A short spring walk

I didn't quite hit my goal of 21 areas by the end of March, so on Saturday afternoon I went for a little walk south. The weather was rapidly warming up after a cool morning (minus 4 to 16), so it was a very pleasant day for a walk.

I headed south across the midway, which is looking pleasantly green. It does seem to me that the grass has rebounded much quicker after winter than I remember from Boston. Maybe it's hardier grass, or the winter was less severe than usual. Or maybe I've just recalibrated my expectations.

I went past the law school and the south campus residential area. It has a very different appearance to the rest of campus: much more modern than the Gothic design prevalent around the quadrangle. I think it makes sense to implicitly position the university as possessing both a history and a future, and I like the look of the newer buildings, even if they are somewhat generic: they could belong in any large 21st century university.

I continued through Woodlawn along Ellis and Greenwood Avenues. There seems to me to be a certain homogeneity to Chicago: much lower density than Boston and Cambridge, but higher than suburbia. There was a fair bit of trash lying around, but perhaps that's because it was a windy day (by Chicago standards - barely a breeze for Boston).

I went as far as Oak Woods Cemetery, the northernmost part of GREATER GRAND CROSSING. I didn't actually go into the cemetery: I was just out to bag the area.

I then walked east along 67th St until I passed under the train tracks and hence into SOUTH SHORE, where I turned north and followed Dorchester Avenue back home. The walk seemed much shorter than a similar walk I did in January: the extra 20 or 30 degrees Celsius probably helped!

I arrived back home nicely exercised (it was around a 4 mile walk), ready for a late lunch and a shower before the Easter Vigil.