Weekend update

I finally had a Saturday free and was planning on making an appearance on the Hiawatha ride this past weekend. But we had some monster storms roll through Saturday during the wee hours, and we were without power from about 3am to approximately 3pm. I don't naturally wake up at 6:30, it requires a loud alarm clock with a persistent snooze function. I must have been tired, because I ended up sleeping until almost 12:30 Saturday afternoon. My wife and I went out to lunch since the power was out and the kids were at their grandparents. We wandered around Grand Ave for a while, fought, and generally had an unpleasant Saturday. It was partially redeemed by the fact that I found and old Columbia 3-speed at a garage sale for $20. I'm going to clean it up for the Mrs. because she thinks it looks neat.

Sunday redeemed the weekend. The grandparents complained, so we allowed them to keep the kids overnight until Monday. So about 3pm the Mrs. and I got on our bikes and went out for a ramble. We rode to Ft Snelling and spent a couple hours just riding around in the state park, looking at all the amenities that are so close to our house. After looking at the underside of the Mendota Bridge (it looks solid) we made our way out of the park and into Minnehaha. It was getting toward 6pm and we were feeling a mite peckish. So we decided to try Sea Salt, the restaurant in the Minnehaha pavilion. It's quite the happening place. The line was long and the post it notes that indicated the approximate wait time for food (varying from "15 minutes" to "better get a pitcher") was set at 20 minutes. We decided to get a pitcher of Surly Furious. For dinner I had a po'boy sandwich with grilled, batter fried fish. Nancy had the fish tacos, and we split an order of clam fries. The total for the meal was just over $37. And the food was worth it. A little more than we had planned on spending at the park, but how often are the kids gone?

After finishing the meal and the Furious we checked out the newly falling Minnehaha Falls (they were dry last week due to lack of rain) and made our way back home again. On the way we stopped at a Native American pow-wow that was taking place on the east side of the Mendota Bridge. The colors of the costumes and teepees were very striking. Everything was winding down for the day, so we didn't stay long. Plus, it was starting to get dark and Nancy only had prescription sunglasses and neither of us had lights on our bikes. We rode about 17 miles in the course of just under 5 hours. Not a great average speed, but one of the most relaxing and enjoyable rides I've been on this year.

All photos taken by Yon Saucy Wench

Date: August 12
Mileage: 17
Ride type/Bike: Ramble/Suburban
August mileage: 95
Year to date mileage: 2454

Date: August 13
Mileage: 26
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Premis
August mileage: 121
Year to date mileage: 2480

Date: August 14
Mileage: 26
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Trike
August mileage: 147
Year to date mileage: 2506


Date: August 15
Mileage: 26
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Premis
August mileage: 173
Year to date mileage: 2532