Semi-Wordless Wednesday: Henry's Long Ride

I posted one photo from this in yesterday's post, but I wanted to share a bit more. Henry and I went on a 9 mile bike ride last week, and I'm so proud of him! Here are a few pics:

Heading out.


Nearly 4 miles later, using the "bike ramps" to get onto the Hwy 5 bridge.


The Mississippi River, Historic Fort Snelling, and the sunset.


We went up the other side, past the Historic Fort, and into the big parking
lot. Here we are heading back with Fort Snelling right in front of us.


It was harder to go down.


Heading back down onto Hwy 5.


Along River Road for a bit, before turning for the last few miles down Cleveland Ave.

He was feeling a little rough over the last few miles. I had my Garmin on, and we topped out at an average of 11.7 mph about 3 miles into the ride (later we'd learn the wind was at our back as well), we were at 11.4 at the turn around, and we dropped all the way to 9 mph by the time we got home. He was pooped, but he was quite proud the next day. Nice job, buddy!

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Week 6 of Coronavirus

Just some daily updates from last week:

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Day 36: This happened in the morning:

That night, Henry and I biked to Fort Snelling and back (9 miles - his longest ride)! He got to use the “bike ramps” on the Hwy 5 stairs for the first time. ❤️🚴🏼‍🎉

He was POOPED on the way home. Trooper.

And my wife took Charlie on a hike while Henry and I were out:

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Day 37: Charlie showed off some drawings in a class Zoom meeting:

And then my wife took the boys out for an evening adventure at Shadow Falls:

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Day 38: time for a "bathtub ice cream cone:"

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Day 39: The boys were THRILLED to see their Phy Ed teacher in Henry's class Zoom meeting:

And an Instagram post: It’s finally nice enough, so today I moved my 6 flats of veggies, herbs, and flowers to the porch. No more cold basement grow-light! I think I’ll have to do a little more transplanting into bigger containers before we can move fully outside. ❤️🌱 #UrbanGarden

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Day 40: Henry lounged around and started playing more on the porch:

And then another Instagram post: Stalked a big turkey through a few neighbors’ yards (10’ from our yard)! Love the pic of Henry’s butt as he was hiding behind the trash to watch the turkey visible in the distance. 😂❤️

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Day 41: I transplanted some peppers on Saturday afternoon:

And the boys and I went on another river adventure that evening. #AlwaysFindingWaterfalls

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Day 42: Sunday was our state park trip seen in my last post:

At Sakatah Lake - see more pics here.


A tasty grilled supper! A cheesy hot dog with lots-o-fixins' and chicken kebabs.

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Just another normal week this week. I'm prepping class files now, and the boys are getting ready for more school work.

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Quick State Park Trip: Sakatah State Park

Yesterday, my boys and I headed an hour south of the Cities to get their 53rd MN State Parks stamp in their passport. We headed to Sakatah Lake to do some fishing:

Following a rocky creek to the fishing pier...


... of course, the boys had to walk THROUGH the creek.


A beautiful morning on the pier.




MN adults without a fishing license can legally fish within MN State Parks.
(Even with a non-superhero fishing pole... if you so choose.)


Charlie said this reminded him of the pier we fished off of while camping with Grandma.

There were NO signs of ANY fish in this lake. Seriously. Nothing. So we put the poles back in the car and explored trails along the shoreline for another hour:

Back in the rocky creek.


Some signs of spring.


Lots of moss along the shore.


Running down a big hill (hard to make out the 15' drop in this pic).


Under the Sakatah Bike Trail near the boat launch. That bike trail was where Matt and I
took home 2 duathlon "team wins" at the 2008 and 2009 Cannon Wells Du!


A marshy area full of noisy frogs and quiet turtles.

We were the 4th car in the park and the only 1 in the "fishing pier" lot when we got there. When we left, the first lot was full (maybe 15 cars), and the fishing pier lot had nearly 10 cars in it as well. So we got out before social distancing became an issue.

We then drove 15 mins back into Faribault to meet my parents for an outdoor "social distance" lunch. They treated us to DQ, gave us some fresh rolls and frozen garden veggies, and I gave them 3 flats of veggie plants that I had started from seed for their garden.

DQ fries on a nice afternoon.

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