energy independence day

Happy Independence Day! For those of us here in the U.S., today is the day we celebrate our nation's 200+ years of independence from British rule by grilling meat, drinking beer and setting off fireworks. The fireworks are always my favorite part (with beer-drinking being a close second). I was thrilled today when our local paper printed a guide to types of fireworks.

HWWLLB and I celebrated the 4th by burning a little of our own energy. We spent most of the day biking all over town. The original plan was to bike to a nearby state park where some friends were having a cookout. This seemed like a good idea until about ten minutes into the ride, when we both noticed that it was about 90 degrees in the shade - and there was not much shade to be had. But we put in a good effort, and though we never made it to the cookout, we got to play Urban Adventurers and defy the heat with a nice tour of the city.



This bridge crosses over a big huge highway to connect the inner-city greenway to the suburban part of the greenway and the art museum. It's so much fun to zoom over it and watch the cars whizzing by below.

The ride was great. We spent three or four hours on downtown streets we know like the backs of our hands, and tooling around neighborhoods we'd never seen before. There was a pit stop at the coffee shop halfway through (blackberry smoothie for HWWLLB, iced chai for me), and another pit stop shortly thereafter for a banned substance: diet coke.


addictions can be so embarassing (especially when people insist on photographing you getting your fix).

I think it was too hot for much wildlife, but we did see plenty of dogs (most of them barking at us), as well as a woodchuck and a lizard. I think the lizard might have been a blue-tailed skink. It was just a zip of blue across the bike path.

Now I'm at home with my feet up, about to partake of the grilled non-meat and the obligatory beer. Later I hope we'll go catch some fireworks. I hope all of you are enjoying a great day off! Or, if you're Canadian, a solidarity beer. Hooray for independence!