Alderman Natural Area

You may not be familiar with what these so-called "natural areas" are because they aren't always marked but they show up on detailed maps of the city and if you're a geek like me who looks at maps, you'll spot them and wonder about them and go try to find them. I think these are areas that city planners designate so everybody can feel better about themselves for saving something that's been subdivided to hell. They are basically noise buffers or lots that are too undesirable or too awkward to develop. They become potato chip bag and coke bottle receptacles but they work nicely for real estate: BORDERS WOODED LOT!

Anyhow, the Alderman Natural Area is the strip between Benjamin Parkway and Northampton Drive. You can see/hear all the cars zooming by on the parkway below but if you live in that neighborhood, it's a cool place to do some road walking with your dog because there's not a whole lot of traffic and you don't have to feel weird about your dog stopping in front of somebody's house to do his/her business. (I try to pick up my dogs' poop wherever it is but I'm not a tyrant about it. People freak out about dog poop but all the other stuff like battery acid and gasoline in the watersheds and asphalt run-off, there ain't hardly a peep about.)

These natural areas, I've decided, aren't really for non-neighborhooders however because, I don't know, I'd feel weird driving to a road to walk my dogs down it.

More to come on some neighborhood parks in this area.

GO ON, BLUE RATING: *** (if you live there)
Area of Town: Green Valley.
Location: Alderman Natural Area is the strip of woods between Benjamin Parkway and Northampton.