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A View from the Train

 



It isn’t. A view from the train, I mean. But take a look.





Doesn’t it feel like it could be?

This was my view at the doctor’s office yesterday afternoon. I was not moving, but the world around me was. Walkers and joggers on the pathway. Folks strolling with their dogs. People chatting on benches. Behind them, cars zipping along on Route 29. 

It’s a view I probably never would have focused on without the ability to sit in a treatment room, waiting for my doctor to come in. 

While I also enjoyed all the burgeoning signs of spring outside I also recognized the irony of being in that building to treat allergies and asthma. Spring: yay! Pollen: boo!

I was curious about the tall building in the background. Columbia doesn’t have many.




I was having trouble visualizing exactly what I was looking at in relationship to Lake Kittamaqundi. Luckily Columbia-savvy people on Facebook filled me in. It’s an apartment complex called Aspen at Lake Trail. It used to be called High Tor.

What you can’t see from my photograph is that there’s a large flat portion of the central structure that faces the lake. The more I looked at the scene the more I could imagine a large, colorful mural/art piece on that surface. Not advertising. Not branding. Public art that would add to the overall view. 

Can you imagine it? Maybe not.

Please don’t be alarmed. I imagine many things that are never going to happen. Don’t forget that I’m the person who envisioned rehabbing the old Columbia Flier building and living there. Now that space is going to be something far better than my HGTV-esque fantasies.

I wonder what the views are like from the other side? What do the residents of Aspen at Lake Trail think as they look back at the Lakefront buildings?

It would be interesting to know.



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  1. Julia A. McCreadyMarch 26, 2026 at 4:20 AM

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