Strolling Through the Neighborhood

The good people at University City District have put together something quite clever this summer: the Baltimore Avenue Dollar Stroll. To celebrate the burgeoning retail corridor this street has become, the second Thursday evening of every month this summer has seen multiple stores offering something fun for just a buck.

The combination of cheap eats and walking through the neighborhood were too irresistible for this urban miser and his family to resist. Because we go to bed so early, we only hit two places - Green Line for an iced coffee and four sliders, and Milk and Honey for ice creams for the kids - but it was fun to see people out and about, strolling, waiting in line at the more popular stops, and just generally vibing with the usual assortment of residents and passersby. There's something cozy about making small talk with strangers who are neighbors, as well as trading pleasantries with neighbors who aren't strangers but who you might not have seen out and about in a relaxed social setting like this.

To cap off the evening, Aaron dropped his ice cream cone on the ground and tried to pick it back up; and though one of us parents blurted out "five-second rule," the other hastily snatched it out of his hands and tossed it in a trash can. (I'll let you guess which of us did the protesting and which of us did the tossing.) Aaron, understandably, was crushed, and why not; talk about going in an instant from thrill of victory (eating an ice cream cone on a hot summer evening) to agony of defeat (losing said ice cream cone forever).

Frozen treat casualty aside, it was a fun stroll. So, while we missed June's version, we'll be sure to not miss August's. After all, you can't beat a buck. And you can't beat a stroll through the neighborhood on a hot summer evening, not with you and everyone else out and about to chat with and smile at.