Walkin' Boulder
By Sue Deans
The former editor of the Camera blogs about exploring Boulder on foot.

October 28, 2011

As I try to walk more and more, and in general get around town without getting in the car, I decided to try doing some errands on foot one lovely October day.

The biggest problem I have is that I don’t like to carry things – such as a largish purse – when I’m chugging along the sidewalk.

So this particular morning I dig out a very lightweight backpack that I had gotten at a race last year, and a French knitted bag that was bought in Paris many years ago. These, plus pockets, made it easy to bring along a bottle of water, my phone, reading glasses, ID and money without weighing myself down. And if I did make small purchases I would be able to carry them home easily.

As I set out I notice that my neighbor, who always noted that she lived in the “red house,” is now painting it dark gray. I like it.

First on my agenda was taking plastic bags to Ideal to drop in their recycling bin. Most of the ones I generate are from newspapers – I get two each day. When I worked at the Camera I know they contributed to the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials, or CHaRM, which took the bags. Newspaper customers – and there are still lots of us – still like to get their papers dry and not scraped or torn, so that’s why they are bagged.

I notice at Ideal there are some other recycling collections, for cork and #5 plastic ( such as cottage cheese and yogurt containers), that I wasn’t aware of:

Out front of Ideal is a huge and colorful pile of pumpkins but I think it’s still too early to buy one for Halloween.

I’m going to Pharmaca to visit the little post office window inside. I need stamps and need to mail some letters. Oops – the line is pretty long right at noon so I will probably come back later.

So as I head south on Broadway I notice some lovely banners that say “Stroll.” Exactly what I’m doing.

I pass Marisol imports, moved a couple of years ago from downtown to North Broadway, which has some colorful animal sculptures that would look great in my yard.

But I am really looking today for a costume – my Rotary club is having a Roaring ’20s party. Do I want to dress as a flapper? We’ll see. Candy’s, next to Marisol, signals its collection of costumes with Superman and Wonder Woman outfits hanging outside.

Inside, I find two flapper dresses, with fringe, of course, that are relatively inexpensive.

I head into the dressing room with them, try them on, and quickly decide I will probably not attend the party in costume. The dresses fit but don’t necessarily suit my 63-year-old self. I will think about it, though.

Next stop is the ATM at my Pearl Street bank. Unfortunately, it’s being cleaned. I walk around the other side and the nice young woman cleaning opens the door and beckons me in. It’s nice when someone cares about customers.

I decide to try the main post office for my stamps, and on 13th Street spot a sign for chicken matzo ball soup at Dubbins Grubbery, the tiny window-front restaurant south of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory between Pearl and Walnut. I haven’t eaten here yet but I will. Especially if they have good matzo ball soup.

The Oak Restaurant at 14th and Pearl is still under construction after a fire in March. I was walking downtown that day and used my new iPhone for the first time to take pictures of it.

The main post office has only one person in line ahead of me so I get my stamps relatively quickly.

Then I decide to try one more place for costumes, the Ritz in the 900 block of Walnut Street. They have a similar stock of flapper dresses for rent and for sale, plus vintage suits and hats for men and women. But after perusing them I still think I will go to the party as myself.

Walking home on Broadway I check out the scaffolding on the Broadway Building at Broadway and Pearl, which is getting a little facelift.

Home again, I realize didn’t need my bags, but I might have. And I walked 3.5 miles while getting my necessary errands done. That’s a good thing!