I'm really enjoying biking around town this summer. It's been years and years since I spent much time on a bike. I've mostly given up on driving, though, and walking takes much too long for someone whose time management skills are as terrible as mine. I may have mentioned earlier how much I love the river front trail from the university to the pool, but in any case it's worth mentioning twice. The bank is gorgeous and woodsy on the one side and you can look across the water and see little snippets of downtown on the other. Riding by Caras Park on a warm day, you can see the kayakers on Brennan's Wave and all the people who've gathered along the railing above the watch. Wednesdays and Thursdays are especially great, with Out to Lunch and then the evening version, whatever it's called. You get a strange bit of detachment from being able to see the excitement without being able to hear the music or smell the food, but I kind of like the feeling.
The past couple mornings I've had half an hour or so between my class at the U and teaching lessons at the pool, so I took the opportunity to follow the trail further west. I'd never been out that way before, and I had a lot of fun exploring. The path splits and rejoins all over the place. I rode circles through all of it, around the 'new' baseball stadium - I don't remember how long it's been there, but I hadn't actually been out to see it yet - a big, junk- and rubble-filled field that is apparently mapped out for some sort of development (just like every other vacant lot in this town - it'll be interesting at least to see what it turns out looking like, it's ugly enough now), the county mental hospital - didn't even know that was there - and even ended up heading across to downtown. I'd known in theory that there was another bike bridge somewhere, but I'd never seen it and probably couldn't have found it intentionally.
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On another note, my family is going to go see Paint Your Wagon at the summer theater this weekend, and decided to watch the movie beforehand. I'm not attending the play, but I did enjoy the movie, even though I'm not big on 60s-era musicals. It's ridiculous, shockingly lewd for its time, and still manages to be far classier than most of today's "comedies" (Love Guru, anyone?). Plus, it has some really good songs and some really funny songs - one particular favorite is "Best Things" (in life are dirty). If you've never seen it and are looking for something different than summer's normal Hollywood fare, I highly recommend giving it a try.
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