Step one of intentionally walking four blocks of Northfield directly south of Carleton College’s campus is abandoning your backpack behind a tree; my dorm was too far away, my computer and books were too heavy, and time was ticking. Step two is inviting a friend along, under the condition that they don’t distract you. My friend Felicia, a junior German major at Carleton, was looking for someone to hang out with and enjoy the sunshine between classes. Fortunately for her, I was planning on going for a walk. Unfortunately for her, I had a mission. At 11:15am on Monday, April 10th, we began.

Felicia was actually actively helpful, pointing out things she noticed on our walk that hadn’t caught my attention. She pointed out the following yard sign to me:

In my small exploration of Northfield, I found not one, but two Little Free Libraries (Neither are registered on the Little Free Library Site and Map, but several others in Northfield are)

I found myself drawn to colorful houses — I counted 5 houses in this section of Northfield with yellow doors.

At 201 Winona Street, we stumbled upon a table of free goodies… We didn’t take any.

A lot of lawns haven’t quite recovered from last week’s snow and the heavy melt in the last couple days, but some plants are thriving

I enjoyed seeing houses with busy yards; the clean, bare, cut grass aesthetic doesn’t appeal to me. We saw some especially fun and decorated yards along our route!

Returning to campus we noticed that, while outside the bounds of my adventure square on the opposite side of 1st Street, there was a buzz of activity. Until recently the space was home to the Music and Drama Center, but following its demolition last summer, it has become a popular green space. It’s already been lovingly named the ‘Midi’ which I can only assume is short for Medium Bald Spot, in reference to its average size compared to the Bald Spot and Mini-Bald Spot.