twenty-one miles, two wheels, a picnic lunch and mancala. and puppies.

a la the outdoorsy fix from the last post, aaron and i biked the minuteman bikeway today. we started at the bike stop in arlington, ma and traveled down to arlington center for town day, and then biked back up and past the bike stop to the end of the bikeway at the historic bedford depot. we then stopped for a relaxing picnic lunch of sandwiches we'd made this morning, bacon chocolate and a few rounds of mancala. we then wandered around historic bedford for a bit - they're apparently big on trains - before getting more air in my tires at the bikeway source and heading back down.

total mileage: 21 miles. as a first attempt, i'll take it. there were actually quite a few bikers out and about today, as well as an impressive number of rollerbladers. people seriously still rollerblade nowadays! who knew?!

it was pretty fun. a nice, short trip to make while getting exercise and going somewhere new. i hadn't really used my bike past commuting places, so just riding it for the sake of going for a bike ride was a different experience. but it's something that i've been meaning to get into, and what better time of the year to try it than the end of summer? with the weather cooling down, but before it starts to turn gross and gray, i figured, why not?

plus, going to arlington's town day also meant seeing a bunch of cool stalls, buying a new handmade ceramic mug and seeing a ton of puppies.

overall, it was a nicely productive, but still relaxing day.

quote of the day
[at a lemonade stand set up on the side of the bikeway in lexington. (yes, kids still do that nowadays, too!)]
(quite young) kid #1: "one cup of lemonade for a dollar!!!" (what happened to 25 cents?? stupid economy...)
(even younger) kid #2: "two for twenty cents!!!" (um...)
(much older) aaron: "quick! they're having a fire sale! let's turn back before it's too late!"

loved it.

the minuteman bikeway through the lexington depot. wikipedia.

tomorrow's agenda
brunch with danny + becca at the painted burro in davis square. i'm excited.
cleaning the apartment, like whoa. seriously. it's like all of our belongings just exploded everywhere. and seeing as next weekend will be quite busy, and someone actually has to try and sleep on our couch, we should probably clear the shit out of the there...wish us luck.

hello, fall. i'm doing it wrong.

so, recently, now that summer is over, my brain has inevitably chosen this moment in time to go on an outdoorsy kick.

and i'm loving it.

the past month's outdoorsy agenda
+ ran my first 5k race as part of the cube 3 studio team. somehow ended up with a decent time and being the fastest woman in the office. i'll take it. for now.
+ get my rickety old schwinn fixed up and good to go for bike rides to alewife/friends' houses/anywhere to minimize car usage whenever possible.

i love my crappy, old bike. :)

+ spending labor day weekend on the cape with friends and just enjoy the sun, sand and (five bajillion) snails. no really. they apparently just cover the entire bay floor. it's a little gross.

pretty...

+ going camping up at dolly copp in the white mountains, nh last weekend with liz morrison, aaron and liz' friend deb. pretty fun considering the downpour that decided to come down that night, and the bear warning for the area that weekend. we drove up saturday morning, somehow taking six hours to get there. stopped at the tilt'n diner on the way (deliciousness). got there, set up came, made camper's stew (more deliciousness) and (obviously) s'mores (even more deliciousness). i learned that hatchets are friggin' awesome. made more nommage in the morning - eggs, hash brown, coffee/hot chocolate - before packing up camp. we then hiked up to lonesome lake for a picnic lunch before heading home.

lonesome lake.

upcoming outdoorsy agenda
+ taking my fixed up, old schwinn (my bike needs a name), fixing up some lunch and biking the minuteman bike path to the end in bedford with aaron.
+ as a special birthday treat for aaron, going ziplining up in the white mountains on a canopy tour with alpine adventures. i'm super excited for this one.
+ hopefully, more biking adventures. i like having it back and functioning. it's a little sad that i don't work somewhere i can just bike back and forth from. as much as i like driving, the 40-min commute to an from work (on a good day) is just not what i pictured doing as part of my first real-person job. plus, it would just mean working closer to cambridge/somerville/home, in general.

as much as i could do without the ridiculous bug bites i got out on the cape, i really do like being outdoors.

sunset at sunken meadow beach | eastham, ma (cape cod)

so many (dead) horseshoe crabs!

walking with the birdies. :)

mmm...campfire...mmm...s'mores...

low-tide sunset with five bajillion little snails.