Tag: Wisconsin
My first real bike "ride" – Miller Lite Ride for the Arts
June 8, 2010
This weekend I did my first organized bike ride. Until now all of my cycling has been done either solo or with one or two other riders – in fact with the same one or two other riders, my son or my husband. Unless of course, you count time on a compu-trainer with other “real” riders, teaching me that my pace has, well, some room for improvement.
The combination of worrying about pace combined with an uneasiness in having another bike too close to my wheel (defined by within several bike lengths) had me just a tad concerned about an organized ride. At the same time, it is something I want to do – and if I do plan on finishing a triathlon, something I need to get over.
This was the perfect first ride. Many different options for length (5, 12, 25, 65, and 75 miles) with staggered start times, many volunteers along the route to keep you on course, well placed and stocked oases, and as we found excellent rider support.
Hubby was doing ride with me and we choose to do the 25mile distance – one we can easily ride, and knew would not be a challenge. The ride had an early start so the night before we got everything set up, clothes laid out, drink bottles filled and chilled, rack on car, spare tube and tool kits, and road ids set on the counter next to car keys and coffee mugs. I checked the pressure and aired up my bike tires. Morning brought the hint of a beautiful but cool day – perfect riding weather. And the first of our mishaps – two flat tires on my bike. I’d not closed either valve correctly. Oops.
Starting line was the Summerfest main gate, and it was filled with bikes when we arrived.
I spy with my little eye….
April 14, 2010
Have a new resolution to try and get out of the office for a fast-paced walk over lunch on most days. Not sure why in two years of working from this office I never did that. Is a good little habit I’m bringing back from my Chicago office days.
This week as I was trotting along Martin Drive, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a pretty little Henry Lauder’s Walking stick (Corylus avellana “Contorta”). The intricacy of the twisted branches slowed my pace a bit, the plant tag and fresh mulch slowed it a bit further. But what stopped me dead in my tracks was the garden I noticed behind the bush, well, behind the low hedge behind the bush.
A charming little urban oasis. Paved seating area up front. Pretty iron arbor with some sort of climber – curious to see that that is when it leaves out. Stone path through what appears to be a herb garden. Lots of garden art, both on the wall and throughout the space. Another seating area in the back with a small statue centered at the rear. Obviously well tended. Someone or someones pride and joy. In a sliver of land between an apartment building and a parking lot. Somewhat a fringe neighborhood, abutting the semi-industrial area of Milwaukee where the Harley Davidson headquarters and Miller Brewery are located.
I’ve driven by the spot probably hundreds of times on the way to and from work. And have never noticed this garden. Now I can’t wait to watch it through the seasons. Funny what slowing down and paying attention to the world around you can bring…………….
Appreciating things close to home and heart…
April 13, 2010
From reading this blog, you’d think I lived in Chicago. There was a post about bike riding along their lakefront trail, a streetscape post, another streetscape post, and yet another streetscape post. Fact is I live in a suburb of Milwaukee – another city with a great lakefront along beautiful Lake Michigan. This weekend my son (one of the things closest to my heart) and I took advantage of a gorgeous spring day to ride along Milwaukee’s Oak Leaf Trail in the section from the Summerfest grounds, around Lakefront Park and north to Bradford Beach.
First stop was a cruise around Lakefront Park which brought us to the back-side of the now empty Henry Maier Festival Park, aka Summerfest grounds. So odd to see this empty – but the Harley stage and the Miller Lite stage brought a smile to my face – honoring these two icons of our proud city.
Moving onward, the smart (read, sneaky) Mom in me knew that in order to make *my* goal of riding 10 miles that we needed to take the occasional break. Which we did, first stopping at the park in front of Discovery World to play some tunes – on the bench and the pebble waterfall, a quick pause on the promenade by the art museum to watch a couple of spear fishers and finally a stop to check out the kite shop in Veteran’s Park.
McKinley Beach caused us to wonder, how crazy you have to be to be swimming in Lake Michigan in early April. While Bradford Beach brought another hint of summer, and that beach’s strong volleyball tradition.
We enjoyed our stop at what appears to be a new fitness area. I got a kick out of showing the guy you see struggling on the yellow apparatus how an assisted chin-up machine works – I did a couple of sets of squats, assisted chin-ups and back extensions, while my competitive gymnast son gave the p-bars a work-out.
After we left the fitness area, kiddo asked me if he’d ridden 1.5 miles yet. I fessed up and told him, he’d ridden almost five miles. Which led him to proclaim he was going to ride 10 miles this day. We made several laps around Lakefront Park in order to accomplish this goal. What fascinated me was how often he stood to ride, or assumed the bent over determine pose of acceleration. Made me realize the fun of riding as a child – and maybe understand a little the draw of single speeds. Not that I’m going *there* anytime soon – but I get how they might re-connect with the childhood joy of riding.
Once we accomplished the goal of 10 miles, we headed back to the car. With the kiddo telling me his next goal is 15 miles, and then 20. Meanwhile, I was reminded of what a great city I am privileged to live in! Not to mention I am blessed with one great kiddo!
Tis the season….
March 20, 2010
Great week here in southeastern Wisconsin. The first hints of spring. I’d left for Mexico with the yard covered in snow. In fact, don’t think we’d seen the ground since around the 1st of December. I’d hoped the snow would melt while we were gone – and that prayer was answered. Even better was the bonus week of sunny days, temps in the 50’s. Gave me an opportunity for my first outdoor ride of 2010. Well, not exactly the first, I had a fun ride down in Mexico through the jungles, er, nature park at Tres Rios.
But this week, the bike came out of the basement. It felt great to take off on a ride. I did one of my favorite routes which takes me through two local parks. Fox Brook which has a nice mile long loop around a pond. Did two spins, enjoying the laughter of a little girl on a bike with training wheels riding the opposite direction. She seemed to find me passing by and saying hello quite funny. From there I head over through Mitchell Park and its boardwalk over the Fox River. First lesson of the trip – in the spring be mindful of the water level of the river. At first I considered turning around, but then decided to go for it, and ride on. (thanks to the mom and daughters, I knew the depth. I’m not sure I’d have been brave- or stupid- enough to ride through if I hadn’t)
The second lesson of the ride. Sporadic rides on the trainer over the winter are no substitute for actual riding. Esp. when those trainer rides were few and far between the last few weeks, and not exactly at maximum effort. The hills around here killed me. It will take a few more rides before I tackle my first goal hill (the section of Brookfield Rd driving north from Bluemound to Gephardt).
And as a bonus I got to rock my colorful, spring-y, new Terry bike jersey.
Meanwhile, back at home, it’s also the start of the gardening season. This will be the year I start to tackle this garden. I’m starting to get a vision. Feeling more settled in this house thanks to some changes at work. Ready to move forward, start the heavy and not so fun work of clearing some of the overgrown mess and making my own stamp on the place. There’s signs of spring here too. Daffodils foliage growing through the leaves I’d piled on the beds. Teeny little hosta noses just peeking out of the earth.
On my walk Thursday, I’d taken this picture of the still ice and snow covered pond at Rolling Meadows park to remind me that we weren’t quite at spring yet.
This morning, on the 1st official day of spring, awoke to a reminder from Spring herself, that we still have a way to go before the real outdoor season. But it sure feels good to know we are marching towards just that! 
What happens in the Dells……..a trip report
November 16, 2009
Another quick trip down to Glacier Canyon Lodge at the Wilderness Resort in the Wisconsin Dells. If you haven’t figured out by now, I like to play. Be it trips to Disney, riding my bike or heading to the waterpark, I find I’m a much saner, calmer and happier person with frequent doses of playful fun. Luckily my ten your old son is still at an age that he enjoys time spent goofing around with Mom, even if this trip did include him bringing a friend for part of the trip.
The Wilderness resort is a mega complex with three large indoor waterparks, three equally large or larger outdoor ones, not to mention the upscale adults only Sundara Spa complex, a couple of golf courses and another lodge area on the shores of Lake Delton. Obviously, a trip to the Wisconsin Dells in mid-November means sticking to the indoor parks. All three have giant water slides – body slides, tube slides and specialized slides with names like “Fantastic Voyage”, “black Hole” or the “Hurricane’, there’s a large indoor wave pool, lazy river and interactive water fun play areas. Be prepared for lots of stair climbing. Of all the slides, “Black Hole” is my favorite with “Fantastic Voyage” a close second.
Usually I also enjoy their lazy river, but felt like this trip it just wasn’t heated to an enjoyable temperature. In fact, I would say the same for the various hot tubs – really should have been hotter. Not sure what the issue was, but hope they solve. I’ve been to Wilderness on other winter weekends, and hope this isn’t a new cost cutting measure – as it would make me question spending my playtime there in the future. While I’m criticizing this otherwise great resort, I’d also suggest making one of the hot tubs adult only or at the very least enforcing those large “No one under 6 allowed in hot tubs” signs. The hot tub picture below was taken on Friday afternoon before the weekend crowds, when the hot tubs were literally shoulder to shoulder (both around edges and in the middle) with people.
Sunday brought a sunny, unseasonably warm day, so while my Mom supervised my son and his friend in the waterpark, hubby and I went for a 7 mile walk around the Wilderness grounds and surrounding area. We hadn’t brought the bikes, but still had a little chuckle around this set of signs. 
Here’s some outdoor shots from the walk. The outdoor parks had sad, lonely feel with their empty pools. The new, but closed Zipline tours were taunting me. I’ve been dying to try them. In the past when I had opportunities to zip in Hawaii or Mexico or wherever, I weighed more than the max allowed weight. Now that I comfortably make the weight limits, I still wasn’t able to go. We’d been to Wilderness last July, the weekend before these zips opened, and now here we were back the weekend after they closed. Sigh. I’ll have to get that bit of fun and excitement on another trip (and Hawaii and Mexico zip lines are still on the to-do list!)
Decided we must plan a grown up weekend at Sundara some day (maybe next anniversary?), I’m a spa addict and that looked awfully nice – not to mention based on all the steam rising from the surface of the water, their outdoor pool is very well heated – no cost cutting over there! As golfers (he’s avid, I’m a duffer), we enjoyed walking the cart path of one of the courses shut down for the season. Lake Delton looked gorgeous – some of you may remember this as the lake that broke about a year ago, washing away a couple of huge houses. Lake has been fixed and re-filled. Loved this carved tree trunk at one of the lakeside houses 
Last few pics are from our unit at Wyndham’s Vacation Resort at Glacier Canyon. As I’ve mentioned before, I own a decent amount of points (all purchased via ebay) in Wyndham’s timeshare system – as does my Mom. For this trip we had a three bedroom unit. Very, very nice. Master bedroom with the tub for two, king bed, walk in shower, second bedroom with another king, third with two queens. Nice shared bath for those two rooms. Sleeps 10 (via a hide a bed in living room). We had my son & his friend, my Mom, hubby and I. Kitchen very well equipped with service for 12, plus all the typical small and large appliances. Though honestly we ate out much of the time. Kept the fireplace going in the evening which was a cozy touch. And naturally, one section of the closed zip lines passed right by our balcony – taunting me further! 
The Dells are a bit kitchy. Son finally got his trip to a Ripley’s Believe it or Not on this trip and was unfortunately more fascinated and interested in reading all the signs and exhibits than I hoped would happen. We found the “resort” my parents had honeymooned at 54 years ago – a bit worse for wear. Have to say, kitchy, touristy or not, for a fun filled weekend, close to home they fit the bill. (Which is a good thing, because in late January we’ll be back for one of my son’s gymnastics meets – though after 4 trips to Wilderness we will be trying a new resort that trip. Not to mention hoping to get some skiing in at Cascade Mountain).