Fun Friday

I’ve been gone.  Sorry.  I’ve been putting in a bunch of hours for the man, so my free time has been down to near zero.  The bit I’ve had has certainly not been devoted to blogging, since no one wants to hear about the new songs I’m trying to learn on guitar.  Also, any riding I’ve done this week has been inside on a trainer, which while keeping me fit just isn’t making me have fun on two wheels.

I need this weekend.  I need some fun.  I need…

So, after being here for the first two days of the week, I skipped right to Friday.  I wish it was that way IRL but it isn’t.  I’ve worked hard with little reward.  It’s like painting a masterpiece that everyone laughs at.

So yeah, this weekend looks like it could be fun.  There is rain in the forecast (again), but I have some plans that may alleviate that.  I will be on my bike somewhere, because I haz plans for that too.

It’s almost scary.

See y’all Monday, where I will most likely be in a better mood (and much less tired.)

Cruisin’

Two days in a row of good weather over the weekend.  If I wasn’t on call for work, my ass would’ve been up in the hills somewhere.  Instead, I had to stay local for the entire weekend.  It was a good thing I did though because I had to work quite a bit.  It wasn’t all at once.  They got me here and there, including once when I put in about three and a half hours.  I considered doing a road ride with some friends (two different invites), but I just couldn’t make it. 

I needed to ride, and when I got back from one of those work trips I seriously thought about it.

That’s my Klunker in case you haven’t seen it before (but I'm sure you have.)  I brought it out with the intention of just riding around the neighborhood for a little bit.  When I mentioned it to the little lady, the next thing I knew she had hers out and said, “Let’s go!”

So we went…

We started out riding in the neighborhood, but that quickly turned into the next neighborhood.  She wanted to show me something.

”Have you seen the giraffes?”

“Um, no.”

So we went around the corner, and lo and behold there were giraffes in someone’s front yard.

And other animals…

Weird.  Maybe they are circus freaks or something.  That little ride made my day but we weren’t done.  On through the neighborhoods…

We spun around quite a bit, and after I thought I’d had a good enough ride I started us home.  Once again, the little lady had other plans.

“Aren’t we going for ice cream?”

“Well, sure!”

So we did.

It wasn’t an epic ride.  We weren’t in the mountains, crushing someone’s KOM, or staying in Zone 3 for interval training.  None of that matters.  Or like I usually say, “Who gives a shit.” 

It was a bike ride.  And it was fun.  Kinda like when I was a kid. 

When is the last time you rode a bike just for fun?

Weekend Of Fun?

It should have been, except that I was on call for work.  It started out okay though.  I was home alone for a while on Friday night, and I had a chance to relax some.

I did end up having to work a little bit, but it wasn’t a big deal (I did everything remotely.)  The next day, Spring weather was in full effect.  I was happy (and not missing Florida anymore), but having to stay in town in case work called I meant that I couldn’t plan any good mountain bike rides.  So instead I rode inside at Total Cyclist.

It was better than nothing.  In fact, it was quite good.  I worked hard, and when it was all over I felt like I’d done something with my day.  I felt like I deserved a reward, so once I got cleaned up I headed over to Kickstand Charlotte for a big fat burger.

And of course a beer.

It’s not real exciting, I know.  I enjoyed it.

I spent the rest of the day washing the winter sludge off of our vehicles in the spring-like conditions.  I wished I’d taken a trip to the mountains, but it wasn’t gonna happen.  It’s been too long since I’ve been in the dirt here in North Carolina.  That needs to change soon. 

At least I was on a bike and the weather is nice I guess.

More "excitement" tomorrow.

Fun Friday

Man, I love Fridays.  It’s not like I have to post anything on here at all, but it’s nice that I’ve given myself a cheat day so to speak.  I've been a little under the weather the past few days, but I'm feeling better now that it's Friday.

Anyway, on to the “fun.”

Since I came back from Florida with some awesome stuff from the Saint Augustine Distillery Company, I’ve been on a mixed drink kinda kick.  I mixed up something that’s sorta like one we had on the tour and it’s gooooooooood.

Ginger beer, lime, and some Florida Cane Sugar Vodka.  Not bad.

That’s a nice way to start the weekend, but I think I still owe y’all something marginally funny. 

Like this skateboard/stroller combination I found on The Internets.  It seems very versatile.

Hint:  Click on the photo to make it bigger.

Okay, no “funny pictures from The Internets” would be complete without some sort of cat.  This thing baffles me and makes me laugh at the same time.

Oh hell yeah. 

See y’all next week.

I Guess I’m Done

Getting away for a last minute trip to Saint Augustine was a great idea.  It was a lot of driving though, but we crammed a lot of stuff into the short time we were there.  Although I have no desire to move back there, I do miss Florida sometimes.  Mostly it’s the history I grew up learning, and the outdoors.  It's a different kind of pretty down there.

When I moved to North Carolina eight years ago, I had no intention of visiting Florida so much.  The last few years I’ve been there quite a bit though, and in the future it will be more of the same just to get my fix.  Although it’s not home anymore, I like the feeling I get when I go back there.  I think I even miss the dumb stuff down there sometimes.

But, NC is my home now and I’m not changing that.  The riding up here is awesome, plus we have seasons (including this shitty one right now.)  It was definitely the right move, and now that I’m back home I can start getting back to normal.

What is normal, anyway?

I’m not sure but I’ve missed it.

And I’m pretty sure Carl missed me.

C’mon Friday…

Getaway Ride

Moar vacation stuff.

After riding from the hotel, passing through the Old Town Saint Augustine, and visiting a winery and distillery, we headed back across town.  We were feeling pretty good.

The next leg of our town would take us across the Bridge of Lions.  In an automobile you can't stop for photos, but we weren’t in one of those contraptions.

It’s not like we could go anywhere anyway…

Pirates were everywhere:

The rain had stopped for a little while, but we were happy to be out riding anyway.  Our journey over the bridge took us to the Saint Augustine Lighthouse, which is one of the little lady’s favorites.

I never really paid much attention to lighthouses until I met Little Miss Sunshine, but as a history buff I’ve grown to like them.  She really loves them though.

They are pretty neat inside.

And the view from the top is always cool.

We hung around the island for a while, grabbing some food to tide us over for a while.  Then is was back across the bridge to see Castillo de San Marco, or “The Old Spanish Fort” as some people call it.

After a short search for coffee, we somehow ended up in the middle of a parade, or as one lady told us, “It’s Pedro Menendez’s birthday!”

We headed back to the hotel, dropped off the bikes, cleaned up, then headed out for dinner…

And beer:

Happy Anniversary to us.  It was nice to get away.

Reboot

The cold, shitty (rain, snow ice, whatever) weather has really been getting to me.  It was nice to escape to the 12 Hours of Santos where I could be nice and warm, so on the way back from Florida last week I started thinking about getting away again.  I called the little lady to see if we had any plans for the next weekend (this past one), and she said no. 

“Well then”, I said, “let’s go to Florida!”

I got out of work a little early on Friday, and after packing a few things we were on the road.  A few hours later, we were in the 450 year old city of Saint Augustine.  It was a mini vacation of sorts, mostly to get away from the cold (and snow) and also to celebrate the eight year anniversary of our nuptials.  The forecast called for light rain, but we brought our bikes anyway.  There’s no better way to see a city than by bike, and we didn’t let a little drizzle stop us from being tourists.

A “Chain Gang” at the Old Jail

Growing up in Florida, I’d been to Saint Augustine many times before.  It was one of the first road trips Little Miss Sunshine and I had ever taken together back in the day, and this was the first time we’d explored it by bike.  After riding around a bit, we stopped in for a tour of the San Sebastian Winery.

 The rain didn’t dampen our spirits, and unlike the locals that complained of the “cold” and wet weather, we enjoyed some wine outside on the roof.

Wine tasting wasn’t enough I guess.  We decided to turn our ride into a full on booze cruise through the city by making our next stop the newly opened Saint Augustine Distillery Company.

We showed up right on time for the free tour, where they took us inside to show us how they made bourbon, rum, vodka, and gin (all from locally grown ingredients.) 

They’ve been busy in their short time in business:

After that we were taken to a room where our tour guide mixed up some drinks, which were free as part of the tour.

He put on a good show, and made some really good drinks for us (with their award winning gin and vodka.)

Pinky out, ‘cause we’re fancy like that down in Florida.

I’d never taken a tour of a distillery before, and I was having a good time.

Just like a ride at Disney, the tour ended in their gift shop.  That wasn’t really a bad thing.

Since we were on bikes, we decided not to buy anything on the spot for fear of breakage.  The plan was to return the next day when we could carry it.  For now, we had enough alcohol in our system to carry us the rest of the way through our bike tour…

And that should carry you until tomorrow.  It’s crappy outside again, so I’m definitely dragging this one out.  I mean, what else do you have to do?