Sharif and I took our bikes out this weekend. Saturday we started out at my place, then rode all the way down Edmondson, then along the Trolley Trail to historic Ellicott City. We stopped for an Italian soda down by the river, then rode back the way we came. We figured out later that the trip was about 5 miles in each direction. 10 miles doesn’t really sound like much, but as it was our first time doing anything active-like in ages, it hit us pretty hard. Of course, it didn’t help that the first half of the trip was almost entirely downhill, meaning that the way home was much harder work. But it was a lovely day, actually comfortable in the shade or when we were moving enough for there to be a breeze. And in the afternoon we were able to cool off in the air conditioning while watching DVDs of 24. So that was great.
Yesterday we put the bikes on the car rack and toted them down to Centennial Lake in Columbia. We went around twice, which added up to about 5 miles, so it was a much easier ride than the day before. Afterwards we had orangecream Slush Puppies as we sat by the lake and watched butterflies and bumblebees share the flowers.
Aside from those bursts of activity, the weekend was mostly couch-time and sleeping-late-time and playing-with-the-puppy-time and food-time. We took a brief trip to the mall to find pajama pants and shorts for the boy, and some suitable pants for biking for me. We also made an awesome dinner for last night. The sesame ginger marinated chicken was lovely. The grilled zucchini (what little managed not to fall into the fire) was sweet. And the grilled corn on the cob was seriously the best I have ever had. The procedure, which we did not know before, is to pull back the husks and remove the silk, rub the ear with melted butter, wrap the husks back, then grill. SO tasty. Thank goodness for free how-to pamphlets from Safeway!
I was really looking forward to this weekend with no plans. And it turned out just as it should have. Next weekend, I get to take care of the puppy while Ben and Sharif are both out of town. So now I have something else to look forward to!
