Big Girl Bike
The trip to the brother's was pretty awesome. A 7 hour ride on a train that smelled of freetos/feet/puke landed me in Main Street Station. Gosh, what a gorgeous building. They really did a fantastic job with the restoration. If only I would have had more time to look around and take pictures. I guess that will happen on the next trip down.
We Walked along the River Walk for a bit, and down by Tredegar. Then we drove around The Fan before stopping in Carytown for lunch. My brother (who, sadly, hates Richmond) was itching to get out. So we made the trip out to Salem.
Sunday, we watched some Top Gear while the ribs were doing their thing in the smoker. Man, I wish I had BBC America. If any of you do, be sure to check out this show. If offers 1) Cars 2) Wacky Hi-jinks and 3) A trio of extraordinarily funny British hosts. Really, check it out if you get a chance. After lunch, We hit up this arcade/race track place and played some Skee Ball (where can I get a skee ball machine for my basement??) A and I won lots of tickets and had more fun picking out our prizes than we did playing the games. Jelly bracelets, army men for my brother, stickers, erasers, and bouncy balls. The poor kid behind the counter probably thought we were on a day pass from a mental institution. Afterward, we headed across the street to play Putt-Putt. Then over to Ukrops to pick up some stuff for dinner. Turns out my brother was being stalked by some crazy woman in the parking lot. She was on one of those grocery cart/scooter things and kept racing after my brother "Can you give me a ride home young man? Please, I need a ride!". A said this happened to him a lot.
A decided that it was time for me to learn to ride a motorcycle. Something I've wanted to do since I was a kid, but never found the time for. So we all went up to the school and my brother taught me to ride. He told me how things work and what to do and suddenly I was moving. I drove around the parking lot for about 20 minutes with a huge grin on my face. At one point, I tried to stop the bike, but throttled it instead. Since I was aimed at a tree, I freaked out a little. Then I let go of the clutch and the bike stalled and stared to fall over. I tried to catch it, but no luck. Luckily, it was my uncles old bike (and not my brothers beautiful R6). Uncle E had dropped the things a few times before, as had A when she was learning to ride. So I guess that made me feel a little better. Anywho, The only damage done was a broken turn signal.
See the hanging turn signal?
I have a bruise on my ankle and a rather large lump where the bike fell on it. A constant reminder of the fun I had. I guess I can add it to the list of scars earned doing fun stuff. The one on my arm from one of those hooks you hang merchandise on? I got that in 1999 doing an overnight at Borders, trying to get all the Star Wars stuff up before the movie was released. What an awesome night. Light saber fights in the kids section, screaming every time we passed the Jar-Jar binks cut-out, chasing each other around the store. I also have three small pieces of black rock in my knee from a mountain bike accident 5 years ago. 3 miles into the trail I hit a rock and the bike went down (hmmm, I guess I have a thing for dropping 2-wheeled modes of transport). My palms, right arm and right leg had a pretty bad case of road rash. There was blood dripping down my leg and I had all these little black bits in my skin. Some woman rode by and offered me tissues. I went down to the stream to try and clean up a bit. With only 22 miles left to go, we made the journey to the end--and it was probably the best trip ever.
I really should try to make it to my brother's more. Mountains, trails, rivers to float, downtown Blacksburg for nightlife, the building they used for the exterior shots in Dirty Dancing, camping, twisty back roads, bears, buffalo. . .He's really in such a great spot.
We Walked along the River Walk for a bit, and down by Tredegar. Then we drove around The Fan before stopping in Carytown for lunch. My brother (who, sadly, hates Richmond) was itching to get out. So we made the trip out to Salem.
Sunday, we watched some Top Gear while the ribs were doing their thing in the smoker. Man, I wish I had BBC America. If any of you do, be sure to check out this show. If offers 1) Cars 2) Wacky Hi-jinks and 3) A trio of extraordinarily funny British hosts. Really, check it out if you get a chance. After lunch, We hit up this arcade/race track place and played some Skee Ball (where can I get a skee ball machine for my basement??) A and I won lots of tickets and had more fun picking out our prizes than we did playing the games. Jelly bracelets, army men for my brother, stickers, erasers, and bouncy balls. The poor kid behind the counter probably thought we were on a day pass from a mental institution. Afterward, we headed across the street to play Putt-Putt. Then over to Ukrops to pick up some stuff for dinner. Turns out my brother was being stalked by some crazy woman in the parking lot. She was on one of those grocery cart/scooter things and kept racing after my brother "Can you give me a ride home young man? Please, I need a ride!". A said this happened to him a lot.
A decided that it was time for me to learn to ride a motorcycle. Something I've wanted to do since I was a kid, but never found the time for. So we all went up to the school and my brother taught me to ride. He told me how things work and what to do and suddenly I was moving. I drove around the parking lot for about 20 minutes with a huge grin on my face. At one point, I tried to stop the bike, but throttled it instead. Since I was aimed at a tree, I freaked out a little. Then I let go of the clutch and the bike stalled and stared to fall over. I tried to catch it, but no luck. Luckily, it was my uncles old bike (and not my brothers beautiful R6). Uncle E had dropped the things a few times before, as had A when she was learning to ride. So I guess that made me feel a little better. Anywho, The only damage done was a broken turn signal.
See the hanging turn signal?
I have a bruise on my ankle and a rather large lump where the bike fell on it. A constant reminder of the fun I had. I guess I can add it to the list of scars earned doing fun stuff. The one on my arm from one of those hooks you hang merchandise on? I got that in 1999 doing an overnight at Borders, trying to get all the Star Wars stuff up before the movie was released. What an awesome night. Light saber fights in the kids section, screaming every time we passed the Jar-Jar binks cut-out, chasing each other around the store. I also have three small pieces of black rock in my knee from a mountain bike accident 5 years ago. 3 miles into the trail I hit a rock and the bike went down (hmmm, I guess I have a thing for dropping 2-wheeled modes of transport). My palms, right arm and right leg had a pretty bad case of road rash. There was blood dripping down my leg and I had all these little black bits in my skin. Some woman rode by and offered me tissues. I went down to the stream to try and clean up a bit. With only 22 miles left to go, we made the journey to the end--and it was probably the best trip ever.
I really should try to make it to my brother's more. Mountains, trails, rivers to float, downtown Blacksburg for nightlife, the building they used for the exterior shots in Dirty Dancing, camping, twisty back roads, bears, buffalo. . .He's really in such a great spot.