Georgia History Begins in Savannah

Darcie and I spent Thursday night of last week at a B&B called The Azalea Inn in Savannah; wonderful place if you ever get the chance.
Originally booked as a 35th anniversary get-away for dear husband and myself, he said that if he's only going to be an hour away from home, he'd rather stay in his own bed. "Fine," says I. "I'll just take Darcie." And I did. I showed him.
We're learning Georgia History this year, so I thought this would be a great time and place to start.
Unfortunately, newly-turned-thirteen-year-old daughter doesn't like history. The travesty. I think she's adopted. I love history. Adore it even. Sigh....
So, my plan of attack was to walk through the historic district holding the shopping carrot over her; history first...shopping second. It pretty much worked.
This was the first time I've walked from one end of the historic district to the other. It's only about a mile one way. I do that all the time. But walking on uneven bricks and cobblestones, dodging traffic, taking endless photos, reading the map, etc. is pretty physically draining.
We just scratched the surface. Wait till she goes to Fort Jackson, Fort Pulaski, Fort Sumter, Fort Sunbury, etc. I may have to promise her unlimited use of my Visa!

Too sweet

I said that bugs are attracted to me because I'm so sweet. My husband had to point out that they're really more attracted to... other things.
Hackberry emperor, Asterocampa celtis. His favorite foods: Sap, rotting fruit, dung, carrion.
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I like that Butterflies and Moths of North America site and their detailed range maps. You can get a custom list of the butterflies in your state. It even goes down to county level, but I'm not sure if all counties have the same level of detail.
Here's another one for the more common Alabama butterflies.

Blueberries

the berries that are blue, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

Across the country, farmers' markets are in full swing. These berries were a local market and looked incredibly good. Raspberries at the market were cheap, as well as tomatoes and pretty much all the vegetables. My best find was Fresno chile peppers, which are used in Indonesian cooking - score!

Midtown Greenway

No blog entry yesterday - I was on the road. Packed up the car and drove from Rapid City to Minneapolis (actually Minnetonka). A long day on the road. That was not helped by me not having reservations. I was going to took for one of the chains I usually use - Choice Hotels or Wyndham. Holiday inn as a back-up - mostly by using points.
At the information desk at the MN state line recommended drive up through Mankato - its shorter and faster. The wrong decision - you don't have all of the options to stop at to get a reservation down the road. I was going to just log into the internet for find a motel - gut neither South Dakota nor Minnesota rest areas have wi-fi (like we do in Iowa).
Anyway - found a Holiday Inn Express in Minnetonka, MN near the bike trails. About 9pm I checked in.
This morning I NEEDED to ride. I rode over to the Minnesota River Bluffs LRT Regional Trail. Lots of climbing to get over to the LRT trail.

Started riding that trail from Rowland Rd (near I-494) East. For the first 2 miles, the trail surface was crushed stone. In Hopkins, the trail turns into the Cedar Lake LRT Regional trail. By then, the trail was paved.
There are informational kiosks along the trails. Someplace I read than they are generally spaced every 2 miles. The top photo is of such a kiosk.
At Cedar Lake, I accomplished my first goal - riding the Midtown Greenway. Riding right on heading East towards the Mississippi River. All this way I was riding in an old railroad right-of-way. Some places, the trail is along active railroad tracks.
I had heard the Greenway described as a bicycle expressway. In a way it is - at least a "limited access" trail. Where the trail grade separation is above street, there is a fence. All along along of the Greenway you find "exit/entrance" ramps. The above photo shows one of such ramp.

Like auto expressways, you will also find police patrolling. If you look closely - in the third photo you see a "Black & White" watching the trail. Of safety, there are also emergency call boxes along the trail system. Literature about the trails say there is no speed limit on the trails - but I thought I saw a sign about the trail rules, setting a limit of 15 mph.
On the Greenway, I realized I was at over 10 miles. Feeling pretty good, I set a new goal - Mississippi River. A cable-stay bridge spans Hiawatha Ave. In the photo of the bridge, notice the lane markings. Trail users obey these markings. A short detour off the old railroad right-of-way, then back up to the river. There, the Greenway unceremoniously ends. From there is a down-ramp to the trail along river road.
At the river, I was debating the head back the way I came or a different route back. another route would add miles and I was already at 15 miles. At a 30 mile round-trip, it was the longest ride of the year.

I opted to back the way I came. As I headed back, I realized I was facing a headwind - light as it was. With that and at about 20-25 miles I was really starting to feel it. The hills along between the trail and my motel was gruesome. I had to walk most of them - just not enough in the legs, yet.
That, and there was an approaching storm - I was happy to get back to the motel. Shower, food, a couple errands, and a nap.
One more photo of the Midtown Greenway. This one was processed with "grunge" effect.

Nassington circular via Glenn Miller monument

A recce for the same walk tomorrow. Details then.




Surprising patches of mud on some paths. Warm, sunny - and back home to catch the Cavendish-Wiggins finale to the Tour de France!





We heard and saw a couple of green woodpeckers on our way. The route is the same as the walk for 23 July .

Positive thinking

This is not turning into one of my better weeks. As of yesterday I am simultaneously nursing a head cold and a swollen ankle after rolling it while running on the headland at North Burleigh. Effectively it means I won't be bothering with the weekend at Minyon Falls I was planning this weekend -- although I do plan to rack up some serious kilometres as soon as my ankle decides to co-operate (I can ride off the head cold).
Since I'm effectively forced to "rest" (which basically means limiting my riding to commuting only) I've decided to put a positive spin on this situation and consider it "multi-tasking". If I'm going to be off the bike with the ankle, I might as well deal with the illness at the same time. Perhaps clearing both of them up now might prevent a repeat of the miserable run I had last year when I was trying to ride a super series (Audax riders will know what that means).
Now if I can just find a way to legitimately take credit for it.

Evening Wood Lily, Ham Lake Burn Area

If you're thinking of taking a drive up the Gunflint Trail, be sure and check out the Magnetic Rock Hiking Trail. About a half-mile in along the trail, the Wood Lilies are blooming and there are quite a few of them! In my opinion they are one of the most beautiful flowers of the Northwoods. I loved the contrast between the colorful flowers, green grass and charred black ground that remained from the fire, which occurred in May 2007.