Last week I took the
Strong Towns Walk to Get Your Groceries Challenge, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: take a walk to get your groceries, then tell others about your experience. For me this isn't so much a challenge as something I do pretty much every week, but the folks over at
Strong Towns recognize that for a lot of people walking to get groceries is a novel idea, and can really raise awareness about the issues that pedestrians face navigating a typical neighborhood to do a mundane task.
Since I was already out on my bike, I "cheated" and biked a route that I often walk for groceries. It's about a mile each way to this particular store, and although there's another market closer to me I often walk the longer distance to get some extra exercise in and to pick up some of the specialty products only available at the more distant store.
Here's a summary of the trip in photos:
Whether on bike or on foot, we often choose to cruise through our neighborhood via alleys because they have less traffic than the adjacent roads and are often easier to navigate with a stroller than the poorly-repaired and often narrow sidewalks (plus my daughter thinks they're interesting spaces).
You can see one of the main reasons we take to the alleys here: no curb cuts. Try getting stroller or bike with a kid on it down that curb, especially while balancing a sack of heavy groceries.
