Down by the River

It was one of those beautiful days that make you love summer, It was so nice that I took the old Trek and rode down to the Mississippi, across the 35E bridge and along the river to Harriet Island. There were a lot of people with similar aims for the day and I saw a lot of bikers and hikers along the way. This photo came out better than I remembered it when I snapped it off. It's taken from the west bank of the Mississippi along Lilydale Regional Park. The building is old and probably not in use, but it appears to be one of the buildings put up along the river by Northern States Power Company - now Xcel Energy - sometime early in the 20th century. The river was moving along pretty well and the water is higher than usual because of our recent rains, but it supplied a nice reflection of the structure.



On the way back i took a few pictures of the bike path across the 35E bridge. It's a busy bridge with a full load of freeway traffic zooming by separated from the bike path by a concrete barrier. At the point where I took the picture there is a railroad track going under the bridge and, of course riverboat and barge traffic occasionally going up and down the big river. It was a nice ride, culminating with the Benhill Street hill. And at the top of Benhill the carved likeness of Christopher Robin and Pooh Bear to greet me into my own neighborhood. I logged 15.5 miles of uneventful miles on the old Trek.



And this evening I was back across the bridge in my auto to play some geezer tennis at Marie Park. It was a mostly windless evening and the tennis was pretty good. We played three sets, and there were at least two shots that were compared to the skill level of Roger Federer. They pretty and unexpected but weren't really that good, but we do what we can, and later embellish it. There is no sense in spoiling a good story just for the sake of the truth, someone's dad used to say.

The major tennis tournament played in Wimbledon on grass began today. My picks for the singles winners - Raphael Nadal and Venus Williams.