Well, there are urban hikes and then there are urban hikes. Our usuals – the six or so miles total to and from Tanglewood Mall or downtown Roanoke from our house – are pretty tame and manageable.
And you'd think, given that a chunk of it occurs on the Lick Run Greenway, that the walk to the Valley View Mall area wouldn't be much different.
Maybe it's the extra three miles or so total.
Maybe it's that it was pretty hot.
Maybe it's that there's pavement all the way and we both wore sandals.
Short upshot: This walk wore us down like 12 miles on the trail. Or at least our recollection of such a distance, since we haven't pushed ourselves to that extent for awhile.
There was an excellent mid-point: The cool of the Valley View Grande to watch "22 Jump Street" (Metacritic 71; Kurt and Gail critic 59, with a few really good laughs), and the mid-afternoon Father's Day dinner at Carraba's, perhaps my favorite chain restaurant.
And hey, Ice Cube can crack you up with that same ol' scowl over and over again. You get to talk about that on the walk back. And about the nice meal.
But it's still a pretty long, pretty urban way home. I think we'll be back in the woods next time.