September 2009 Archives

These are about a third of the total pictures I took over there... a lot of the other ones were a lot more of the same in most cases, or blurry out-of-focus shots from my cheap Sony Cybershot. Gotta get me one of those badass cameras like Wendell had on the trip. Can't wait to see the pictures he took.

Also posted these on a Jalbum and a SnapFish account for sharing & slideshows.

Here's a map of the towns we stayed in, ate in, and some we stopped in during the trip.  Points are approximate in most cases, and I thought about connecting the dots with the paths we took, but it proved to be a little difficult.  But figued you get the idea well enough here.


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Been asked a lot where my Bike Ireland photos are, and I'm working on getting those together.  Until I can get them posted, here's a story to tide you all over.

Here I sit on my last night of vacation, looking through hundreds of photos that I took on my week long bicycle trip through western Ireland and remembering what a great week it was to experience.  So much to see, new people to meet, and one amazing night in Doolin.

Five more days until I leave, and this was the last full day I had nothing on the agenda so I could devote the day to riding. Started north, headed back over to Bucktown to get a haircut. Kept riding after that up to see my buddy John tending his store up on Lawrence & Pulaski.

After getting a Gatorade & some sunscreen, kept heading north riding for the first time up the trail along the North Branch of the Chicago River.  Nice path, reminded me a little of the Salt Creek trail back in La Grange Park (the smell, at least).  Heading up through Skokie, passing some public sculpture art along the way, until I saw a sign for Northwestern Football with an arrow pointing east.  

I started meandering my way through shady Evanston streets, occasionally passing some students & alumni in purple gear on their way to support the team.   I didn't actually ride passed the stadium as my turns wandered off the mark, but I ended up where I figured my northern most destination would be for the day, the Baha'i House of Worship.

Driven passed this place a bunch of times, and only know a little bit about the Baha'i themselves, but figured this would be a good day to check out the place a little more closely.  A chill in the air meant for a slight fog coming in off the lake to make this a bit of a creepy experience.   But well worth it.   The structure is amazing, but inside and out.

So after catching my breath and finishing off the Gatorade, it was time to make it back south towards home.  Back down Sheridan Road, through the Northwestern University campus, down through Rodgers Park & passed Loyola University, down Broadway through Uptown & Edgewater, over to Clark & Southport passed the Music Box Theater, down to the Finkle Steel plant, over to Ashland and on home.

So about 30 miles in all, and yeah, my muscles are a little tight.   Not exactly the shape I should be in for the rides I'm going to be taking next week.  I'm a little concerned about that.


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