First Day Hikes is an initiative of America’s State Parks, and hikes are offered, with waived entrance fees in state parks across the country. To be honest, I thought that this was just a Virginia thing, but all over the US folks are encouraged to “take a hike to inspire those New Year resolutions that are centered on getting or keeping fit”. Virginia has 41 State Parks, yet Greg and I have only visited 11. We have work to do!
We didn’t make it out to our local Claytor Lake State Park on New Years Day, but we did take our version of a First Day Hike. It was more an “Urban Walk” on Main Street and across Memorial Bridge over The New River but even still, it was great to be outside.
While I mourn for the Earth when it is 70°F in January, we definitely enjoyed the breeze as we walked over Memorial Bridge, enjoying the views.
Walking along Main Street offered views of historic architecture as well, while the clouds added much to the scenery.
Perhaps next year, we will do an official First Day Hike, but our Urban Walk was a great start to 2022.
Cheers!
Life on the Bike and other Fab Things 
Beautiful pictures Laurie.
Thank you, Alvin! Always so good to hear from you 🙂
Happy New Year you two! It’s amazing to see you’re walking in January in t-shirts. How awesome is that. Of course, we’re buried in snow up here but I guess that’s life in the North. Is your river frozen? It looked like it. 41 State parks is awesome, I love that. Good luck crossing them off your list 💗💗💗
Hey Kelly! I can’t to raise a glass together … someday!
So, there I was mourning the warming of the earth when taking a walk in 70 degree (21 C) weather on New Years Day ,,, and then 3 days later, it was 15 degrees (-9 C). Hope I made those conversions correctly. Anyway it was too strange! Despite my worry about climate change, we surely enjoyed that walk! We’ll see what happens next!
Laurie, those clouds are amazing! I’m so glad the two of you got out for a nice walk. When we visited in Virginia, so much of my focus was on you and are mutual friends. I feel like I missed a lot. I hope to visit some of these beautiful places with you one day.
You, my friend, are welcome anytime!! ❤
💖
I agree. 70 degrees on Jan.1 is scary. Then the total opposite a few days later! It sure was pretty though. Main street looks like many others and I miss that old world look compared to the mass of sky scrapers world wide. I’ll take the historic any day. Great shots of the trees and river.
I also miss the interesting architecture of the early 1900s instead of all of the square, metal buildings without adornment that we see today. Such a loss!
These photos are outstanding. I love how you’ve framed the trees and the river. I’m jealous of the 70 degrees (not of the 15), and believe that both of those are products of a wonky weather world. Flipping around like that must be very hard on Mother Nature. The shot of your happy faces at the end is lovely. As is this tradition, which I have not heard of but want to try for next year.