The River With the Funny Name

When I first came to Philadelphia in 1991, they told me about the
Schuylkill River. "Don't bother trying to spell it right," one person
said. "'Sure Thrill' is more like it," said another who had to make
the death-defying "merge into the left lane on a high speed blind
curve" move every day to work. As a PENN student, I just knew it as
the somewhat-murky, funny-sounding river that we'd throw the football
goalposts into after a big win. My only other connection was a
hair-raising walk alongside the river with my future wife,
hair-raising because it really wasn't safe at the time for us to be
walking there like that, but we were in love and looking for a thrill.

Flash-forward a few years and the river's side has been paved and
greened, and a non-profit organization, the Schuylkill River
Development Corporation, is filling it with all sorts of activities
and buzz. There are multiple, well-lit paved ways onto the trail, and
multiple destinations to look at and go to along the way. Could it be
that this foreboding, "Amy hold my hand and let's walk a little
faster" area has gotten pretty on us? Indeed, this Friday they're
kicking off the path's first official summer with announcements about
boat and kayak tours, educational programming for the kids, and all
sorts of other fun. Amy and I have already hit the path countless
times, sometimes for a demanding run and sometimes for a leisurely
stroll. It looks like the river with the funny name and the even
funnier smell has become a nice little urban amenity for us.