A Bikey Adventure

For all summer, if not since last year, we've been saying, along with Blaubeere, that we ought to get together and go for a bike ride.  So we finally picked a day and did it!  We packed up our bikes and headed her way.  Turned out to be the hottest day of the summer, so far, too!  That part we could have done without.  You know, bike riding in 90 degree weather?  Yeah, but we survived.

Anyway, we picked a short but interesting ride.  There is an old train trestle that has been turned into a recreational trail, open for walking, jogging, and bike riding.  The trestle itself is actual about 3/4 mile long so to make it feel more like a bike riding expedition we started from a little neighborhood park several blocks from the trestle.

At the one end of the trestle is a lock, as in the kind that boats pass through.  With the trestle stretched cross the river the size of boats that can get past the trestle is limited to stuff short enough to fit under it, about 15 feet, if even that much.  So the lock allows taller boats to get by.  Right next to the lock was a small "lift bridge", like a draw bridge that could be raised to let boats by.

Its not a real big lock so its still limited to medium sized recreational craft, no big commercial ships.  And, unfortunately, the lock has been closed most of the time for the last couple years to prevent the spread of an invasive species of fish from getting downstream, into an inland lake.  But it was real interesting to see.

In interesting feature along the trestle was on some of the pilings they had installed mosaics.  There were probably six or seven of them, with people's names on them.  Some people had thrown pennies on some of them.

They weren't real big, and there wasn't one on every piling.  But it was a pretty cool decoration on those that had them.

So the ride across was fun, dodging joggers, other bikers, walkers, and a gaggle of moms and dads and their babies in strollers who were at the park celebrating a birthday.  A warm sunny day means lots of people out.

Across the trestle was a nice park.  We rode around a minutes scoping it out, looking for a nice, shady picnic spot.  We finally picked one where we were close to the playground and only had to move the table a few feet into some nice shade.

We unpacked lunch and began realizing all the stuff we forgot to bring, likes paper plates, cups, napkins, and cutlery.  Didn't bother the kids at all and the grownups made do.

Pretty soon we were chowing down on some yummy bagel sandwiches, juice, grapes, and other goodies.

The kids did very well at staying to eat long enough to get some good stuff in their tummies before they wanted to run off to the playground.

This little park actually has a very nice playground.  The kids had a grand time climbing, running, jumping, and generally playing.  And it was big enough that exploring the whole big area took them a while.

Little peanut was fearless, she actually was the first one to climb the rock

Then, just around the corner of a hill from everything else was a giant slide set into the side of a hill.  The nice thing about that is there was never any danger of a fall, yet the slide was plenty long, which the kids loved.

That kept everybody busy for quite a while!

Little peanut, ever fearless, had no trouble at all going down the slide.

Up the hill, down the slide, up the hill, down the slide, up the hill, down the slide, on and on. Loving it.

Then they began to try different ways to slide down, head first, laying down, all kinds of varieties of ways.

Even grandma took a trip or two or three down the slide.

On this trip we saw a variety of wildlife.  One green and speckled frog.  The speckles, however, were just stuff laying on the frog.  But he was sitting right next to a log.

All kinds of water fowl playing on the river.  It was interesting to watch the ducks paddling around, trying all the things they were finding to see if anything yummy to eat was to be found.

Lots of ducks.  Then again, we were not entirely sure what kind of bird some of them were.  These might have been from the duck family but they didn't look like normal ducks.

And then there were these birds, sitting in a big tree next to the water.  They didn't look like ducks at all.  They were a little bigger than a seagull, we saw plenty of those.  We saw pelicans, geese, and swans but these were definitely not any of those.

Right in the shade of the trestle there were hundreds of fish that would swim in the current, holding their position near the trestle while the water flowed passed them.  They were interesting to watch.

Eventually it was time to head back across the trestle to the park and the car.

And what outing would be complete without hitting a local ice cream spot.

Especially on a hot day like it was.  The kids got to decorate their ice cream with whatever toppings struck their fancy.

Gummy bears seemed to be a favorite.

And the afternoon was sprinkled with plenty of hugs, too.

It was a good day, despite being so hot.  It was a good ride, good company, interesting scenery, lots of fun at the playground, and yummy ice cream in the air conditioning to top it all off.  A very well spent afternoon.