Memorial Day Ride

In my hometown Memorial Day means a parade followed by bike races. So it seemed fitting to go on a family ride today. Ryan loves riding for practical reasons (so, to work), but hasn't caught the riding for fun bug yet. So I told him we were going on a ride and that it's one Gareth can do and that's it. Last night before he started asking questions about it - where are we going, how far away is that, etc. I'm not sure he liked me very much anymore once I gave him the answers.

We put together ham and cheese sandwiches, grapes, and carrots that morning and were on our way with our friends, the Redpaths, by 10 am. We rode to the Locks, braving the crowds there (the trailer fits through the Locks, but just barely) and then rode up a short, steep hill to head to the Elliot Bay Trail. We stopped for a bit to look at the grain elevator that loads grain onto ships.

We rode through the waterfront area then took the West Seattle Trail across the bridge and over to Alki beach area. We ate lunch at Blue Moon Burgers.

Ordered some onion rings, since Gareth has never had them before. Mal wanted to try them as well. He liked the breading part, but not the onion part so much. Mal enjoyed feeding me carrots, but didn't want Ryan to have any. When Ryan and I tried to tell him that it was okay for Ryan to have some also, he turned to me and gave me a big pouty lip. He turned his head before I could get a picture, so here's his pout from the side:

I tried to get a picture of Mal and myself as well. I never take selfies though, so hence the look of concentration while trying to get what I want in the picture and balance the camera.

The kids played on the beach for a while before the grown ups started to get cold and decided it was time to head home.

The ride home was uneventful. Gareth did awesome. The ride was 32 miles round trip, and he kept a straight line the whole way, even when he was getting tired. The biggest hill is the hill after the Locks on the way home, and he got up it faster than I did (in my defense, I was pulling the trailer). He was unfazed in the sections where we rode on the street. The Locks were even more crowded on the way home. This is the big lock - so many boats out today that it looked like they were just using the big one and not bothering with the little one.