WalkFriendly's Most Walkable Cities Awards list!

Some cities are designed to be walking communities. I have discovered that I will get out and walk more if there are interesting sights along the way and walking is encouraged. Now cities seem to be catching on and realizing that people will walk their streets (patronize their stores, too) if they can be more walk friendly. There is even an organization that is awarding certain communities that meet their stringent requirements.

The awards are Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Honorable Mention. My last two posts were from a walk friendly city which was given the Gold award. One of Arlington's innovative programs is "Walk Arlington," which may have been one thing that helped them receive the award. I have been doing the walks designed by them and find it is great exercise and also enjoyable.

As seniors, we know we need to walk more so check out these cities that were given awards (some cities have not applied yet so that does not mean it is not walkable.) A city needs to have a focus on being more walkable to win these awards.

Platinum Award (the highest):
Seattle, WA
Chapel Hill, NC Gold Award: Ann Arbor, MI
Arlington, VA
Chicago, Ill.
Hoboken, NJ
Minneapolis, MN
San Francisco, CA
Santa Barbara

Silver Award: Alexandria, VA
Charlottesville, VA
Decatur, GA
Philadelphia, PA
Santa Monica, CA

Bronze Award: Austin, TX
Cary, NC
Charlotte, NC
Corvallis, OR
Davidson, NC
Flagstaff, AZ
Lee's Summit, MO
Wilsonville, OR

There is also an Honorable Mention category: Cedarburg WI; Coeur d'Alene; Concord NH; Dayton; Franklin, TN; Juneau, AK; Louisville; Omaha; Rancho Cordova; Sparks and Temple Terrace, Fl.

To read more about Walk Friendly: Complete Communities list at Walk Friendly Because one of my criteria for a best place to retire is that there are opportunities to exercise, and walking being one of the best and easiest exercises, these cities would probably make list.

Walk Arlington's Homes Tour

Today we continued our tour of architectural homes. As it turned out we had a wonderful treat in store: Ahead was this magnificient pale lemon yellow magnolia at the peak of Spring perfection. Lemon yellow magnolia:

The first home we saw as we continued our walk from yesterday (see previous blog entry) was this

Dutch Colonial built l926:

Then this adorable Cape Cod style with the sun hitting the distinctive shape.

And the front view:


To complete the tour was this lovely Tudor circa 1937.

Thanks to Walk Arlington for designing this educational walk. We enjoyed it and hope you did too.

Check out virginia retirement communities here!