Alleyways & Awe

A few years ago, my friend got me one of those cheap "Smart Bands" that keep track of everything you do (so long as you are breathing) because she thought that I was turning into too much of a shut-in or a hermit, the kind of thing that outdoor-loving folk like herself take personal offense with.

I'm sure she was just trolling through the magic of having some disposable income to blow on practical jokes (an underrated superpower, really), but little did she know that I was her challenge would not go unanswered. I was totally on board with the idea of not only shutting her up, but also both beating the "daily steps" counter and my own record, reaching 20K steps (or four times my daily required mileage) soon thereafter.

This not only allowed me to keep surprisingly healthy and in shape, but also had the added benefit of making me explore the hidden corners of my own city to the beat of some of those songs I had forgotten I even had somewhere on my playlist... And boy did enjoy both of those things!

I honestly wasn't prepared to see just how quaint the quieter parts of a city I thought I knew by heart could be... A water tank shaped like a kettle? Of course! An elk statue just hanging out on someone roof? Obviously! Some Victorian-looking houses shoved in the corner of back alleys and side streets so narrow as to have been built when people thought that horses were as good as transportation was ever gonna get? ABSOLUTELY!

It's actually this last part that truly gets me... For all the new, massive buildings emerging from the ground like monoliths and altars to the gods, these streets so narrow that a single group of friends couldn't traverse them as a unit offer great perspective and an almost gateway into the past when cities weren't trying to impress with the height, but through their depth.

I'm honestly tempted to return late at night to see what the moonlight and the street lamps do the mirage, but I'm not sure that would be the greatest idea... Something so eerily quiet doesn't strike me as particularly safe for the outsider wandering around with wide-eyed awe. Still, the want is there and is pulling me hard.

We will see if curiosity ends up (literally) killing this alley cat or just crowns it.