Finally, we've got a futon for the guest room/my office! Up until now, we've just had a cot in there. Thankfully we've only had one guest at a time, so it hasn't been an issue, otherwise I would have had to give up my room. It took me forever to find one I wanted to buy, mainly because it's no longer the '90s and there aren't futon stores everywhere, and what's available is either really cheap or really expensive. I went the cheap route, and this one was $135, shipped. The mattress is more squishy than the "real" futons I've had before, so I'm not positive it'll hold up, but replacing the mattress is easy enough if you have a frame you like. Now I'll be keeping my eye out for cool bedding. Anyway, as you can see, Sam likes the futon. He and Steve both slept there last night. I'm glad they like it, I was certainly in pain from assembling it.
I wasn't really in the mood for the walk to Howarth Park and back, so when I noticed that I might be able to catch a good sunrise, I decided to head West to the cemetery. That route had been on my mind this week because I've been organizing flickr photos and saw the route from the last time I went there, which was quite a while ago. My timing was perfect.
To get a little more of a climb and some extra distance, I walked up to the road that goes by Forest Park. This sign always cracks me up when I see it.
Forest Park is a huge hill, and if you're near this sign, you're at the top of the hill, and you can head to the left, cutting through the grounds at a neighboring behavioral health facility's campus to enter the park by the swim center. If you follow the sign's suggestion, you go all the way down to the bottom of the hill and then have to climb back up into the park. Mean!
4.44 miles in 1:23, 9,543 steps, 379ft gain
It's neat to pop over to the cemetery once in a while, but it's not a place I'll go often. I don't like my walking routes to cross major streets much, and definitely don't like all the freeway noise. It's hard to get good views of the sunrise in this neighborhood with all the tall trees, though, so it's good to have a nearby spot with good visibility.
