When I moved to NE Portland it wasn’t to chase a pipe dream. I said when I moved I would park my car and walk and now, several weeks into it, that’s exactly what I’ve done. Sure I realize that I’m still in the ‘honeymoon phase’ with my new location. Yes things will change once the rains start to fall. However, the gains I’ve made changing my lifestyle these past few weeks are too big to dismiss.

Walking The Talk all started with the entire family walking out the door and down the street for Sunday Brunch. It continued the day school started and instead of piling the kids on a school bus, we walked them to school but to me the real walking the talk happened the other night when my wife Heather and I went on a date.

With three kids, date nights only happen about once a month (or when we can get a sitter). It’s always a rush of freedom as we used to hop in the car and drive downtown for dinner, a movie or a show and some drinks. The thrill was even grater this date night as we walked down the driveway towards the car and then took a sharp right walking down the sidewalk and off to our date.

Walking on our date gave us an opportunity to really talk. The dynamic is much different when you’re in a car talking then when you are walking. The world slowly creeping by gives a different setting for a real talk, it changes the tempo, it alters the way you communicate.

The first stop on our date was Sivalaya Thai, a local neighborhood restaurant where the family who runs it always makes you feel at home. Sivalaya is one of the few Thai restaurants where complimentary appetizers, Thai iced tea and mango with sticky rice can accompany a meal. We sat and had a nice long and leisurely dinner, after all without a car, there was absolutely nowhere to rush to,

We had intended to make a stop a my favorite local beer shop/pub Belmont Station after eating dinner, but we were so stuffed from dinner we decided we needed to ‘walk it off’ before we did any drinks or dessert. So we walked, and walked and walked. Soon we had meandered our way from 48Th and Stark to 7Th and Morrison! With the heart of the city in our sights we felt an elation equaled to scoring a goal or hitting a home run. After buzzing by many of the bars around LoBu we finally decided to head back up Burnside to The East Burn (a lot less ‘sceney’ than the bars around LoBu).

At The East Burn we sat sipping cocktails and ordered their famous Trinity Fries – A Blend of Russet and Sweet Potato Fries and topped with Fried Leek. Because we hadn’t driven around town, scoured for parking spots, gotten pissed at the ludicrous cover charges at some of the LoBu bars our time at The East Burn was completely relaxed a fun. A nice romantic moonlight walk home with a crisp night air was the finale of our walking date. As we were walking we tried to estimate just how far we had walked that night.

The next day I popped on Map My Fitness and plotted our route. 5.6 miles! My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe how much ground we covered on our date. This experience would not have been even remotely similar if we had gone by car, not just from an environmentally point of view, but from an experiential one. Life is different when you experience it by foot and the more I walk the talk, the more I can’t imagine living any other way.w