I did that for a long time. The problem with that is that it is all pavement and there’s a pretty long trek through parking lots, etc., to get there and then there are all those biz-caz-tennis-shoe folks I have to say hi to. And I don’t mind that. It’s just that I don’t feel like I’m really part of that type of lunchtime exercise crowd. Even though I, er, am doing exactly that.
I have devised a new route! It involves a walk across grassland (admittedly, it’s mowed) and ends in a tree cave to die for! And nobody else ever seems to walk over there. Photos below, click to enlarge. These are from my iPhone. I actually like the iPhone camera but it is what it is and the bright sunlight and high winds interfered somewhat.
June 30th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
My 25 minutes for lunch wouldn’t give me much of a walk. 🙁 My commute is about 5 miles, I think. (8-10 minutes depending on stoplights) It’s over stressfree country roads though, not freeway or heavy traffic.
July 1st, 2010 at 6:13 am
If I were a high school teacher (like Margaret), I would probably not be out walking either. Teaching is anything but a sedentary job and, of course, 25 minutes is not enough time! I can come back from my walk (about a half hour) and eat whatever I’ve managed to scrabble together into a lunch in front of my screen.
July 1st, 2010 at 8:12 am
Saw an article on the TV news about how sitting is bad for you. (So how many people were sitting in front of the TV, receiving this news?) They showed one writer who had set up a high writing surface with a treadmill underneath. She said she usually walked for seven hours a day while working on her laptop.
July 1st, 2010 at 8:36 am
It looks like you found the perfect walk! What is a tree cave? Is it the middle photo on the bottom?
July 1st, 2010 at 8:39 am
Yes, that’s the “tree cave”. The “tree cave” reminds me of the forts we used to make in the woods when we were kids. “Tree cave” is kind of a stupid title for it. I was running on empty when I wrote this (-: But it is a bit cave-like in there.
I don’t think I could use a treadmill and think for seven hours but who knows?