We hope that your new year is off to a great start.

We know it's been cold, but we hope you've been able to find time to get outside - if only for a few minutes. It has been a long time since we've had this much snow combined with such a long cold spell.  Personally I love it, although we'd like a little more snow.

Before Christmas we announced that we would have some big news upon our return. Well we do have big news, but you are going to have to wait until next week. We really like to draw stuff out and build the anticipation.

Post your guess in the comment section and we'll give away some free water bottles at random.

Get Outside!

Pete

January 5th was a cold day, but all the players were present for the dedication: Greenways.org, Gallop 4 The Greenways, the city Parks & Recreation department, and Pathfinders for Greenways.


Key Roanoke River Greenway link is dedicated - the 600-foot stretch connects two existing lines, about five miles, of the greenway. It's a short section, but a big gateway.

Tuesday afternoon, city and private officials faced down tooth-rattling, 27-degree temperatures to dedicate a piece of the Roanoke River Greenway that measures a mere 600 feet.

"It's not the greatest or longest piece ... but it is very important," said Steve Buschor, Roanoke's director of parks and recreation, before a ribbon-cutting that opened a portion of the greenway near Belleview Avenue and Hamilton Terrace in Southeast Roanoke, across from Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. "It is the missing link," Mayor David Bowers agreed.

The section connects two existing lines of the greenway - a roughly two-mile stretch that reaches west to Wasena Park, and a three-mile path that runs east from Hamilton Terrace to the sewage treatment plant.

The two portions have been separated since their completion about a year ago, forcing bikers and pedestrians to navigate the sometimes congested intersection at the hospital entrance.

Read the entire article by Roanoke Time's Neil Harvey.