Just another restful day: 33 miles of biking, 3 of walking

Today was magical. Perfect weather helped. Sunny with a high of 57 degrees. We started the morning with a large puffed pancake (and maple syrup, of course) with our hosts, Dean and Cindy. Then we took their mountain bikes to explore the Burlington bike trail. 

Wow! It's a well-used trail with lots of joggers, walkers, and bikers. Not as long as the American River Bikeway but very different terrain. We rode along the waterfront, past small forested areas, through residential neighborhoods, and finally along a causeway, with water on both sides. Gorgeous!

Ready to roll.

The waterfront was gorgeous.

Colors!

A stop to say hi to this cormorant.

An amazing trail.

 

The causeway ends with a 200' gap before it picks up again. The local bike advocacy group, Local Motion, has come up with the perfect solution: a bike ferry. The ferry takes bikers and their people across the short space from one dock to another for a small donation. The program is run by volunteers on weekends and holidays only. We got our ride just in time--tomorrow, Columbus Day, is the last day for the year.  

The bike ferry.

The bikes.

We rode across and I was starving--we had neglected to bring any food for the ride. But this was a magical trip. We passed a little girl sitting along the side of the trail with homemade m&m cookies. Did I do a good job of conjuring or what?

Look what we found in the bushes!

We knew there was food about 3 miles in so that was the destination. What we found was more magic. A perfect little hamburger stand called the Accidental Farmer (I had a portobello philly) along with a U-pick apple orchard, petting zoo, and Irish music live band. I had a cider slush made of pure cider. 

U-pick apple event had everything.

Wandering animals.

Music.

Apples too.

We dragged ourselves away and headed back with more downhill in this direction. Good thing--I was getting sore. Dale figured out we had ridden about 16 miles so we had that much more to go. But the ride was so beautiful that it went quickly. I walked up the final hill but with 33 miles for the day there was no guilt. 

Dinner started with an ice cream at Ben & Jerry's. Perfect day.