Me, Her, the Boy and a Dog

Tuesday (March 10) was a pretty nice day. Not as nice as the weekend, but still a nice day with mostly sunny skies and temps pushing 70. So, I decided to get out of the house and go for a walk. I took my laptop with me and planned to hit an establishment in downtown Blacksburg that offered free WiFi.

On my two-mile walk from my North Main Street townhome to downtown B’burg, I picked up a Roanoke Times in front of the Carol Lee bakery. I skipped the donut and coffee as the point of the walk was to get some exercise. I continued on and was amazed and disappointed at the amount of trash all along North Main. The next time I take that walk, I’m bring gloves and trash bag with me to pick some of that stuff up. A lot of the debris is recyclable - cans, bottles, newspaper, etc.

Once I was downtown I stopped at Modern Barber to get a much-needed haircut. After that, I decided to try something new for lunch. I’ve had Moe’s, Jimmy John’s, the Cellar, etc., but have never eaten at Pee Wee’s BBQ (right next to Moe’s and The Lyric). I love Log Cabin BBQ, but they’re more of a chain store - I wanted to try something more local. I was pleasantly surprised.

For starters, I got their small BBQ sandwich platter (side and a drink) and that was plenty. It was also very good and their BBQ sauces were tasty. I got baked beans as my side and while they weren’t what I expected, they were still good in a very different way. The combo was $5.99, which is considerably cheaper than Log Cabin.

After I finished eating, I stayed in the restaurant and read the paper cover to cover, occasionally lifting my head to do some people watching. With the BBQ platter settled and digesting, I packed up, refilled my sweet tea and went back out for more sightseeing.

With my camera in hand I snapped a few pictures of things that grabbed my attention. And nothing grabs my attention more than a sign for a new restaurant … okay, that’s not entirely true - occasionally I notice a pretty girl … occasionally. Anyhow, look who is coming to downtown Blacksburg!

That’s right - Rita’s is coming to town. I’ve never heard of her, but I like what I am seeing in the picture: frozen beverages of all kinds! Smoothies, frozen chocolatey thingies and shakes with chunks of chocolate sticking out of them. So much for the 21 pounds I’ve lost. I don’t know when it opens, but I will definitely check it out when they do.

I kept walking down Main Street until I got to Lee Street where I turned right and doubled back using Draper Rd. I came up on the Blacksburg Farmer’s Market and the sign got my attention, but for the wrong reasons. It definitely needs an update. I don’t know if there’s a story behind this faded sign, but I wouldn’t imagine it is all that attractive to folks visiting the ‘Burg.

Onward. Before deciding to head home I stopped in Squires Student Center just to see if anything had changed. Aside from the restaurants, things still look pretty much the same since I was there a couple of years ago during Steppin’ Out.

Finally, it was time to head home. A two-mile walk and mostly uphill. Now the sun was beating down on me and I could feel the back of my neck getting sunburned. It was a good walk home and even felt a lot less stressed. I felt better. I think I need to make that little outing a regular part of my routine, weather permitting.

Have you taken a walk in your home town? If not, give it shot - you might discover something new, meet new people and at the very least, you’ll get some exercise.