Today we have a tale in which the blogger serves as a tour guide to important and delicious places in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Today your intrepid bikers start out at their usual location in Chelsea and bike along the Hudson River in search of Chocolate. Alas, there is no good chocolate to be found directly along this river so the family continues past Castle Clinton (where the bathrooms were closed), past the Staten Island Ferry and up to the Brooklyn Bridge.
Once again they manage to blow the route to the Bridge walkway and have to mess around the streets a bit in Lower Manhattan. Eventually they get there and pedaling steadily, climb the very Bridge where the adults in question once fell in love (with each other) and end up in what was once the World's Fourth Largest City now, the borough of Brooklyn.
Once again (see yesterday's post), the travelers depart from the mapped route and founder their way to Main Street (yup, New York City has a Main Street) where they find Jacques Torres' Chocolate Haven.
In search of home made ice cream sandwiches, they venture inside only to be told that those delectable items can only be found in the Manhattan branch. Undaunted, our pedalers purchase a single Frozen Hot Chocolate to go and walk the streets of Brooklyn to a nearby park, sipping as they go.
Refreshed, they pause to put a band-aid on the s
mallest cyclist during which activity the second largest (your faithful blogger) slides along the wooden bench, to get closer to the injured party, and manages to get a splinter in her ... um, fleshy part of the upper leg. This winds up requiring the pulling up of bike shorts leg so that the largest cyclist can remove said splinter. The next-to-smallest cyclist is then drafted to remove the rest of the splinter from her mother's shorts. With no permanent damage evident, our party proceeds with their journey.
Our cyclists then spy abandoned trolley tracks in the ground, both "preserved" and in their natural state (peeking through the asphalt
) -- those pictured being "preserved." The older female manages to drop her bicycle while trying to snap the aforementioned tracks, leaving her legs scratched and adding to the already thick layer of road grime.
Without aid of GPS (both of which have run out of battery power) they find their way to the Manhattan Bridge -- that for which the neighborhood of DUMBO is named (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and head back to their home borough of Manhattan. On this climb, the Largest Cyclist proves how concerned and gallant he is and waits at the mooring to make sure that Male Child and Mommy pass an Odd Character safely. (Yes, I
was a bit concerned since the Odd Character certainly could have easily grabbed us as we were pedaling rather slowly at that point.) The three (Female Child having been sent ahead) then descend the bridge and all four cyclists wend their way through Chinatown and back to the East River.
Riding South they once again pass the crowds at the South Street Seaport and at the Statue of Liberty Ferry queues and continue up to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel where it is time to turn inland to find ... the Chocolate Haven. It is here that our travelers finally find the intoxicating ice cream sandwiches and purchase three in flavors such as Roasted Banana, Vanilla and Thai Chili Chocolate. They also purchase a bar of Milk Chocolate Creme Brule which goes in to a bag for later consumption.
Walking slowly and wheeling bikes with one hand, our travelers more then make up for any calories expended on the ride by eating these extremely large confections.
The ride is then resumed and our adventurers cycle home along the Hudson River.
Total Mileage -- roughly 18 miles, no exact count since both GPS's ran out of battery power.
Tomorrow, weather permitting, Central Park.
Today your intrepid bikers start out at their usual location in Chelsea and bike along the Hudson River in search of Chocolate. Alas, there is no good chocolate to be found directly along this river so the family continues past Castle Clinton (where the bathrooms were closed), past the Staten Island Ferry and up to the Brooklyn Bridge.
Once again they manage to blow the route to the Bridge walkway and have to mess around the streets a bit in Lower Manhattan. Eventually they get there and pedaling steadily, climb the very Bridge where the adults in question once fell in love (with each other) and end up in what was once the World's Fourth Largest City now, the borough of Brooklyn.
Once again (see yesterday's post), the travelers depart from the mapped route and founder their way to Main Street (yup, New York City has a Main Street) where they find Jacques Torres' Chocolate Haven.
In search of home made ice cream sandwiches, they venture inside only to be told that those delectable items can only be found in the Manhattan branch. Undaunted, our pedalers purchase a single Frozen Hot Chocolate to go and walk the streets of Brooklyn to a nearby park, sipping as they go.
Refreshed, they pause to put a band-aid on the s
mallest cyclist during which activity the second largest (your faithful blogger) slides along the wooden bench, to get closer to the injured party, and manages to get a splinter in her ... um, fleshy part of the upper leg. This winds up requiring the pulling up of bike shorts leg so that the largest cyclist can remove said splinter. The next-to-smallest cyclist is then drafted to remove the rest of the splinter from her mother's shorts. With no permanent damage evident, our party proceeds with their journey.Our cyclists then spy abandoned trolley tracks in the ground, both "preserved" and in their natural state (peeking through the asphalt
) -- those pictured being "preserved." The older female manages to drop her bicycle while trying to snap the aforementioned tracks, leaving her legs scratched and adding to the already thick layer of road grime. Without aid of GPS (both of which have run out of battery power) they find their way to the Manhattan Bridge -- that for which the neighborhood of DUMBO is named (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and head back to their home borough of Manhattan. On this climb, the Largest Cyclist proves how concerned and gallant he is and waits at the mooring to make sure that Male Child and Mommy pass an Odd Character safely. (Yes, I
was a bit concerned since the Odd Character certainly could have easily grabbed us as we were pedaling rather slowly at that point.) The three (Female Child having been sent ahead) then descend the bridge and all four cyclists wend their way through Chinatown and back to the East River.Riding South they once again pass the crowds at the South Street Seaport and at the Statue of Liberty Ferry queues and continue up to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel where it is time to turn inland to find ... the Chocolate Haven. It is here that our travelers finally find the intoxicating ice cream sandwiches and purchase three in flavors such as Roasted Banana, Vanilla and Thai Chili Chocolate. They also purchase a bar of Milk Chocolate Creme Brule which goes in to a bag for later consumption.
Walking slowly and wheeling bikes with one hand, our travelers more then make up for any calories expended on the ride by eating these extremely large confections.
The ride is then resumed and our adventurers cycle home along the Hudson River.
Total Mileage -- roughly 18 miles, no exact count since both GPS's ran out of battery power.
Tomorrow, weather permitting, Central Park.
5 comments:
lovely trek!
Your kids must love these adventures with the two of you. I get a big kick out of reading about them and try to imagine your routes.
In the cornfields, there there really is not all that much traffic there are quite a few bike trails, many are old abandoned railways..do they have those in your part of the world too?
I'm so enjoying your bike trips! Plus you're showing me parts of my city that I've never been to and am now eager to visit!
Okies. I'm tired now.
Did the sock get chocolate, too?
Thank you so much for sharing. Your world is vastly different from my corner of the burbs.
Hi, D! Thanks for your great advice re: Tevas & socks. You are so so right and the velcro issue.
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