Adventures in biking

I'm a summer girl at heart. I love the heat and Nick often finds me lounging on the front porch once the 90s roll into town. With work and life, sometimes I forget to enjoy the 2.5 months of summer in New England. Not so, this year! I've been outside soaking up the sunshine and we've lined up a host of summer travel plans hell bent on getting outdoors.

First up- Shawme Crowell State Forest in Sandwich, MA!

We left around 6:30 on Friday and stopped in Plymouth for fuel- human and car. I saw the Pizza Factory in a strip mall near the gas station.

One small veggie pizza to share- what can I say? I have a thing for veggie pizza. And this was delicious! Seriously yummy. Kudos Pizza Factory!

We got to the campground while it was still light outside- big ups to the 1.5 hour commute down to the cape. Set up was pretty easy- we got stuck in the sandy ground a few times but Nick hauled the T-blaze through it. Bedtime came early- we were pooped from the work week!


The next morning we got an early start and enjoy a quick breakfast. Instant oatmeal + Starbucks vanilla VIA coffee. Best.instant.coffee.ever. Srsly. Please note the Ove-Glove/wrench combo. We're pretty savvy campers.

Our plan was to debut the Houndabout to the monster. Gilligan tried it at home and seemed reasonably accepting...sure...uh huh. Everything was FINE at home.

See? He's happy, right? Not so, a mere 9 mile earlier. We decided to try out the Cape Cod Rail Trail which extends from Dennis to Wellfleet- a lovely 22 mile path that's paved a shaded.

What I don't have pictures of is his great escape. Somewhere around mile 1.5 Gilligan totally lost his marbles and jumped Free Willy style out of the top section. Somehow Nick didn't crash and Gill didn't run into traffic. Suffice it to say that we leashed his puppy butt to the trailer after that nonsense. But only after we lured him back into the trailer with bites of PBJ.

P.S. Best PBJ ever. I made peanut butter out of honey roasted peanuts (just threw them in the Cuisnart with a smidge of canola oil), white bread from 7-11, and low sugar organic raspberry jam. YUM.

On the road again, we continued on our merry way. Nick said towing Gilligan and the trailer (a total of 110+ pounds) was fine unless Gilligan was shifting position. He towed that silly dog over 20 miles that day- what a trooper! I was still fresh as a daisy by the end of our adventure...Nick- not so much.


Around mile 9, we finally figured out that Gilligan needed to burn off some energy, so Nick biked while Gilligan ran- that dog is fast! And kind of swerve-y. He chilled out after that.


And so did we! We stumbled upon the Hot Chocolate Sparrow in Orleans completely by accident.


Totally Turtle for Nick and Strawberry Cheesecake for me! Gill even got his own dish of vanilla soft serve. He slurped it up!





Views from the trail.

Bikes. I love them!




Found Gilligan some water to swim in- he's finally showing his lab side. Dude loves to swim.


After our 20 mile bike ride, we took the scenic route back to the campground. On our way, we spotted the infamous ZooQuarium! Weirdest place ever- Nick says there's a sad little seal and a fox in there. No thanks.

We also saw a truly impressive collection of ceramic animals on our drive that weren't at a mini-golf course. Elephants, rhinos, and marmots- oh my!


Dinner was a breakfast scramble of quinoa, eggs, pinto beans and Morningstar sausage. Plus some contraband white wine. Yum!

Dinner was enjoyed by a rip-roaring fire. I *heart* camping.

Pedal power

At the end of May I conquered a half marathon. That deserves it's own post, but alas, the husband has all the sweaty pictures on his camera.

After running 179 miles in 4.5 months, I was toast. My hips were shot, my feet were aching, and I was tired of strapping on my spandex to prance around town.

Enter...my new bike! I loved being so active for so many months- just needed a change of pace and something a little more forgiving to my pore battered joints. My husband and in-laws went in together to get me this kick ass Trek. It's a hybrid commuter bike- not trail ready but definitely prepared to deal with the pothole-a-rific urban terrain of our town.


Mine's the blue one. It's for women. You can tell this because it's decorated in swirly text and curlicues. No, I'm not kidding.


We took the scenic route to the Cape Cod canal. Saw a gaggle (family) o' geese crossing a rotary- people actually stopped to let them cross! Wonders never cease.

We stopped in Plymouth and had steamers + salad (me) + clam chowder (Nick) at The Lobster Hut. Slurpy goodness.

We parked at Scusset Beach and took off. I decided to master the art of taking pictures while riding. First shot- not so good.

Ahh, much better. Side note- we are sans helmet because this is a dedicated bike/walk/job/rollerblade path. Normally Sarah Seatbelts always wears a helmet, but sometimes she throws caution to the wind. And by sometimes, I mean only when there are no cars around.

View of the trail.

Bridge.

Blurry backwards shot of Nick. We were probably fake racing each other.



Seagull mural! Not a huge fan of seagulls (one ate my Kraft American cheese single when I was 5 at Mustang Beach in Corpus Christi, TX- bastard!), but I dig the themed decorations on the trail.


RV park along the trail- we did some trailer scoping. There are some pretty sweet rigs out there.

Sometimes you need a little help- tow boat to the rescue!

Nick said this is a railroad bridge. The bridge part lowers down when a train comes by so it can pass the canal. The wonders of architecture!


At the end of trail, you can get off and explore Buzzards Bay.



I spotted this shop from across the parking lot. I have a sixth sense for frozen dairy.

I had a small cone of Coffee Heath frozen yogurt. Wish I could say it tasted like coffee. It really just tasted brown. Nick had some unpictured but awesome mocha peanut butter ice cream. I snagged a bite or two.

We even stumbled upon an SEIU family fun day for home health workers and met a vice president for SEIU who works with the same health care system as I do. Small world!


Antiques, anyone?

After our snack stop, we pedaled back toward the car. The entire trail is about 8 miles, end to end. I didn't want to stop (biking is SO much more than running!!) so we went all the way to the beach.



Two thumbs up for biking!

Up next- Gilligan gets a puppy trailer (no, I'm not kidding. It's ordered and coming this week!!). The ultimate head out of the window experience for the world's silliest labradoodle coming soon to a blog near you!