Last Rambler

Summer is here officially and it's the season that marks the end of certain things. The end of school for another year. The end of work for a while and the beginning of summer vacation. This summer I'm also marking the end of two things that have been important to me for many years.

Last Friday I went to the old YM-YWCA on Hazen Avenue for the last time. As you know the Y is moving to a new temporary location in Prince Edward Square Mall. The old building that was put up the same year I was born in 1954, has a date with the wreckers ball. It's coming down to make way for a new Justice Complex to be built on the site.

I've been a member of the Y for most of the last 15 years. I would visit the facility almost every weekday to go for a run or work out on the equipment or just enjoy a relaxing sauna in the steam room. And every time I'd go, I'd meet friends there. Going to the Y was the break in the day that I always looked forward to. I'll still go to the Y and I'm sure the new facility will be nice but I'll still miss the old place.

For about as long as I've been going to the YM-YWCA, I've been writing this column. I can't remember when it started but it has to be close to 15 years ago. It feels like it anyway. This column is going to be the last River Valley Rambler. It doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing a regular column in the River Valley News. I'm just making a change.

If you've checked the blog recently at rivervalleyrambler.com you will have noticed another name and links to another site called Doing Stuff Outdoors. It's the home of another project I've started that includes a regular audio podcast and soon I hope, an on-line video program about outdoor adventure and recreation. It's a place to find audio and video adventures for outdoor enthusiasts. And I'd like to expand the site to include more written content and photographs. I realize I can't do everything and managing that project along with writing regular columns and other content for the River Valley Rambler blog is just becoming too difficult.

So starting with the next edition of the paper I'm changing the name of the column from River Valley Rambler to Doing Stuff Outdoors. It's not really a stretch since most of the things I've written about here over the years have had something to do with the outdoors. This allows me to better focus my energies in an area that I'm really interested in and I hope you are too. In addition to this column about outdoor activities in this area, I'll also be posting other outdoor related content from all over the world on the site at doingstuffoutdoors.com. This is in addition to the podcast that I hope you'll listen to and subscribe to in iTunes and other podcast directories.

And as for the River Valley Rambler... well it isn't disappearing altogether. The site on the internet will still be there. I like to think of it now as the retro-rambler. Over the years I've written over 360 rambler columns, almost one for every day of the year. I'm going to go through these past columns and post some of what I think to be the more interesting ones and give you another chance to read them. Maybe I'll put all 361 of them on-line. They'll be updated on a regular basis. So be sure to check out the site at rivervalleyrambler.com.

So this is the end of some things and a new beginning for others. I've enjoyed being the River Valley Rambler for these many years and I look forward to continuing and building on that tradition by writing about outdoors people, places, adventures, fitness, gear and many, many other topics.