The Stroad Not Taken

#3: Pocket parks, urban sketches, 15-minute cities, and stroads (not)

I had the use of a car for a week. So, what does a normally carless person do when they temporarily have a car? Laundry. And more laundry.¹ Then a “field trip” to another town to visit family and check out all the “affordable housing” developments that one might apply to. Gotta make sure that grocery stores, bus lines, bike and walking trails, and medical centers are nearby and accessible—in other words, places that have that “15-minute city” feel, even if it’s just in a small area (more about that in the LINKS section, below). We found a few places that look good, but it could take months, even years, before they get to us on the waiting list.

That said, I’m a bit behind on my posting schedule, so here are a couple places that I walked to over the last couple weeks:

I stopped at the Middlebury college, placed some used books in their tiny free library, and—from the convenient benches nearby—made some ink/watercolor drawings in my very tiny sketchbook:

Red bench, very big cypress tree.

Around the corner from the college is a park in front of the old City Hall:

I stopped at “Friendly Plaza” (in front of the old City Hall buildings and museum).

A few days later, I walked downtown, but took a rest stop at one of Monterey’s many “pocket” parks. I love these little enclosed parks because they remind me of one of my favorite books as a small kid: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It’s now autumn and, although many of the trees around here are evergreens, there are a few deciduous autumn colors here and there.

The following photos are all from the Larkin House Garden. The Larkin house was built in 1835 by Thomas O. Larkin, who became the first U.S. Consul to Mexican California. A small stone house in the back of the garden temporarily housed the famously depressed (possibly suffering from family trauma and PTSD) General William Tecumseh Sherman.

Autumn leaves at Larkin House. Photo by Jean Vengua.

I imagine a somber General Sherman staring down into the depths of the well.

Autumn leaves at the Larkin House well. Photo by Jean Vengua.

Autumn leaves on succulents. Photo by Jean Vengua.

Larkin House garden, Nov. 2024. Photo by Jean Vengua.

A few days later, I took the bus to Seaside, walked around, and had the “stroad” experience—very different from the downtown Monterey. The latter area is more amenable to walking than the stroad—although they could do more to ensure safe passage for both walkers and cyclists.

So, okay, I DID take the stroad,² but decided to save it for the next issue—I just couldn’t resist that title.

---

LINKS

• Some people welcome the “15-minute city,” while others see it as a conspiracy to trap you in one place (possibly resulting in—gasp!—carlessness): Paranoia and the 15-minute city.

• There are some limitations to the 15-minute city idea, as mentioned in the video below. But (not mentioned in the video) this is where busses, trains, and bicycles come in!

• “How Self-Driving Cars Will Destroy Cities (and what to do about it),” from Not Just Bikes (Jason Slaughter):

• Sometimes, walking is not about finding beauty and the picturesque. Sometimes, walking is about coming to terms with life, death, and “the fabric of the veil between the living and the dead.” Here is “Please stay out of the swamp,” from the Dreary Dendrophile (journals of a haunted hiker).

---

Thanks for reading A Crooked Mile. My Substack newsletter Eulipion Outpost focuses on intersections of history, art, and culture. I also have a website.

1. We’re renting a cottage with no washing machine or dryer. Not too much of a problem when you’ve got a car. But it’s more of a problem when you don’t have a car.

2. And yes, I was referencing Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken.“