Rest & A New Bike Adventure
May. 29th, 2011 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aA very restful weekend thus far. I've almost entirely stayed off my computer, and thus spent the vast majority of my time relaxing in various ways.
Yesterday I had no Saturday gaming (again; the lack of gaming seems to pop up every once in a while for several weeks), and so instead had lunch out, visited a few book stores, then returned home. I spent part of the afternoon finishing the setup of our new Family Room, and I'm very pleased with it. We've now got bookcases, couch, chair, coffee table, TV, lamp, etc. all laid out in a very nice upstairs space. I've been reading in it a lot, and have also watched some Doctor Who on our new TV.
Then today Kimberly & I had a biking adventure. Quite a while since we'd done that!
We went out to Lafayette, in large part so that we could eat at the Baja Fresh there, and then started off our biking with a ride I've done before. We took the end of the Lafayette-Moraga Trail eastward, 'til it ended, then rode Olympic Boulevard until the bike trails ended. From there we continued riding the street eastward. It's a busy street, but it's always pretty out that side of the hills. From there we went under 24 and through downtown Walnut Creek, which was the least pretty part of our ride, though as Kimberly said, it all allowed for some nice variety.
Our goal was the Iron Horse Trail, which we took from Walnut Creek up to the edge of Pleasant Hill, where we turned east on the Contra Costa County Canal Trail (which was also a ride I'd done before, as a segment of the longer Iron Horse Trail ride.)
When I'd been looking at maps last night, I'd found the Heather Farm park about .5 miles up the Eastern Canal Trail, and that was our immediate destination. There was a very nice lake and sports fields and (more notably for us) a dog park. That, no surprise, was our destination.
The dog park was medium-sized with segregated areas for small and big dogs. The small dog area seemed to have more pooches per capita, so that was our initial stop. However, we decided that little dogs are boring, as we watched them sedately amble about. So we soon moved over to the big dog area, where we watched lots of dogs have lots of fun, bouncing, barking, running. It was all very amusing to watch, and much more social than the interactions at sprawling Point Isabel.
Both Kimberly and I fell in love with a little black dog with a white spot named Lola. She reminded us of Lucy, as she was constantly bouncing around, leaping at dogs much larger than her, sneakily stealing balls was their attention was distracted, etc. (And she looked a bit like Lucy-as-dog with her coloration and build.) There was also a less cute but very determined dog who kept insisting that I throw his slimy tennis ball.
What could I do?
Afterward Kimberly & I went on some bike trails that were entirely new to me. We took the Briones to Mt. Diablo Trail south of the dog park, then went over to the Ygnacio Canal Trail, which took us on a loop through northeastern Walnut Creek until we got to the Lime Ridge Open Space, which we ran along until we rejoined the Contra Costa County Canal Trail (which we took back to the Iron Horse Trail, and then to Pleasant Hill BART).
The Briones trail was just a little fragment, so most of our riding was along Ygnacio Canal. That was very pleasant, with greenery and brownery all about and the canal running happily to the side. We often were twenty or thirty feet above the adjoining community, so we continually got some great views of the area, especially when we got over to Lime Ridge and could see all across Walnut Creek.
Anyway, it was finally back to BART, then home, and it's been a more sedate afternoon and evening since. There's been napping, eating, reading, and a bit of TV.
Tomorrow, I might actually sit down at my computer a bit, as I have one or two articles I want to write for Thursday. It'll probably still be a pretty relaxed day though.
Ah, holiday! Goot to be able to take advantage of it again.
Yesterday I had no Saturday gaming (again; the lack of gaming seems to pop up every once in a while for several weeks), and so instead had lunch out, visited a few book stores, then returned home. I spent part of the afternoon finishing the setup of our new Family Room, and I'm very pleased with it. We've now got bookcases, couch, chair, coffee table, TV, lamp, etc. all laid out in a very nice upstairs space. I've been reading in it a lot, and have also watched some Doctor Who on our new TV.
Then today Kimberly & I had a biking adventure. Quite a while since we'd done that!
We went out to Lafayette, in large part so that we could eat at the Baja Fresh there, and then started off our biking with a ride I've done before. We took the end of the Lafayette-Moraga Trail eastward, 'til it ended, then rode Olympic Boulevard until the bike trails ended. From there we continued riding the street eastward. It's a busy street, but it's always pretty out that side of the hills. From there we went under 24 and through downtown Walnut Creek, which was the least pretty part of our ride, though as Kimberly said, it all allowed for some nice variety.
Our goal was the Iron Horse Trail, which we took from Walnut Creek up to the edge of Pleasant Hill, where we turned east on the Contra Costa County Canal Trail (which was also a ride I'd done before, as a segment of the longer Iron Horse Trail ride.)
When I'd been looking at maps last night, I'd found the Heather Farm park about .5 miles up the Eastern Canal Trail, and that was our immediate destination. There was a very nice lake and sports fields and (more notably for us) a dog park. That, no surprise, was our destination.
The dog park was medium-sized with segregated areas for small and big dogs. The small dog area seemed to have more pooches per capita, so that was our initial stop. However, we decided that little dogs are boring, as we watched them sedately amble about. So we soon moved over to the big dog area, where we watched lots of dogs have lots of fun, bouncing, barking, running. It was all very amusing to watch, and much more social than the interactions at sprawling Point Isabel.
Both Kimberly and I fell in love with a little black dog with a white spot named Lola. She reminded us of Lucy, as she was constantly bouncing around, leaping at dogs much larger than her, sneakily stealing balls was their attention was distracted, etc. (And she looked a bit like Lucy-as-dog with her coloration and build.) There was also a less cute but very determined dog who kept insisting that I throw his slimy tennis ball.
What could I do?
Afterward Kimberly & I went on some bike trails that were entirely new to me. We took the Briones to Mt. Diablo Trail south of the dog park, then went over to the Ygnacio Canal Trail, which took us on a loop through northeastern Walnut Creek until we got to the Lime Ridge Open Space, which we ran along until we rejoined the Contra Costa County Canal Trail (which we took back to the Iron Horse Trail, and then to Pleasant Hill BART).
The Briones trail was just a little fragment, so most of our riding was along Ygnacio Canal. That was very pleasant, with greenery and brownery all about and the canal running happily to the side. We often were twenty or thirty feet above the adjoining community, so we continually got some great views of the area, especially when we got over to Lime Ridge and could see all across Walnut Creek.
Anyway, it was finally back to BART, then home, and it's been a more sedate afternoon and evening since. There's been napping, eating, reading, and a bit of TV.
Tomorrow, I might actually sit down at my computer a bit, as I have one or two articles I want to write for Thursday. It'll probably still be a pretty relaxed day though.
Ah, holiday! Goot to be able to take advantage of it again.