With so much on our minds, it’s time to go for a walk.

Can you believe how many walkers, runners and bikers there are out there on our spring-weather streets? We were out this afternoon with the dog and were impressed with all the friendly neighbors out and about, and how ready we all are to say hello to actual in-person people.

Harriet Lesher and her dad on The Alameda at about NE 22nd, about 1930. Courtesy of the family.

You might be looking for somewhere to walk close to home or a little adventure to take the kids on, maybe something even a little educational. How about a history walk?

You could visit the Pearson pine—a 125-year-old tree that has lived through a lot—and the nearby Pearson dairy farm that exists only in written memory beneath Alameda School. A walk around the dairy is a nice, easy .6 mile.

Or re-trace the route of the old Broadway Streetcar that was once an institution people could not live without, and couldn’t imagine ever changing; it makes a good 3.1 mile loop.

You might survey the entire Alameda Park Plat perimeter, while imagining the forests and fields that once blanketed this area back in 1909. Bring the plat map along (or check it out on your phone).

If you’re walking around the Beaumont area, be sure to stand in the footsteps of these photos from the 1920s and see what looks different today. There are plenty of clues that connect across these nearly 100 years.

Simple pleasures, which mean a lot at a moment like this.