Saturday March 24, 2007 Bob and I planned to go out to Stoney Creek and walk the path around the lake.  It was still relatively early in the day, around 9:30 am when Bob showed up at my house.  The weather had been looking like it might start raining at any moment all morning.  Matter of fact it was raining a slow steady pace about an hour earlier.  Just as Bob pulled up it started to rain a little harder.  It was going to be one of those days with the rain starting and stopping continuously. 

We were determined to get some exercise so we took off in Bob’s van.  We didn’t bring umbrellas and the thought of getting soaked while out at Stoney Creek wasn’t too appealing.  At the last minute we decided to head over to the Great Lakes Mall and tryout some mall walking.  I have never been a mall walker before, but I figured why not, at least we wouldn’t get while walking inside the mall.  This is a large mall so we should be able to get in some miles by doing a few laps.  This mall is designed in a full loop so if you keep walking you can keep going in a circle. 

When we got there Bob asked someone at the information desk the distance of one complete loop.  The young girl working behind the information desk told Bob it was 0.8 miles per one full circle.  I found a mall brochure that also stated it was 0.8 miles for one full trip.  The brochure also said if you walk from each door to each door doing the extra distance to get to each door as you walk around then you will have done 1.2 miles for each lap.  Bob and I just walked the circle without doing the extra to each door.  We ended up doing six complete loops for a total of 4.8 miles.  We also walked at a fairly fast pace.  Our first loop must have been our warm up because every loop after the first was faster. 

It turned out the mall was actually a very nice place to walk.  It wasn’t too crowded so walking at an un-interrupted pace was easy.  The Great Lakes Mall is divided into sections and each section is a little different from each other.  A couple of the sections have wood floors and a couple other sections have carpeted floors.  The color of the walls and ceiling are also different from section to section creating a slightly different atmosphere as you go along.  I believe there are sky lights in all the sections, but for some reason the sky lights were more noticeable to me in the section painted in the bright yellow color.  The mall also features music playing in the background.  The music was a variety of mostly older music from the 70’s and 80’s.  Most of the music had a fast beat which also helped us walk at a quick pace. 

As we continued to walk around the same large circle I found myself noticing the other mall walkers.  I also started to read all the signs and store names that I usually ignore when shopping in the mall.  Bob and I also did a lot of talking about various subjects as we typically do on all our adventures.  We never did change directions, once we got started we just kept going the same direction for the full six laps. 

There was one guy out walking the opposite direction as us and he was going a little slower than us as well.  He was holding some sort of ball in one of his hands as he was walking.  I think he was squeezing this ball as an exercise.  He was also holding his other arm in an awkward looking position.  Maybe this guy was out doing rehabilitation for some sort of illness or procedure he was recovering from.  Bob and I commented that we felt lucky to be out walking for no reason other than our enjoyment.  

Once we completed the last lap it was time for lunch.  During our last couple laps we had decided to eat at Stir Crazy.  I had eaten there a couple times before, but Bob never had.  At this place you can pick out a bowl of vegetables and stuff including spices and sauces and give them to a chef and tell them whether you want beef, chicken or seafood.  Then they cook it up for you and deliver it to your table.  Or, you can simply order an item from a menu like a regular restaurant.  We ended up ordering from the menu.  My lunch was really good and Bob like his as well.  Bob said his meal was so good he wouldn’t hesitate to go back there again. 

Following are the statistics from this mall walk hike.  We did six full loops at 0.8 miles per loop for a total of 4.8 miles.  
David Lindquist