Jo's house is conveniently located a short block from a commuter bike path. We hopped on our bikes and were soon pedaling toward Calhoun Lake. The tailwind was nice but we knew what we would face on the ride home! We stopped at a nicely designed map to get our bearings, but why wasn't there a simple sign to indicate where to turn off for the lakes? We went too far but were given great help from the one recumbent rider in a group o 'mature' riders. He was going our way and just had us follow him. Once at the lake, just a couple of minutes' ride, we were glad to find public restrooms, then we headed off around the lake.
We quickly learned that the bike and pedestrian trails around these popular lakes are separate and that there is one way traffic for bikes. We enjoyed the nice houses, relatively light bike traffic (It was a weekday.) and watching the sailing lessons on a very choppy lake! The best part of riding in a circle is that the headwind was difficult for only a short time. Then we rode to Lake of the Isles where we discovered the REALLY nice houses. We also noticed funny green bags around the small trees. Since you simply cannot read labels from a moving bike, we stopped and learned that they were inverted cone-shaped plastic bags with a zipper down the side and completely open at the bottom to be filled with water. Apparently the water stays in the 'bag' long enough to provide fairly slow watering. It is labor-saving and only needs to be filled once a week; maybe we'll get some when we plant our new trees at home!
After a tour around Lake of the Isles, I decided to ride a bit farther. A look at a map showed me where I wanted to go but once again, with no signs, I ended up in the wrong place. Suddenly we were back at Lake Calhoun. Huh? Well, knowing that we had a headwind in our future, we decided to head back to Jo's house.
After a shower and a sandwich, Jo took us to the new Guthrie Theater for a tour. The architecture was fun and BLUE, and the views of the Mississippi were excellent. We saw another bike path and dedicated bike/pedestrian bridge just waiting for us on another visit. There was also a good view of the rebuilt I-35 bridge that collapsed two years ago.
We quickly learned that the bike and pedestrian trails around these popular lakes are separate and that there is one way traffic for bikes. We enjoyed the nice houses, relatively light bike traffic (It was a weekday.) and watching the sailing lessons on a very choppy lake! The best part of riding in a circle is that the headwind was difficult for only a short time. Then we rode to Lake of the Isles where we discovered the REALLY nice houses. We also noticed funny green bags around the small trees. Since you simply cannot read labels from a moving bike, we stopped and learned that they were inverted cone-shaped plastic bags with a zipper down the side and completely open at the bottom to be filled with water. Apparently the water stays in the 'bag' long enough to provide fairly slow watering. It is labor-saving and only needs to be filled once a week; maybe we'll get some when we plant our new trees at home!
After a tour around Lake of the Isles, I decided to ride a bit farther. A look at a map showed me where I wanted to go but once again, with no signs, I ended up in the wrong place. Suddenly we were back at Lake Calhoun. Huh? Well, knowing that we had a headwind in our future, we decided to head back to Jo's house.
After a shower and a sandwich, Jo took us to the new Guthrie Theater for a tour. The architecture was fun and BLUE, and the views of the Mississippi were excellent. We saw another bike path and dedicated bike/pedestrian bridge just waiting for us on another visit. There was also a good view of the rebuilt I-35 bridge that collapsed two years ago.
The new bridge
A well-designed window at the Guthrie
The evening included supper at Panera Bread (I LOVE the chipolte chicken sandwich...) and a trip to REI to pick up some pants I'd ordered. Shipping is free to any REI retail store and Minnesota has no sales tax on clothes!
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