St Louis/KC

So, a few days before I left for St Louis, I led the bike club on a loop around the Highline Canal and Platte River Trails. Actually, all the eBikers passed me by, and I let them get ahead because they were kicking up so much dust (it hasn't rained here in ages and part of this trail is crushed gravel). The joke was on them, however, because they missed the turnoff on the trail back to the cars and ended up riding down Broadway Blvd with all the traffic.

So, a few days later, I boarded a plane to St Louis - usually a nightmare, but this time there were fewer people on the plane so the middle seat next to me was empty. I think all the hurricanes were keeping people home. A couple of my teacher friends picked me up and we went to lunch and, of course, Ted Drewes. I found out that the real owner, Ted Drewes, Jr, died just a couple months ago. At his memorial service, they had a floral arrangement in the shape of an upside-down concrete. Ted Drewes was 96 when he died, so I guess eating frozen custard your whole life doesn't clog your arteries. 

This time when I went to St Louis, I decided to tryout the Moonrise Hotel in the Delmar Loop. This is an 8-story "boutique" hotel created by Joe Edwards (who spearheaded most of the renovation in the Loop). This building used to be an old funeral parlor, but it's been totally renovated and expanded into really nice rooms. There is a rooftop deck on the top with the world's largest manmade moon (everything inside is space-themed). This part of town was considered an extremely sketchy area about 20 years ago, but the whole street has been renovated.

I met my referee friend, Fred, at Magic Mini-Golf across the street. It looks like I'm playing golf with Santa on vacation in Hawaii. Fred has started letting his beard grow out each year, so he can dress up as Santa for the robotics kids at the December tournaments. You've got to admit, he sure looks like Santa.

I don't think I've played mini-golf, since we went to Cool Crest back in the 70's. All of the holes had a Delmar Loop theme (this one honored Chuck Berry and the Blueberry Hill restaurant). It was a little hard to play, because the courses were about 5 inches off the floor (and you weren't supposed to stand on the bases). I ended up winning by 2 points, though.

The next day I took Amtrak to Washington, MO to see a friend from SLUH, but I totally forgot to take a picture. I continued onto Lee's Summit the next day where I met my sisters for lunch - HiBoys tenderloins and onion rings... YUM! (Notice the big junk food theme that seems to be going on here???).

The next day we all went to the Pumpkin Patch. Pumpkin patches are not my favorite thing, because there usually isn't much for the older people to do (and you still have to pay full price). But I'll admit, those Oreo Cookie mini-donuts we got from the food truck were delicious.

They had a petting zoo at this pumpkin patch with some fairly unique animals. Violet is feeding a camel here. The first time she tried to feed him, she screamed and dropped the spoon with the food. It didn't bother the camel, because his neck was so long, he could just reach down to the ground.

They had an "axe-throwing" booth, which was really a bunch of Velcro volleyballs thrown against a large target. Violet is on the volleyball team, so she usually hit the bulls-eye, though I got close several times (I also hit it over the top of the target, so I can't brag too much). Lincoln is standing just behind me wearing his dirt bike goggles. 

They had a scary ghoul in the gift shop. The cashier kept trying to fiddle with it (I thought maybe it was supposed to moan or something like the ones at Home Depot). On the way out of the store, she finally got it working and the thing rose up 8 ft tall, shrieking all the way. We almost knocked over some of their displays, because it scared us so bad.

So, Janet and I left the kids to their fun (and their parents) and headed off to the Smoke Brewing Co.  Janet and I ordered the beer flights to go with our barbeque lunch. They were very tasty, and a good stress-reliever after spending the day with 4 kids.

And where was Bruce when I was having all this fun? Back home working on a house project, of course!

The Warm Days Just Keep Coming

It's been unseasonably warm here, so I decided to take advantage of it and go on a hike with Bruce and Charlie. We actually went back to the park that Bruce took Charlie to last week. His pictures looked so good that I wanted to hike it, too. The trouble was, I haven't hiked in 5 months, so I'm in really bad shape. People think if you bike all the time, hiking should be no problem. But the muscles they use are completely different.

So when we got back to the bottom of the trail, I talked Bruce into heading into Kittredge (just a mile down the road) to a barbeque place I'd seen online. They have a gorgeous dog-friendly patio that sits right next to Bear Creek. Charlie was really well-behaved, especially when we slipped him a few sweet potato fries.

I had my usual pulled-pork sandwich, only these sandwiches were topped with fried pickles. They were really tasty, but I've never had them on top of a sandwich before.

On Saturday, we had our neighborhood Club Fair. I sat with a couple guys from the Bike Club. We always get people who want to join the Bike Club, because they see photos of our coffee stops on Facebook. But when they hear you have to bike 10 miles to get to the coffee shop, they tend to drift away. I designed a new jersey for our club (lower left corner). We all got those yellow t-shirts last year, but a jersey is much more comfortable to ride in.

On Monday, I rode down to Confluence Park in downtown Denver. I did a little sketching on the REI patio while I sipped on my Starbucks mocha. And speaking of sketching, for my October Something Old, Something New challenge, I'm going to try sketching only in pen and ink... no pencil and no paint. It should be interesting.

Last Day of Summer... Bummer

So, to celebrate the last day of summer, we took Charlie to the Pooch Plunge at the neighborhood pool. They always open up the pool to dogs on the last day of the season before they drain away all the water for the winter. We weren't sure how Charlie would react, but he went nuts running around sniffing everything (dogs, people, pool chairs, discarded tennis shoes). Poor Bruce was trying to get a good picture, but Charlie just couldn't seem to stand still. At one point he jumped into the water after he watched several other dogs jump in, but I think the water shocked him, because he jumped right back out.

I did my own celebration by attending ComicCon at the Aurora Municipal Center. I'm sure it wasn't nearly as large as the convention in San Diego, but it was fun. It was held in conjunction with the library, so there were some interesting talks by authors of fantasy books. If I go next year though, I'll have to come up with a costume. Steampunk, Star Wars, and anything with an animal tail seemed to be popular themes.

Earlier in the week I went on a couple bike rides. Our bike club rode over to the Fika Coffee Shop. It's becoming a really popular destination for our rides mostly because they have such a nice seating area. But we may not be able to go there much longer with the temperature starting to drop. 

I went out by myself on Monday back over to Morrison in the foothills. I rode through Bear Creek Lake Park which is pretty, but grueling. There's a golf course down in the valley, so the bike trail has to run up over the hills. You can see Morrison on the left through the gap. It's about 800 ft lower than the top of that hill. 

While I was out riding, Bruce took Charlie on another hike up into the mountains above Morrison. Bruce is always afraid Charlie might not be able to keep up, since he's kind of small. But it's turning out to be the other way around - Bruce has trouble keeping up with Charlie. It's kind of nice having him pull on the leash, as long as he's pulling you uphill and not down.

I decided to skip joining a new Ladies Out to Lunch group this summer, but I met up with some of the women from my old group for lunch one day. We went to Tino's Kitchen, which is a Mexican place. I had the enchiladas, which were OK, but I think their breakfast options looked a lot tastier. I've noticed that a lot of Mexican restaurants around here are open early for breakfast, but close around 2pm in the afternoon. Maybe I'll have to find a Ladies Out to BRUNCH group.

Labor Day

 Some people think of Labor Day as the last vacation weekend of the summer. But in our family, it seems like there's always a job that needs to be done around that time. This month I had ANOTHER flat tire due to a construction nail. The nail was so big that the hole couldn't be fixed, so I ended up getting 4 new tires. It was probably time, since the old tires were 5 years old. 

Then the gear cable on my bike broke. It's supposed to be an easy fix, so I decided to do it myself. It took me most of the day going back and forth watching YouTube videos before doing the next step, but I got it replaced. I don't think I'll ever be a mechanic, but I decided that September's Something Old, Something New will be to learn how to repair and maintain my bikes, both regular and lectic.

I've been taking my eBike out for long rides every weekend to the Aurora Reservoir - about a 21-mile round trip ride from our house. There's a 7-mile trail that goes around the lake with this warning sign. Since the trail is paved, I don't usually worry about snakes, but this past Saturday as I was riding down the trail, some people flagged me down saying there was a rattlesnake lying across the trail just a few yards ahead. Of course, there's always some yokel who wants to take a selfie with the snake, so while he had the snake occupied, I rode on past with my feet in the air. That's the nice thing about riding a bike with a throttle.

There are several benches along the trail that would have made good sketch spots, but I figured they were too close to the vegetation. I didn't want to risk a snake slithering up and biting my ankle while I was painting. So instead, I found a picnic shelter along the beach with a nice wide concrete patio. We've had some unseasonably warm weather, so there were a ton of people out boating, paddleboarding, and kayaking. I was tempted to go back home and get my own kayak, but after biking 21 miles on those up-and-down hills, I was pretty pooped.

Our bike club rode the Cherry Creek trail downtown this week. There's a cafe with a really nice patio just off the trail. Our rides usually involve a coffee stop, but I think since this was a longer ride, most people ordered breakfast.

I went back another day and rode the Cherry Creek trail to a different neighborhood. I didn't realize that the Governor's Mansion was just off the trail. I tend to wonder if he really does live in this house. While it looks impressive, the neighborhood is kind of Bohemian - not one of the more upscale parts of town. Most of the other mansions in this neighborhood have been converted into apartments.

There are several historic spots along the trail that mark old stagecoach stops. This spot is called 4-Mile Park, meaning it's 4 miles from the center of Denver. It used to have old log cabins and teepees, but I guess that doesn't really appeal to kids anymore, because they've transformed the park with giant neon dragons and snakes that light up at night. Wonder what the old homesteaders would think about this replacement to their history.

On another day, I decided to head back to the Platte River trail. There are some really quirky sites along it as you get closer to downtown. This is a junkyard that's mostly filled with old cars, but it also had a wingless airplane sitting on top of a boxcar.

One of the SpaceX booster rockets lies alongside a section of the trail. It sits outside the DISH Network Corporate Offices. Supposedly only 3 of these rockets were donated by Elon Musk - one to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, one to the Space Center in Houston, and the third to the DISH folks in Denver. Kind of puzzling that it didn't at least go to the Science Center, but Elon Musk is known for being a little unorthodox.

Since Charlie hit his one-year anniversary with us, he had to go to the vet for his booster shots. I felt sorry for him, so I got him a new squeaker toy. As you can tell, he absolutely loves chewing on Franken-Dog.

One Year Anniversary

Even though Charlie is 14 months old, it's only been a year since he came to live with us (Bruce picked him up in North Carolina last August). It's certainly been entertaining watching him grow and seeing what he likes and doesn't like. As you can see from this photo, he isn't a big fan of having his picture taken. I tried to take this one after he came back from the groomer. Luckily, she didn't shave him this time, but just took off an inch. He doesn't look quite so shaggy anymore, plus he's cooler. He doesn't like hot weather, which will be good when winter rolls back around. Unfortunately, I hate the cold.

Bruce took Charlie hiking in the mountains this week.

I took him to Starbucks. He seemed to like both outings. Frankly, he just likes going someplace; he just wishes he didn't have to get in the car to get there.

This has been a busy week. On Wednesday, our bike club rode the East/West trail and then went out to breakfast. The East/West trail is not my favorite, because of all the hills. And the wind kicked up, which made it even harder. But the breakfast was good - very traditional bacon, eggs, toast, and home fries. It's hard to find an old-fashioned diner around here. The thing that gets me about our bike club is that the 3 women in the photo all ride traditional bikes, while only 2 of the men do. The rest ride eBikes, and they ride them FAST!

On Thursday, I had one of my Ladies Out to Lunch groups. We went to a new Mexican place, which wasn't bad. The menu was somewhat limited, but I had a grilled chicken, rice, and bean bowl that was tasty.

On Saturday, I went to a talk on pruning at the garden center. Some of our bushes grow like crazy and some just seem to limp along. Of course, the ones that grow so well are the ones I wouldn't care if they died off (they are cheap specimens planted by the builder, not by us).

I told myself I wasn't going to buy any more plants when I went to the talk, but of course, I couldn't resist their 40%-off sale. I bought a Blazing Star Liatris for the back yard (also called Gay Feather, the spiky purple flower on the left). But the plant was so big, Bruce was able to split it in 2 and plant the other half in the front yard. The front yard doesn't have nearly as much color as the back.

The plants in the front yard also don't seem to grow as well as the ones in the back, so I bought a Scots pine bush called a Hillside Creeper. It's supposed to stay low but spread out to 6 ft wide. I hope so, because we need something to fill in that big expanse of brown mulch.

On Sunday, I went to a lavender farm. Our garden club went on a tour there Thursday, but I was at my lunch. So, on Sunday, they opened up the farm to individuals. It's a new family-owned farm that's only been in business a couple years. This photo shows their son demonstrating how they separate the lavender oil from the flower buds. They use a still, the same kind they use to make moonshine.

I wandered around the farm for a bit with my sketchbook. I did a little sketch of a lavender plant for my nature journaling challenge. But a stalk of lavender doesn't really fill up much of a page, so I moved over to the beehive area and sketched one of the hive houses. Luckily no bees were buzzing around.

Over the weekend there were several storms in the area. We only got about 20 drops of rain each time, but we got some beautiful double rainbows.

On Monday, I rode my bike down the Platte Trail to a new coffee shop in Littleton. It's called Dirt Coffee. I'm not sure that's the most flattering name, but they had good mochas and a really nice outdoor patio.

Melissa's kids went back to school this week. Violet got new contacts. She's so beautiful with those big eyes like her mother. I didn't get contacts until 9th grade, but boy was I happy when I didn't have to wear glasses anymore.

Seattle Visit

I went to Seattle this week to see Brian and Amber along with half the population of the United States. Evidently only kids in the middle of the country are back in school; the rest are at the airport. We tried going to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Fogon's, for dinner, but it was closed for an employee party. They had a sign on the door sending people to La Josie's a block away, so we decided to check it out. While it was also a Mexican restaurant (notice the Day of the Dead decor), their menu tended toward a happy hour theme with appetizers, small plates, and drinks (the tequila menu was longer than the food offerings).

Seattle has a really thriving downtown, but I always see some quirky things when I go there. While I was waiting for the streetcar to take me up to the restaurant on Capitol Hill, someone dropped a bag of pistachio nuts. This black bird immediately jumped on the bag and started pecking at it until he punched a hole. It didn't bother him that I was sitting only 2 feet away.

This great big guy was walking his little Chihuahua across the street. I almost fell over laughing when he called the dog, Moose. Quite a name for such a tiny dog. 

The next day I took the bus to Redmond, and Brian and I spent the day playing board games. It's not often that I beat Brian in a game, but this time I won twice. Truthfully, I think he was fudging the rules a bit in his mother's favor. We met Amber for lunch at Kitanda, my favorite acai place. I forgot to take a photo, because I was too busy savoring my Ziba bowl (acai, peanut butter, granola, banana, and coconut). Eating acai is like eating ice cream for lunch.

I took this photo out the bus window on the way back downtown. I was trying to capture the bikers riding across Lake Washington. They've built a separate bike lane along the entire length of Hwy 520, so theoretically I could ride a bike from downtown Seattle to Redmond, which many younger commuters do. I think I'll stick with riding the bus.

The Seattle waterfront has really changed. Last year they were building this walkway to connect the Ferry Terminal with 1st Street, so people didn't have to cross Alaskan Way (which is quite a busy street, plus they don't have to climb that steep hill into downtown).

This year, they've almost finished construction of the Overlook Walk and 20-acre Waterfront Park. This walkway is supposed to curve around and connect you to Pike Place Market. It's also being touted as a good selfie spot. That seems like an extreme amount of money to spend for selfies, but tourism is definitely big business in Seattle. All this renovation is good for me, because Pioneer Square (the area where I always stay) is getting a major face-lift.

I stayed an extra day in Seattle so that I could take the ferry to Bainbridge Island. I've always wanted to do that, but never had the time. They have a very interesting system for transporting cars back and forth on the ferry. You have to make a reservation in advance if you're going to drive a car (I was walking on as a pedestrian so just bought my ticket at the gate). The cars line up in 10 rows waiting for the ferry to come in - it looks like they're all jammed up, but it's actually very organized. 

After the ferry docks, the cars drive in 2 lanes at a time. Some cars go up a level, and some go down. It's amazing how many cars they can pack in there.

After the ferry docks on the other side, the bikers get off first; then the motorcycles; and finally, the cars. The pedestrians walk off from a higher platform.

My first stop in Bainbridge was the Pegasus Coffee House for breakfast. I had the smoked salmon and capers on a bagel. Yum!

Then I walked along the waterfront looking for a good sketch spot. I passed this sculpture garden where all the statues were made out of stones. I'm not sure how the stones were "glued" together.

I found a bench next to the marina. I think everyone in Bainbridge owns some kind of boat. This is the "smaller" section; the big yachts are to the left.

On the ride back to Seattle, I managed to capture this view of downtown catching both the Ferris wheel and the Space Needle. As you can see from the blue sky, it was an absolutely gorgeous day.