Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Riverfront Park

Riverfront Park 
7.5 miles

I finally found a moment to dust of the bike and get out and ride and boy was Oreo excited to come!  We took off after work last night around 7pm and tooled around Riverfront Park until it was dark enough that I couldn't see anymore.  We had a rough start with Oreo trying to lead and constantly getting in my way and stopping.  Once she finally figured out that I needed to lead, it was smooth sailing.  I was surprised to see how overgrown the park had become since the last time I was there.  I rode through parts where I could only see a few feet in front of me and the grasses were just below my eyeline.  I couldn't see Oreo but knew she was there because of the constant clanking of her tags.  I felt like I was in the grassy fields of Isla Sorna just waiting to be picked off by veracious velocoraptors (Jurassic Park II - Lost World reference). 

As the evening progressed, I stayed more in the densly overgrown canopy of the woods, my favorite part of the park.  There was an eerie feel to it as dusk settled upon us.  If Oreo was spooked at all though, she didn't let on.  It got particularly crazy when I came into thickett where the ground was covered with cotton.  I could hardly see at that point but the cotton ground cover gave off a faint glow almost reminiscent of a low lying fog or a dusting of snow.  Pretty creepy.  I think I want to lead a group of cyclist through here on a Friday the 13th or Halloween moon-lit ride. 




Lake Elmo

Last week I was finally able to upgrade my car to something more reliable, and yes, it has a roof rack.  With most of the house repairs done, I decided to take the girls canoeing at Lake Elmo for the afternoon. 


I spent most of the day on the bank while the girls played in the water.  We didn't get much canoe time but that's ok.  The girls had a blast!  As you can see, there is a fishing pole in the boat, 3 actually.  I got my fishing license for the first time in 15 years.  The girls weren't interested in fishing and all I did was drown worms.