So the big news on MSN homepage today, about the Tour De France, was that Lance punctured? WTF? Give me a break. He had over 30 miles to go in the stage and had three guys to get him back to the peloton!...non-issue unless you are in the mountains, which they are not at this point.
Apparently no other American is riding in the TDF. Don't get me wrong , I am a HUGE Lance fan and think it is great he is doing so well but, there are other Americans doing some awesome riding. Tyler Farrar, Levi Leipheimer, Christian Vande Velde and yet we hear nothing about them in fact Levi crashed with 3KM to go today and is kind of banged up but we hear nothing about that. Tyler was second in the sprint yesterday and Christian is coming back from a bad crash, broken bones, in the Giro and is sitting in 8th place in the TDF and still nothing about that....come on give the other American riders their spotlight also!
July 16, 2009
TDF-other American's riding very well!
July 15, 2009
Which bike dilemma and fruit!
(L to R: Cousins Carol, Kathy and my sister Roz-At the Ice House in Yankton!)
(some of the fresh cherries, pitted and ready for the freezer!)
July 6, 2009
TDF-Stage 3!
GO LANCE GO!
Lance moved up from 10th place to 3rd place today in the TDF! Who is the Astana team leader now by 19 seconds?
Should be an interesting TTT (Team Time Trial) tomorrow! Will Lance be back in YELLOW?
Weekend recap
It was a good weekend. We stayed in town on Friday night as both of us were tired and hit the Wild Sage for supper with a couple friends. It was good food. We also ran into some other friends and at a going away party for another friend who is moving to Virginia! Good Luck to you Dellie!Avera is loosing one heck of a nurse, enough though your cure for everything is a enema! Then over to Monks for a night cap. Ran into Mr & Mrs Bite there.
Saturday we headed to Bridge City for the fourth celebrations. We ran a few errands and then headed to MacGilly's (sp?) for supper out at the Marina with Rose. It was ok food. Then back to the clubhouse before hitting the fireworks at Riverside Park in Yankton. I would be scared to guess the amount of people sitting along the banks of the Missouri but it was a LOT! They shot the fireworks off the top of the Meridian Bridge this year. To be honest I thought there have been better shows. Don't get me wrong, it was still good but there have been better ones. I think I like them shooting the fireworks off in the Nebraska side of the river better, as you get a straight on view and there is more reflections in the water. I will have to upload pics later this week!
Sunday we did some picking-up at the clubhouse and grocery shopping for the next few days. I will be in Yankton this week as I have cousins and my sister coming up to stay for a few days.
Should be fun.
Hope everyone had a great 4th and an even better week. See you at FABRAD on Saturday!
Ooops almost forgot. Mac and Gilly added to their family on Friday. Jada and Josie two kitties! We had fun playing with them on Friday! They are sure cute!
July 2, 2009
TDF - who is your GC pick?
I can hardly wait for the TDF (Tour De France) to start! YUP, I admit it, I am a TDF junkie! I just love the dynamics of the race. The strategies that go into it. It is a team sport and some people loose site of that. Without a strong team it is hard to elevate your GC (general classification =overall winner) contender to the top of the proverbial cream of the crop!
So, who will reign supreme? Sastre, Menchov, Contador, Armstrong, the Schleck boys, Evans, Leipheimer or some complete dark horse?
If you want to have some fun Versus has a fantasy cycling team you can create for the TDF.
I need to get my team set yet!
Elvis sighting?
I am pleased to announce this is my 9th day in a row commuting to work! WooHoo! I know there are people out there that have a lot more continuous commuting days but this is pretty good for me. So, I was enjoying my nice leisurely commute this morning. Didn't feel like speeding to work, just taking it all in, you know what ma nature has to offer and all.
I pull up to the corner of Russell and Prairie and another bike commuter pulls up next to me. We acknowledge each other and of course talk about the weather the past two weeks for being so conducive for commuting. This fellow cyclist had been on vacation last week but said the weather this week has been great! The light changed and we were off to work our day away.
Ooop...forgot about the title of this blog. No there wasn't anyone with a white jumpsuit and a cape out there gyrating his hips around with ladies screaming, crying and pining for his scarf. It was the fellow cyclist sunglasses, which were kind of Elvisesque(sp?)....cool dude!
July 1, 2009
RANT.......
Why is it when a celebrity dies, there are always people that cry and carry on when they didn't even know the individual?
Then the celebs life, before death, then after death as to who gets what is plastered every where you look! UGH....
Do people REALLY CARE that much or am I the odd person out here?
If people were that interested in their own family and circle of friends as they are with some celebs lives, imagine what this world would be like!
June 28, 2009
Bike-a-palooza and Police!
First off the mid-afternoon events were all for the kids. They did really well. There was a parade with a police escort, then slalom races and giving 20 kids a new bike. Pretty darn cool!
Then it was on to the adult events. Clunker Crit, Foot down, bike throw, skid mark and wheelie competition and then bike jousting. I am pretty sure the contestants and the audience loved all the events. I participated in one event, the bike throw. The old clunker bike had been filled with concrete and weighed in at 47 pounds. I gave it my best disc throw and won the ladies round. Pretty darn funny. My prize...a FREE tap beer! It really was a LOT of fun!
(picture taken by Biking Brady)
Let me just say that, Jerry (monks owner), the kErnEl, and Snakebite did a great job putting on this event. I can't wait until next year!
The not so fun part of the weekend!
So, we get home and hit the sack. About 3:30am Sunday, Abe started barking. There was a noise in the house that was odd. Sounded almost like a door shutting. Got up and Kris went out by the front door. The storm door was open. We figured it might have been from the wind but there wasn't any wind. Then we heard someone walking around on the front steps. They tried the front door again. The noise we heard was when they opened the screen door it made the french door in the foyer kind of move so we heard it rattling. I told Kris to call 911 and as she was on the phone the individual (male, short hair, shortsleeve shirt and long pants) walked down the steps to the front walk and headed west and then turned around and headed east. The dispatcher told us to stay in the house and they would have police there in a few minutes. The police would search the area first and then come and talk with us. That they did. The police arrives a short few minutes later with spotlights on the neighbors houses and our house then they pulled up and we talked with the officer, telling her what had happened. She checked around the house and there was nothing. She was then going to proceed up the street to see if there was anyone wondering around. So we headed back in and tried to sleep...NOT! Wide wake and fell asleep an hour or so later. Kris checked the front porch this morning and he had kind of tramped some of our vines hanging out of our planters and he also dropped a crumpled up dollar bill in one of the planter. I also looked on the door and there were a couple scratches as to where it looked like he was trying to get a key in the lock. We think he was drunk and was at the wrong house, needless to say IT was scary. I was close to getting out the shot gun when I heard the noises which scares me also after what happened in Brookings(drunk kid broke into a house thinking it was his house and the owner of the house shot and killed him) this year. THANK GOD our doors were locked! We are very good about locking our doors when we are in the house anyway but WOW! That was WAY to much excitement and Abe has been praised and praised for being the BIG protector!
June 25, 2009
Bonus spotting of things you see commuting!
Things I have seen, so far, on the road during my commute this week!
broken cds
pieces of a car after a crash
beer bottle tops
sticks
leaves
bolt and nut
pennies
cigarette butts (yuck)
screw
smashed plastic bottles for various liquids (pop and oil)
dead snake (gardener snake as I called them when I was little)
dead squirrel
part of the handle of my coffee cup (it was in the intersection of Russell and Prairie and there is no way I am stopping to pick it up with that wild traffic!) (coffee cup still hangs off the handlebar just fine!)
Those are all pretty common things we usually all see on daily bike commutes but.....The bonus spotting of today was:
A HUGE SNAPPING TURTLE! He was big, I mean bigger than a dinner plate big! Right in the middle of the road! Kind of odd as he was moving AWAY from the Covel Lake area to no lake the direction he was going. I hope someone puts him back in the lake otherwise the kids in the neighborhood he was heading to will torment the heck out of him! I should have stopped to take a picture of him!
June 22, 2009
Break out your money!
Great weekend!
I had a great weekend!
Friday I hit the clubhouse in Bridgetown. Saturday I headed off to the Ponca Revenge mountain bike race part of the Psycowpath Series for some officiating! These guys put on a great event! There were 85 riders taking on the five mile loop course. Numerous categories with numerous laps and numerous pages of writing for the officials but that was just fine with us! It was really fun. I had never been to a mountain bike race before and let me say, these riders are pretty tough. One class in particular, the Marathoners, rode the course for THREE HOURS straight! It was pretty cool to watch them have their own routine at the feed station. The winners (man and woman) of the marathon class did seven laps in those three hours. Kudos! You can read about the results here.
Let me also say that this is a great State Park that offers camping, hiking and biking!
Saturday I buzzed to the local G-Store to get a steak and some sides to grill at the clubhouse! YUMMY! One of my mom's friends, Rose, came over and we sat and visited also. Great way to end the day!
Sunday was a lazy day and then headed home to get caught up with Kris who was at a Garden Party Tour in Pierre at her sister and brother-in-laws house. They had a good time.
Today is the first day since May 11 that I have been on my bike! I had bronchitis and and upper respiratory infection all at once so have not been 100 percent in a while. I am not so sure I am yet, but I am in the 90s at least! Anyway, I commuted to work today! I am SO HAPPY! This has made my week and it is only Monday!
Rest of the week....
FAB newsletter stuff, Thursday FAB Time Trial and Saturday Bike-a-palooza!
June 18, 2009
Thursday afternoon silliness!
I got this joke from my niece this afternoon and found it VERY funny
but be warned it is semi-naughty!
A PSYCHIATRIST'S EVALUATIONS
A psychiatrist was conducting a group therapy session with four
young mothers and their small children.
"You all have obsessions," he observed.
To the first mother, April, he said, "You are obsessed with eating.
You've even named your daughter Candy."
He turned to the second mom, Jenny: "Your obsession is with money.
Again, it manifests itself in your child's name, Penny."
He turned to the third mom, Erica: "Your obsession is alcohol.
This too shows itself in your child's name, Brandy."
At this point, the fourth mother, Emily, quietly got up, took her little boy
by the hand and whispered,
"Come on, Dick, this guy has no idea what he's talking about.
Let's go pick up Peter and Willy from school.
June 15, 2009
Bike-A-Palooza
Monk’s Bike-a-Palooza
2:00 Beer/Soft Drinks available, Bike Shops set up
2:00 – 2:30 Bike Parade
Parade will start at Monk’s on 8th St., 8th St. to Weber Ave, Weber to Falls Park, Falls Park to Phillips Ave, Phillips Ave to 8th St. and back to Monk’s
3:00 – 9:00 Food Available
3:00 – 5:00 Live Music
oxford comma
4:00 Kid’s Events
Present Bikes Up to 25 bicycles will be presented to children identified by Volunteers of America.
Kid’s Slalom Race Age-grouped, timed slalom race. Groups may be ages 0-5, 6-9 & 10-12
6:00 Adult Events
Clunker Crit
Wheelie Competition
Foot Down Competition
Bike Toss
Bike Joust
7:00 - 9:00 Live Music
Surly Endo & the Chainlinks
The past week in review......
Time flies when you are having fun...hahaha!
Not much going on but it seems to fill my days. Between, officiating, yard work and work in general it is keeping me busy.
A week ago I went to Norfolk to help with the Norfolk Classic bike races. It was a great time and I learned more about officiating thanks to Jon, Nancy, Cheryl and Glen. Saturday was a road race and Sunday was the crit from hell. It started out with a little rain which turned into a LOT of rain, hail and wind. Not fun. It soon stopped raining but the damage was done. We were SOAKED! The races were great and not any bad injuries which I was glad to see! I headed back to Yankton to find some biking buddies on their first overnight of the Tour De Kota. I found Mr & Mrs Biking Brady and RideVermillion at tent city and chatted a bit. I was glad I was heading home to a warm house and bed and not crawling into a wet tent with damp sleeping bags.
Thursday evening was the third installment of the Spoke n Sport Criterium. We had 18 riders for the Class B division and 7 riders for the Class A division. The evening was the best we have had so far for this race. They are a lot of fun to watch and it has been fun getting to know some of riders. If you have not been to one of the races yet you need to get out there and watch or heck for that mater, race! There are a lot of good people out there trying to grow this sport in our area so get out there and support it!
This past weekend we headed to the Clubhouse for some relaxing and fun. One of Kris's co-workers came along for the fun. Of course we hit Charlie's Pizza on and then Ben's Brewing Company on Friday night. Saturday it was doing the tourist thing. Out to the Gavin's Point Dam with a stop at MacGilly's at the Marina for refreshments. Once back in town we hit the Walnut Bar a.k.a. the Dead Animal Bar then it was off to the Ice House to have a couple beverages and smash the beer bottles under the dock. Both of mine and Rhonda's smashed but Kris was one for one. I think that means she buys the next time down there! We hit the Clubhouse for grilled burgers upon which I burned my arm on the grill lid. Dang that hurt and still hurts when it is not covered up. Then it was off to the musical Chicago at the Lewis and Clark Theater Company. WOW! Lots of YHS thespians in the musical. They wear a lot of lingerie in this musical. I was kind of amazed. I wondered what some of the older theater goers were thinking when they saw the scantly clad ladies. Those girls had a LOT of guts to get up there in those "costumes". The play itself was really pretty good. It amazes me some of the talent that the Yankton area has. You should go, as it is a great show but be warned that it might be a bit out there for some and it is not really for children.
This week will be full of some of the same old, same old. Work, golf, FAB newsletter, moving stuff in the basement to have some electrical work done and then off to the Clubhouse. Saturday I am off to Ponca NE to help with the Psycowpath series-Ponca's Revenge Mt bike race. My first ever, should be fun but a challange also.
Oh, yes, on the health front. I am doing better but still not 100% might be in the 90% range. A little set back from the rain soaked weekend in Norfolk but doing better! I have not been on the bike in a month and was going to ride to work today, but guess what? It is raining...AGAIN!
June 5, 2009
Biking weekend.........
This weekend will be biking stuff for me. Not riding, but officiating. Not "official" officiating but helping and trying to gain more experience. Saturday is a road race and Sunday is a criterium. Should be fun if the weather cooperates! You can read about the races here.
There will also be more biking happening this weekend by some friends as it is the start of the Tour de Kota on Sunday.
To all my cycling friends riding the TDK this year, stay safe, have fun and to borrow a tweeted phrase from Riderermillion, "May the winds be light and the beer be cold!" Maybe I will see some of you on Sunday afternoon /evening at Riverside park in Yankton on my way back from Norfolk!
If you live in the south eastern /east central, rural part of the state please watch out for my fellow cyclist!
May 29, 2009
VERY Random thoughts.......
* Had fun at the TT turn around point last night.
*Ordered up a new house, new SUV, new bikes and lots of other fun stuff then realized I was not the one from South Dakota that had won the powerball : (
*Happy our state has moved up the ranks of bike friendly states from 41st last year to 28th this year! Good job everyone!
*Wondering why my niece wanted to know my blood type. In case you are wondering my RoadID says A+.
*Had my first wood tick crawling on my sock last night after walking in some tall grass.
*Bummed my paycheck is sort a weeks pay from being sick all last week. We do not have sick leave and my vacation time is spoken for already.
*Heading to the Clubhouse tonight just for an evening of fun with Kris's brother-in-law and then some work tomorrow.
*Glad Abe didn't kill the bunny today. Abe slipped out of his collar and almost got the little furry hopper.
*Two biking events going on this weekend. I hope everyone stays safe and as one friend said "I hope the wind is light and the beer is cold!"
*Why did I eat so much at lunch?
*Called the doctor twice already today about my scratchy throat. It started up again yesterday afternoon. Still no return call. Makes me crabby. I think I need one more round of antibiotics.
*Hitting the Ribfest tomorrow evening for supper....YUMMY!
*Lots of work to do next week and I know already there is not enough time to get it ALL done.
*Seems my co-worker is not all that worried about her father having cancer. She didn't even go up and see him last night after his surgery but was quick to tell us her dog was being spayed today. What?
*Picking up the flowers from the Obert cemetery tomorrow. They told us they will only be allowed on the graves for one week. Used to be two weeks. Wondering why this has changed?
*Wondering why Carlos Zambrano (Cubs pitcher) can't control his temper better. Good job showing kids what NOT TO DO, CARLOS!~~~UGH!
*Looks like Lance is riding into good form during the Giro d'italia. Scary for a bit today when he crashed but he seems to be ok.
*Wondering what Alberto Contador is thinking about the Astana team dynamics these days and why he didn't try and defend his Giro title?
*Who will be the next sponsor of the Astana team?
*Hope to get back on the bike next week and do some commuting and more base riding.
*UPDATE-Doctors office finally called back. I will shortly have a 10 day supply of bactrim to kill this bug I have....HOPE IT WORKS!
May 28, 2009
Graduations and bike rides..........
Hello, kids...
I am finally feeling better although I still have a cough, my voice is still not "normal" and I am tired but everything is going in the correct direction anyway! I missed the first night of golf last night, since it was cold and wet out there, I just didn't think it was wise for me to be out in the elements.
Last weekend Kris's nephew graduated from Augie with a degree in Business Administration and mathematics. Not sure how that all adds up..haha. It was a fun time. I think it was very cool of him to sit around and talk with us even though his college friends were around. Sunday after the official ceremony he hung with us again, so we decided to take him to Famous Dave's for supper. Plans were then made to hit Ribfest this weekend at some point. The boy is growing up!
Kris's niece also graduated this past weekend from St Olaf (with a degree in museum administration and woman studies?-not sure the exact degree SORRY!)and will be heading off to grad school this fall at NYU. Congrats Zach and Maren-job well done!!
The weekends are filing up VERY fast this summer. LOTS going on and I need to get on the bike!
Bike rides I plan on doing this summer----
FABRAD (July)
MS150 (August)
Margarita Ride (September)
Biking 4 Breast Cancer (September)
I also joined Snakebites-Bike 2 Work Challenge. With being under the weather May has not been kind to me for the B2WC. I hope to change that SOON!
May 22, 2009
Memorial Day
May 13, 2009
FREE PANCAKES!
May 15th is Sioux Falls Bike to Work Day. Hit the Museum of Visual Arts between 6a-9a. Have fun talking with other bikers. Have a great breakfast to power you through your morning and the best part.....well, besides riding your bike to work, getting your head cleared out, exercise, less carbon on the environment and stress relief, is that it is FREE! More details here. You might even get to meet this years poster boy for the event or join in on his bike to work challenge, which you can read about here!
RIDE YOUR BIKE ON FRIDAY!
SEE YOU ALL THERE!
May 11, 2009
How many lives does a blinky light have?
I hit the road this morning for my commute. It was a nice and sunny commute, just a little cool but all was good. I was making good time when I heard something fall and hit the road, behind me. I looked back and laying helplessly, in the middle of the road was my little red blinky light! I got turned around and started back to rescue it when a car came in it's direction. Was I going to see my little blinky light murdered right in front of me? I was hoping not and found myself saying, "Don't run over my little blinky light!" and of course repeated it a few times as the car drove over the top of it and MISSED IT! YEAH! I made it back to pick up the little scratched guy only to find that the clip was gone that holds it to my trunk. So I went searching for it and didn't see it anywhere until I looked on my trunk and there it was, clipped on and hang on for dear life! The blinky and clip were reunited. Now, the big test, was he going to work after hitting the deck----YES!
So, my blinky light is a Viewpoint blinky (el-cheapo), how many lives does it have? If I had a Cateye blinky would it have 9 lives? So, do assume that this little blinky might have 8 lives left even though it is not a Cateye? I am guessing it's life will be a bit shorter from this little mishap but the little guy lives on to illuminate my life, keeping me safe, for a few more days, I hope!
May 8, 2009
Be a responsible pet owner!
An unfortunate thing happened to a couple of friends last night on a training ride. You can read about it here.
All I want to say is, PEOPLE, BE RESPONSIBLE PETS OWNERS! If you can't afford to take care of them or at least control them, you should not have them-PERIOD! Things could have turned out a lot worse for our friends. Thank GOD it didn't!
May 4, 2009
Dead wrong?
After I tweeted on Twitter about a 20.85 mile bike ride, a funeral home is now following my tweets! Should I be worried?
Planting, poker and pacelines
Great weekend to be OUTSIDE! Yup, finally no rain, a little wind but hey, it is South Dakota after all.
We got our flower bed all planted. Flower pots planted, tomato plants in their containers along with the marigolds to keep the bugs away from the little sweet 100s! Lawn mowed and fertilized. Bike chains and rear cogs all cleaned and lubed. Now there must have been some sort of payoff for doing all this work right? You guessed it, a bike ride. It is was not just an ordinary bike ride it was the annual Harlan's Anniversary ride / Harlan's Poker Ride / Harlan's customer appreciation ride, but this year we rode in memory of Cal's daughter who was killed in a car accident four months ago. I didn't know her but I am sure she was a great person given how nice her dad and uncle are.
Not sure how many attended the ride but there were quite a few. We opted for the bike trail ride instead of the Harrisburg ride. I was nervous about this as we rode counter clockwise around the trail. Now, to some of you it is not a big deal. To the ones that are novice and dislike hills it is kind of a big deal as you have to climb out of the falls area up a hill and up the switch backs by the the State Penitentiary. I am proud to say I did it without stopping! I think the part leading up to the bridge that goes over the spillway is hardest part so it makes the switch backs a little hard but not so bad. Kris had a hard time with them but she made it about halfway up which is excellent!
We regrouped at the bridge / dam area out by north Minnesota and met a couple of Lanehogs! Jefferson and his son Matt were along for Harlan's ride also and had never ridden the trail before so the tagged along with our group well, in the middle of our group. Kris and I rode sweep...hahaha! We got up by the zoo and of course the buffalo were standing under a tree and the BIG kitties were laying in the grass. We also saw a duck with her ducklings all in a perfect paceline swimming in the diversion ditch. I love that stuff! We made it back and with that Kris made another one of her goals-----ALREADY-----that was to make it around the bike trail loop! She did a great job yesterday! Not sure what she is going to do the rest of the summer with her goals already met! Just kidding. I know she wants to work on pace and getting faster which will come with more time in the saddle. At the end of the ride, I didn't have a good poker hand at all, didn't win a door prize, had good burgers, lemon aide and fun with friends...good weekend!
April 30, 2009
Help save some great buildings!
Do your part and help save history! They are on the list as one of the 11 most endangered historic places!
Don't let our state destroy these wonderful buildings! These are amazing structures in Yankton and once they are gone they are gone. Help save history and sign the petition on the link to Governor Rounds to save the buildings at the Human Services Center!
April 29, 2009
Sick of the flu..........
Ok, is anyone else tired of hearing about the swine flu? I know I am!
I realize that any bug like this is serious when it can spread fast but does the news media need to sensationalize the whole thing, making a lot of people panic about this?
A SIMPLE and EASY solution to reduce your risk for
catching any "bug": PEOPLE, WASH YOUR HANDS!
Does the media sensationalize about the 36,000 people that die from the "regular" flu or complications of the flu each year in the United States? Does the media sensationalize about the 1,500 people that die each day in the United States from cancer? Does the media sensationalize that 3,400 people each day are diagnosed with cancer in the United States? Heck, did you know that 1.2 million people die from bike related accidents world wide each year? Do we see HUGE breaking news crawls or hour long news specials about any one of these tragic things? NOPE.
April 28, 2009
April 27, 2009
Weekend recap........
Had a great weekend but lots of windshield time. I found out on Thursday I was going to head to Minneapolis on Friday to receive some continuing education credits, basic electricity for door hardware, from our DHI-North Central Chapter. With heading to the Mpls area, I knew there are always bike races in the area so I contacted a few people to let them know I was going to be in the area and would like to "shadow" another official if it would be ok. They had a big race going on in Cannon Falls, MN called the Ken Wood Memorial Road Race, University of Minnesota-NCCC (North Central Cycling Championship). 340 riders and 70 collegiate riders for the race. The weather was to be crappy, rain, cold, wind, so I was prepared with all sorts of layers. I was paired up with Emily another official. She had never done the road racing commissaire part of the race before and since I had, we were a team. We followed the Cat 3 men (3-laps on a 21 mile course) for the race in the morning. Pretty "cushy" job, not that officiating is a cushy job, but since the wind was a bit cool and the threat of rain loomed all morning, it was good to be in a car. I even got to do my first call out of a race, meaning calling the group and going over some of the rules before leading them out on the course. In the afternoon, I did the Junior (1-lap on the 21 mile course)race and road with one of the parents, Bob, nice guy and good conversation was had. Good to see the parents involved and doing stuff with their kids! The race was also good just meeting other officials and and experiencing how bigger races are run.
This event also featured a "chip" system. This means that the racers have to rent or buy a "chip" about the size of a quarter, that is on a velco ankle strap. At registration the riders are given their chip. The chip has a number that is entered into the computer with the riders name. When a rider goes across the finish line the chip is triggered by a series of wires on the pavement which go to a computer and is plugged into the software system. This places the riders as to their finish. We do still keep track of the riders manually also and then everything is double checked from the officials manually scoring to the chip read-out sheets. Since technology is not 100% fool-proof and then if there are any DQ-d (disqualified) riders, the computer can't tell that, so it can be taken care of at that point. Once the finish is agreed upon then the results are printed and posted. Pretty cool system! Thanks again to all the officials, Matt, Bill, Bruce, Jeff, Steve, Emily, Larry, and two others that I can't remember their names (SORRY!) that helped me learn a bit more about officiating. Also thanks to all the corner marshalls braving the wind out on the corners to keep everyone safe during the race! One older lady who was a corner marshall in teh morning, was from Des Moines, and was there to see her granddaughter race for the U of M. How cool is that to say your grandmother was out there as a corner marshall! She did a heck of a job out there also!
I left Sioux Falls around 8:30am on Friday morning and made it back to Sioux Falls 8:30 pm Saturday night. Long couple of days and lots of miles, but it was worth it.
April 23, 2009
Don't forget your blinky and headlight for evening riding!
April 20, 2009
The Recap......
What a wonderful night it was on, Friday night. We sat on the patio, at the Clubhouse with the tiki torches lit and just enjoying the night. It was so nice out there, I hated to go inside but after a long week at work the bed was calling me by 10:30pm.
Saturday we were up semi early to get the rainy day going. Yup, rain. Good thing we enjoyed the patio on Friday night! We had a few projects we needed to get done after breakfast of course! We wanted to get the garage cleaned out and also reorganize a closet that has been a hazard for some time. After errands to local box store, grocery store and a convenience store to haul beer (New Belgium-Abby, Mothership Wit and Trippel - have not tried them yet) over the state line we started in on our jobs. We cleaned out said closet and put together a small shelving unit for misc. games and shoes on the bottom shelf. Of course cleaning this closet out meant a trip to Goodwill with mom's shoes. That was hard to do but I got it done and it was something that needed to be done. We relaxed for a bit before we met up with our friends the Lanehogs, well, some of them anyway, at The Pit in Wakonda for supper. YUMMY food as always, good conversations and good friends! We truly have been blessed meeting some great people through biking! My Godparents, Joan and Luther, even showed up! I took Joan into the men's bathroom to see the throne. It is a one of a kind. She laughed at it and proceeded to say that, "Luther would fall off that thing!" We had a table that we filled with 10 people and boy we had fun. Cathy & Charlie, Melissa & Nick, Ed & Pat, Luther & Joan, and Me & Kris. We had permission from Biking Brady and Ride Vermillion to go ahead with our supper at the Pit since they were going to have their own fun on the LBL (lincoln, beatrice, lincoln) ride. I so, enjoy our Pitt meetings! Dawn & Christi had a Storm game so they could attend this time around either. Maybe the next time we will have our whole crew there!
Sunday, I cleaned out the garage so it is ready for the summer then it was on to brunch followed by a LONG NAP! I woke up a little before 6pm! We still had to load up and head to Obert to the cemetery to take the Christmas wreaths off the graves and put new flowers in the vases. Boy, winter is hard on a cemetery. Seems there is a lot of cleaning up to do there this year. Needless to say we got home around 9:30pm last night and I fell asleep soon after we got the truck unloaded.
Now, it is Monday afternoon. A fun busy week is planned with work and a at least two bike rides need to happen this week. Kris is teaching the USD PT class tonight here in Sioux Falls from 5p-8p, so I get stuck with laundry from the weekend. That is fine. With it being so WINDY out today the bike does not temp me at all but they are not happy since they traveled to Yankton then Obert and back to Sioux Falls without being ridden and we all know an unhappy bike will get even at some point with it's owner!
The weekends go way tooooooo fast!
April 17, 2009
Procedure, the Pitt and Pandemonium
Good afternoon, kiddos!
Where did the week go? I feel like all my blog entries have been repeats of each other lately! Not all that much to blog about but work is busy, been busy with bike stuff and someone is having some sort of procedure at our house.
I had four projects bidding this past week, FAB board meeting on Tuesday night, and Abe had a procedure to removed a mass from his snout which we found out today is not cancer. It was a histiocytoma. He has been good with leaving it alone and not scratching it at all.
This weekend we are heading to the clubhouse in Bridge City to get it ready for spring and summer. The patio furniture will go out, once I get the patio cleaned off and the garage will be cleaned out. We also want to get a bike ride in and then there is also supper at the PIT in Wakonda with Cycling Cathy, Charlie, Sieversma, Nick (I think), Ed and Pat from the wonderful metropolis of Burbank and of course me and Kris on Saturday night. A few of our other Pit friends are headed to NE for the LBL (Lincoln, Beatrice, Lincoln) ride and a couple others have a Storm game to attend, so they will miss out on the PIT fun! Not sure what else the weekend has in store for us. I guess we will play it by ear.
Next week will be more pandemonium! The shampoo saga, you know, wash and repeat (same as other weeks).....except, NO, planned procedures!
Have a great weekend everyone and safe travels if you are on the road!
April 14, 2009
Abe is having surgery today!
Poor Abe is having surgery today. He sprouted a mole/wort like thing on the side of his snout in Feb. As one of our friends said it looked like a wood tick. When we went to DC the beginning of March we had the vet look at it and it was determined through testing that it was not cancer. They suggested having it taken off sometime this summer when he comes in for a teeth cleaning.
So, we decided that was the plan until this weekend. Poor guy was scratching at it, it got irritated and now it looks bigger so we decided it needed to come off sooner rather than later.
Laser surgery it is and when he is done he will be sporting bright white buckers and will also have some sort of incision on the side of his snout. Just can't wait to get him home! Unfortunately I have a couple bike related meetings tonight, so I will not be there to comfort the little guy. Kris will have to take care of that part. I am sure she will do a great job!
April 13, 2009
Great weekend-the recap!
HAPPY MONDAY, blog readers!
Had a great weekend. I hope all of you did as well.
Friday night we started off with supper at Johnny Carino's. Had great food and then headed over to Stubbies, a local non-smoking establishment. We wanted to watch the Twins play, but little did we know it would end up being retro-beer night for me. I started off with a Schlitz. Not sure what my dad saw in that beer. WOW. It is really carbonated tasting. Then it was Hamm's followed by PBR, followed by Busch lite, followed by Labatte blue followed by Grain Belt. In there we also ordered a couple orders of, REALLY GOOD, tator tot baskets. It was fun. I think the most fun was tweeting to people what we were doing.
Saturday we hit The Diner for breakfast then the grocery store, with everyone else. Got home and loaded up the bikes and hit the bike trail. Since it was kind of windy, we opted to stay in the more protected part of the trail, which as many of you know is usually the busiest and it was not to disappoint in that aspect. I am beginning to HATE ipods! Ok, let me rephrase that. People with ipods that do not stay to the right on the trail and walk down the center of the trail. I am also amazed at how some of the dog owners out there are not responsible. There was one place were there was dog droppings and another were a dog was off leash that was wondering all over the trail in front of it's owners. Have you ever tried to out guess which way a dog is going? UGH! Ok, enough of the rant. Kris and I did have fun. We road from Cherry Rock over to Western. In between 26th and Cliff there was a Roadlegs sighting with his kiddos. He looked to be having fun teaching his kids how to ride on the trail, wish more parents would do that. I didn't know it was him until we were almost past him and he shouted out, "Hey, Tez, looks like you were having fun with the beer last night!" Seems he was following the tweets from Stubbies, Friday night, also! It was funny. Kris and I were on a mission so we didn't stop to chat, which I feel bad about...SORRY ROAD LEGS! We made it to Western and Kris was done. She didn't want to over do her first ride of the year so she headed back and I decided to ride to 49th street then to 41st street. I turned around there and headed back to Cherry Rock. Once at Cherry Rock I met a VERY HANDSOME GUY! His name, Sampson. He is a 3 year old Newfoundland. What a sweetheart he is! Of course, I had to stop and talk to the owner since Abe is part Newfie. Seems Sampson loves everyone but the mailman!
We got home and did the first grilling of the summer! filet mignon, brussel sprouts, ass-per-gas (as my dad called it) and also new potatoes with garlic! The filet mignon had a porchini mushroom, gorgonzola sauce on it (recipe is here). YUMMY! Abe, even helped himself to one of the small filets from the counter! YUP, first time that has ever happened. It was part my fault also but he was in the dog house all evening. Poor guy. I felt bad. All I have to do is raise my voice and he is a puddle. He stuck to Kris pretty much the rest of the evening although she was not happy with him either. We have a rule that no matter what, the slate is wiped clean the next day and it was.
Sunday we hit 8:15am church at First Lutheran, while the Paris-Roubaix was going on. It was hard for me not to watch the twitter feeds, but I resisted. When we got home, I watched the end of the race on the computer before we went to brunch at Grille 26. Brunch was ok. Still not up to Minerva's standards yet, but I am sure they will get there. Once home we blanched some green beans, brussel sprouts and asparagus and threw them in the freezer just in time to watch the whole P-R bike race on Versus!
It was a good weekend.
April 10, 2009
SD rides and a Crit!
First off, there is a new blog site for rides in SD! Check it out here! (great job and great idea putting this together Biking Brady!)
First Spoke N Sport criterium race of 2009 was held in Sioux Falls last night. A lot of people braved the cold, windy conditions to cheer on 23 riders riding the .7 mile loop. For some not only was it the first race of the season but for others, it was the official start of the officiating season. It was good to see all of us that took the USA Cycling officials class in Feb. there to lend a hand. We even had a few others helping us out, thanks Sprocket, Life with Tony, Kris and of course Dustin the race director! I think the races went well and we will only get better the more we officiate. Now nothing left but some paperwork!
If you have never been to a bike race before this is a fun one to watch. The course is a loop so you can see pretty much all but one corner depending on where you stand plus the riders go fast which seems to be what a lot of people like to see. You can find information for future races here. The best part of watching these races is that you get to meet new people, cheer on the local racing talent and of course it is FREE to spectators!
April 8, 2009
Ready for spring and bike races!
Life has been busy, but boring as of late and of course with a few drops or so of stress added in, just for fun!
Busy with work, busy with bike (non-riding) stuff, bored from the last snow fall and only hoping and needing SPRING to break me out of this funk.
Tonight it will be another night of sweeping the criterium course for the races tomorrow night. I should not complain. I helped for a little over an hour last night sweeping the finishing stretch and it was not so bad. Tonight we have one last corner to sweep. It is actually the cleanest of the corners but still not good. The corners have been described as sweeping a gravel road and on some of the corners it is the truth! As I was sweeping last night, a few cars drove past me and were looking at me strangely. I am guessing they thought I was out fulfilling my community service obligations even though I made a point not to wear an orange jumpsuit or anything with black and white stripes. Still I had very interesting looks. I have to admit, I would look at someone strangely also that was sweeping a road out north east of Sioux Falls in an industrial park area. There is a purpose to all this. You see, gravel is a nasty evil with road bike tires and gravel combined with a corner is the ultimate nasty combo. You can crash in a hurry so it is necessary to sweep to make the course as safe as possible. The CPC guys have been working hard to get the area ready for the race and it is looking pretty good., just a little more housekeeping and it will be ready!
Now comes the stress part. A few of us will be there for the races in our "official" officiating attire. We have a lot to learn and I hope people are patient with all of us. We will get the process down but it might take a few races. I am pretty sure all of us will be REALLY GOOD by the end of the season and will have learned a lot! I am a bit nervous about it so I am going to re-read rules and the manual again before the race tomorrow night.
Scored a Borah neon yellow vest over lunch on the clearance rack at Harlan's Bike and Tour. They have some nice new products at their place so stop in and check them out! New bike shorts, arm warmers and a trigger point ball should be delivered to the house by the time I get home tonight. I hope this will get me out of my funk, SOON, if not, at least I stimulated the economy a bit!
April 3, 2009
Smatterings and get our letter of concern sent!
Happy Friday everyone! Not much going on but the up coming snow storm heading our way. Somewhere between 4-12 inches is what I have heard but who knows anymore. The only good thing is whatever we get will be gone in a short amount of time. So light is at the end of the tunnel as far as spring goes, kiddos!
The weekend plans are to get taxes and laundry done. I was going to go out and take some pics around the community but with the crappy weather coming in that would not be so fun. Kris has to work the weekend and carry the pager at night so whatever the plans end up being they will be VERY low key! I also need to get those pedals, from Ride Vermillion, on my the road bike....I AM JUST LAZY, I guess!
I do have some New Glarus - Stout and Stone Soup beer to try out. Might just have to get that in the fridge for a sampling sometime this weekend.
Feeling not all that great today. Kind of congested and a headache. Took sinus stuff at lunch to see if it will help. In general just tired! Seems we have had a lot of go, go, go and added stress in our lives this month. Time to step back a bit and relax!
Hope you all have a great weekend and hope the snow doesn't get to deep in your area!
P.S - If you use the Sioux Falls "greenway" trail and you have not written your letter to the city about concerns during and about the levee changes, get on it! They need them by noon Monday, April 6th! Read the FAB forum and what people are saying here! These are all very valid concerns that all of us have talked about. We need to let our city know how we feel about this! It is possible to have a voice in making our "greenway" a better and SAFER place for ALL of us to enjoy! No matter what or how you ride or even if you do not ride and use the trail for walking this affects all of us. It even affects drivers as you will need to be aware of where there will be additional pedestrian and pedal traffic. Proposed trail re-routing can be seen here.
April 2, 2009
24 years ago today
Twenty four years ago today we were in the hospital at Avera Mckennan unplugging my dad from the respirator. He had two strokes in three days and was brain dead. Nothing to be done. He lived 52 years and that was it, lights out. Pretty sad and way to young.
I have lived almost half my life without my dad. I was thinking about this the other day. That is truly crazy. Am I sad? Well, I will say I do miss him. I know he is very proud of all that his family has accomplished. My dad was a lot of fun and loved a good joke or pulling a prank on people. I do have a bit of him in me, maybe.... : )
If your parents are still alive treat them extra special! I know at times it can be a trial with any body but think about how lucky you are to still have them and share things with them! Don't just take them for granted. You never know when they will be plucked from your life. Tell them you love them or give them a hug when you see them, you will not regret it!
March 31, 2009
Crap Crap Crap!
So, I get home from lunch today and Abe was all excited to see me, nothing new. Then I walked into the dining room and a nasty stench was hanging in the air. Yup, Abe could not make it until I got home for lunch. Poor guy. He felt bad, I could tell. So I pulled my shirt up over my nose, I will gag pretty easy with this kind of stuff so it was best to be prepared, I am my fathers daughter that is for sure. He could not handle things like this either. I get it all cleaned up and take Abe outside. He was fine. I eat my lunch and we headed back to work. Abe is a pretty laid bad guy so when he comes running into my cubicle and is panting it is either he is out of water, wants a treat or he has "issues" as we call it. So I try the water. Nope that was not it. He had already had treats so I thought it must be that he had "issues". So, we head outside. He goes #1 and then gets scared from a noise and runs back to the front door of my place of employment. I am thinking he must be ok now. Well, not to be. He did another round of panting so I took him out again. THAT WAS IT! WOW! Poor guy! Being a good citizen I picked it up and double bagged the evidence. Now he is sleeping just fine outside my cubicle entrance.
I can't help but wonder what it is going be like tomorrow at our house if Abe is still having "issues". You see Kris is having her 50 year old baseline colonoscopy. She is taking tomorrow afternoon off to start the "prep" work. Could be an "issue" filled day at our house!
Break out the 5 gallon can of air freshener!
March 30, 2009
Clubhouse, carpentry and the colon.......
HAPPY MONDAY...hahaha...NOT!
We, my Monday is not bad, but it is a Monday. I need to finish the DC recap yet and have not. SORRY, but the goal is to finish that this weekend.
In other noise. Hit the Clubhouse this past weekend and had a great time. We went to a Pampered Chef party on Friday night at my God parents place which of course is always fun. Saturday we worked at the clubhouse for a bit. I cleaned off the patio even though I am pretty sure all the leaves I swept off it, have now blown back on it since it is SO VERY WINDY TODAY. I also am trying to finish up taking the wall down at the bottom of the steps in the basement to make it easy to get the water heater in and out. I have to notch a couple boards yet and then she will be able to come down with two thru-bolts (carriage bolts). YEAH! Not sure why they installed the water heater in a corner then put the furnace next to it and build a wall so you can't get the water heater between the furnace and the wall but they did! Oh, well this little project will make it easy to take the wall down and put back up again.
Saturday night we hit River Rose Bistro for supper. It was good except a group of maybe middle school girls came in from a basketball tournament and of course were loud. So much for a relaxing supper! We did make the most of it by heading to Ben's Brewing Company after supper. We had a great time there watching the guys make drinks. The martinis are fun to watch them make. Of course after my three glasses of wine I decided I needed, yes needed to order a martini. I had Ben make me the most popular martini they serve. The Lemon Drop. It was darn good! I refrained and only allowed myself one martini as we decided we needed to head home if we were to drink anymore. Once home we each had a nightcap of Godiva chocolate liquor and what I thought was a Kahlua bottle turned out to be a premixed White Russian bottle. Not a big deal it was actually pretty good. Needless to say we both slept good Saturday night!
Sunday was a lazy day. We watched a couple movies on the tellie and then we headed home later arriving back to Sioux Falls around 6:30 or so.
It was a good weekend. The only bummer is that we left out leftovers in the truck on Saturday night thinking it was not going to get that warm on Sunday so they would be fine...NOT! Oh well....
This week is another busy one at work plus FAB newsletter meeting and then Kris is having the 50 year old baseline / check - colonoscopy on Thursday! What a crappy day that will be!...hahaha, Oh, well, needs to be done! Getting back on the bikes is also a priority since the scale needle seems to be going the WRONG direction as of late! Weather outside will not be good for biking so we are relegated to the basement but that is ok.
Have a great week everyone even with a BLIZZARD on the way!
March 23, 2009
Blogging, biking and a boob!
HOLY CRAP! I noticed I had a blog draft for DC vacation day #4 all ready about a week ago and all I needed to do was add pics! I had not realized this until I was reading another blog then looked to see when I last did my bloggie thing and it was a WEEK AGO! Sorry folks. I know the two of you that read this blog have been sitting on the edge of yours seat wonder what happened on my other days of vacation...NOT! haha!
Anyway I will do a total recap soon, but first some there business to take care of.
First off. The City of Sioux Falls seems to think that bikers, walkers, rollerbladers, hikers will not need an alternate route mapped out when the diversion ditch levy is raised from 41st to the zoo and not completed until 2010. WHAT? So all those people that use this stretch of the "greenway" which includes bike commuters, recreation bikers, joggers, rollerbladers or whatever will have to find their own way around this mess? This means pouring people out into streets that might have heavy traffic already and not warning said motor vehicle traffic to watch for pedal pedestrian traffic in these areas. Are they asking for injuries? Maybe? Most of us are safe riders on the road but when motor vehicle drivers are not used to seeing an increase in pedal / pedestrian traffic in areas it could get scary. There is a meeting about this March 25 from 5-6:30pm at the Oyate Community Center (by Garfield Elem School). Ride you bike to the meeting and show your support in getting an alternate route mapped out for this area during construction.
Second. This past weekend Cassie Soeffing and myself were lucky enough to get our first USA Cycling officiating gig. The Twin Bing road race in Climbing Hills, IA went off without a hitch. Cassie was at the finish line compiling numbers and times and I was in the commissionaire car with our officials class instructor following the Class B field watching for infractions and keeping track of riders. It was a great day on a VERY TOUGH HILLY course with 26 in the Class A field and 72 in the Class B field. The loop was 22 miles with the A's doing three laps and the B's doing two laps. Let's just say I was glad I was riding in the car and NOT riding a bike! It is fair to say we learned a lot and have a lot to learn! All in all it was good and we are both ready to do more. Even Cassie's husband got in the mix to help with writing down numbers at the finish line. Glen from our officials class was also there at the finish line so we had three green officials and two veteran officials but I think the green officials did ok. The road race was a success so look for it next year on the www.siouxcityvelo.com website!
Third. Before we went on vacation to DC, Kris had done the fun mammogram. The doctor called and said they needed to do a magnification of the an area. We could not get it done before we went to DC so it was done the day after we arrived home. The magnification determined that there was an area showing "not normal breast tissue" so a biopsy was ordered and done this past Friday. The biopsy was a needle core biopsy. It is a matter of numbing the area then inserting a bigger bore needle that can grab tissue samples. Five samples were taken and of course they would not know the results until Monday sometime. Well of course a person ALWAYS thinks the worst even though we were told there was no blood supply to this tissue that is needed for tumors to feed it. We were pretty sure it was scar tissue but you always have a bit of doubt in the back of your mind. I guess it is human nature. We talked about the what ifs and decided you know there is nothing we can do about it if it is cancer, so we would deal with whatever God had in store for us. I am happy to report it was all benign breast tissue! YEAH! All that worry for nothing?...NOPE! Just reaffirms as to the importance of yearly mammograms! If you have not had your baseline at age 35-40 ....GET IT DONE....if you have not had a yearly mammogram after the age of 40...GET IT DONE! This is a VERY SIMPLE test that can save your life! We all want to grow old together!
March 16, 2009
St Patty's Day ride
A break from the vacation rehash... (boy, the pics turned out dark looking on the blog..dang!)
Saturday was the St Patrick's Day ride in Yankton. In preparation a gathering of sorts happened at the Clubhouse for food and beverages. Present were Cycling Cathy & Charlie, Biking Brady, Ride Vermillion, The Hammer, Kris, myself, Dawn (Mackie) and Christi (Gilly). We fueled up and headed to the starting point down by the river. We took off around 2:15 and made our way out to the Cottonwood Coral. I struggled with one of the hills in town along the bluff. My bike would not shift into the small chain ring so I got REALLY winded shortly into the ride. Then got a bad headache and stopped to medicate the noggin before heading down the BIG HILL to the lake. We were going into more of a head wind instead of a cross wind. The wind was out of the SW and we were heading west. Gust were around 30 but we prevailed! Halfway to the halfway point there was an older fella that biffed on his hybrid ahead of us. He dropped the front wheel into a pothole at a driveway to a business along the bike trail. He landed HARD on his shoulder and elbow. We helped him to his feet after we untangled his legs from his bike frame. He seemed a little shaky but was ok. Kind of scary as he had no helmet on and his rear wheel ended up in the lane of traffic. He hopped on his bike and headed across the four-lane to the gas station and seemed ok so we carried on FINALLY making it the the Coral where food and beverages awaited.
I decided that since I was tired, from the hill issue and vacation, that we would call our SAG wagon and have them drive us across the dam plus it gets really windy when riding across the dam, which I was done with. So we joined in with The Hammer cruising the Nebraska side of the Missouri River then across the new Discovery Bridge back to Yankton and on to Ben's Brewing Company for beverages.
It was a great time and we had LOTS of fun. I think Dawn might be a bit excited about riding. She has had some leg issues in the past couple years that are finally getting resolved. All I heard from her on Saturday night was how much fun she had riding and how great the people are. It was the longest ride she had done at one time and with a bunch of riders...CONGRATS MACKIE!
Check out Cycling Cathy's blog to view some of the pics from the ride.
March 15, 2009
DC day three
We trekked out Sunday morning to seek out MORE American History. Not hard to find in DC!
We hit the American History Museum and saw the American flag that was the inspiration of the Star Spangled Banner. We also did the Abraham Lincoln exhibit. There were some neat items on display like the hat he wore the night he was shot, his suit coat from the inauguration and all sorts of other items. Of course Kris, Liz and Joan (Kris's mom) all wanted to see the First Lady's inaugural gown exhibit. I, of course, could do with out it but got to pick where I wanted to go which was Julia Child's kitchen! The First Lady's gown exhibit was a dud. Only about eight gowns on display and no, Mrs Obama's was not there. The Julia Child's exhibit ROCKED! It was her WHOLE kitchen. They also had little snippets of her TV show running. Very funny lady. We all decided that our favorites there were the flag followed by Julia's kitchen!
Next we headed to the Holocaust Museum. So, I really didn't want to go to this museum as it is a DEPRESSING subject. I realize this is history and I know history that is forgotten is bound to repeat itself. Let me just say, I feel bad for what happened to the people and how tragic it was but do we really need three floors to remind us of it? I mean there are only so many pictures or films of people being killed and falling into a pit with other dead bodies and then buried or burned that I can handle. The most moving thing I saw was the story of this young lady at the time that had been in the camp for three years and was liberated by an American soldier whom she later married. The stories the survivors told were amazing and emotion. You could see the terror, hate and sadness in their eyes and to me that was enough. It was a very somber museum and one place I would not need to go back and see again.
We headed back to Union Station for our Monuments by Moonlight tour. This was really amazing to see and our tour guide was a blast. They take you by all the important buildings in DC and then would let you off the trolley at certain points to get closer views of the FDR Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Iwo Jima Memorial, plus other sites. If you get a chance to do this tour it is wonderful and well worth the money. You can pick up the trolley at Union Station but reservations are recommended!
Kris giving the Rangers a hard time!
March 13, 2009
DC day two
We then headed to the Old Post Office Museum to go up in the clock tower tour. We passed all sorts of buildings on the way to this museum and one was the IRS building which we found humorous. The clock tower tour was a self guided tour with the highlight going up into the clock tower to see the views! Very cool. There was a National Parks Ranger up in the tower answering all the questions that were asked. The highlight while we were there was the Presidential helicopter take off from the White House. I guess there are always three helicopters that fly together so you never know which one the President is in once they are up in the air. We saw the other two join the one that took off from the "backyard" of the White House. This would be as close as we would get to seeing him. We later learned the First Family was headed to Camp David.
(The tower on this building is where the clock tower tour took place)
Arlington Cemetery was our next stop and of course we went to "moleville" first then under the Potomac River, yes, under the river..UGH! Anyway, we did the sightseeing bus there as it is a LOT of walking. Amazing place and very moving. From seeing the Kennedy's graves to the changing of the guards this is all very surreal to see. Why did they pick this place for the cemetery? There is a house at the top of the hill at Arlington called the Custis-Lee house. This is where Robert E Lee and his family lived. During the Civil War they needed a place to bury the dead and so it was decided to bury the hundreds of dead as close to the Lee plantation as possible so it was a constant reminder of the war. The Lee's never lived in the house after the war and later a Lee family member sued the government for taking their land to which the government paid $158,000 to the Lee family. The view from this hilltop is amazing.
We headed back to the hotel to freshen up before meeting up with one of Liz's, Kris's sisters, former students, Leo. Leo works in the Congressional budget office in DC. We ate outside on a patio at a little French place. I had the rabbit that was recommended by Leo and it was not to disappoint. Very good food. We parted ways with Leo, but would see him again at another tour during our stay, and headed to our next stop which was to see the Capitol Steps. They are a comedic, musical, group that poke fun at all the current events going on in the world. Very FUNNY!
It was then off to bed after a LONG day of site seeing!
March 12, 2009
DC day one
(Pictures if the underground Metro. The red dots in the pictures are lights that flash when the train is approaching)
Our adventure started with a drive to Omaha to catch an early flight to Baltimore via Minneapolis. Once we arrived in Baltimore we took a short shuttle ride to the Amtrak station to ride the MARC train into Washington DC. Tickets were $6 each for one way trip which was about 30 miles in length and about 35 mi to go those 30 miles. Once there we meandered up out of the depths to Union Station. This is a HUGE building were you can catch a taxi, trolley to see the sites, Metro, Amtrak not to mention do some shopping, grab a bite to eat or even see a movie! We headed to our hotel and checked in. Nice place but it should be. The rack rate was $899 a night! We got ours for $169 a night for non busy nights, Friday and Saturday and then it jumped up to $269 a night for Sunday-Tuesday. It is a business town when Friday and Saturday are their cheap nights!
(Union Station)
We headed out on our adventure lead by our tour guide Jay, Kris's brother-in-law. He took us over the Metro to learn how to use it and we were off. First place was the White House. It was cool to see but was surprised at how small it looks and that the grounds were not all the big. There are BIG buildings on two sides of the White House with parks on the other two sides. We snapped a few pics then it was off to Old Ebbits Grille. YUMMY! Good place to have a bit to eat. I had some grilled oysters that were awesome for and appetizer and then had parmesan encrusted trout for supper. Very good but kind of noisy and VERY busy! It was well worth it! We headed back to the hotel as all of us were tired from our early traveling and ready to bound out of bed the next day to what was in store for us.
March 4, 2009
Sorry, no bloggie in a while and also up coming ride!
Sorry kids, lots going on with work and getting ready for a short vacation I have neglected to do the, as my niece calls it, the bloggie thing....forgive me and I will do a longer blog when things slow down a bit or when I get back from vacation.
FYI----
The weather is WONDERFUL out there today, but I AM WAY TO BUSY to enjoy any of it which BUMS me out HUGE! Word has it there might be snow this weekend and some next weekend, so get out there and enjoy the weather doing whatever, if you can!
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St. Patrick's Day Bike Ride
Saturday, March 14™ 2:OO PM
Start at west parking lot of Riverside Park, Yankton, SD
Route 15-2o mile to lake area and back to Ben's Brewing Company
Free will donations accepted long-sleeve t-shirts available for $15
Sponsored by Missouri River Cycling
