An Awesome Day in Iowa!

Cheryl prepares for 10 miles!

Finally!   The stars align and the temps even out so that Cheryl and Ethan can finally enjoy a weekend...  Outside.   Oh sure,  there was last weeks race.   But we did not really get to enjoy things because we had to race home and begin scoring from home.   It sucks having to work on your only day off...  Which is technically NOT your day off I guess.  Ah well...  details.

10 miles Finished!  That was easy! 

Today,  Cheryl and I headed out to the usual training place to run 10 miles.   Well,  Cheryl ran 10.   I simple coast along side her and try to stay warm.
But after she had completed her 10 miles ( no small feat!   10 miles is a mile stone since the injury...)  We headed to a new place where I located a new bike trail.  New to US, anyway.

Time to refuel.... and BIKE!

Checking out a new bike trail.

First,  we had to stop by Dunkin Donuts to refuel.   It is an essential part of the marathon-in-training training.   If that makes sense.  ( It does to us... somehow.)   With donuts in hand,  we set off towards the Coralville dam.

We have to stop to see the sites.

Off we go!

We found some parking and head down towards the trails.   Cheryl stopped to pose by the Huge Wooden Nickle.  Most of the trail was downhill...  from our parking.   This meant that we would eventually have to head back UPhill.   That is always fun after you have exhausted all of your Dunkin' Donut energy.

A newly discovered nature area!

With BIRDS!

Pretty Birds.

Lots of them!

Even more bird houses.

We discovered a nature area where the paved trail crisscrossed  across the fields next to the river.   There were many Purple Martins and Barn Swallows flying around and glimmering in the sunlight.   We stopped by one of the many ponds and watched geese and cormorants as the swam and flew by.   All the while,  the temps remained at a comfortable 60 degrees.  ( or about, anyway)

If the would only hold still.

Tell-tale signs of Beavers

There were also signs of Beaver action along the shore.   He did not make an appearance,  but he did look pretty ambitious.     Some of those trees were fairly large!

They are so destructive!  hehe. 

Waste water had the greenest grass.

Cheryl sails by the green areas.

The grass has begun to green up now.   Especially near the water treatment facility!  All that waste water seems to agree with the plants. The color of the lawn was noticeably greener.   We biked an additional 12 miles making my ride 22 miles total.  Cheryl ran 10 of those miles and biked the rest,  so she might have burned off more calories than me.    But still,   22 miles is a pretty good day. For me, anyway  And this is technically not a competition...  technically.

All tomatoes are officially planted!

When we finally arrived home, I set out to put my tomato plants in the ground and finish up planting some of my Cardinal Creeper.   I hear that after tonight,  the risk of frost is low and the temps are  not supposed to get below freezing tonight.  I planted several of the creepers already and they have been doing fine.   And my tomato plants have not been looking very happy on my shop table these last few days.   I have a bunch of plants so I'm hoping  my  "buck shot" strategy will allow at least a handful of them to survive.   Last time out of 50 plants,  I had only 12 of them survive... and of those, only 3 plants produces more tomatoes than I knew what to do with.   So I'll remain optimistic...  and cautiously cover them with a few leaves just to be sure.

New tasty Beer from Schlafly.

And finally,  to end the nearly perfect day,  I just sampled a new seasonal beer from Schlafly.  Coconut Creme Ale! 

It is pretty darn good!    No noticeable coconut flavor...  But very drinkable and refreshing.  Cheryl said it tasted like the kind of thing you could drink on a hot summer day and forget it was beer.  It is difficult to explain the flavor, but I would probably compare it to my love of Hazelnut coffee.  You can't taste the actual Hazelnut,  but you can taste the "nutty" flavor.    Two thumbs up! 

All in all,  A Pretty good day.   Perhaps it is because we have been lacking decent weather and sunshine for so long that the first "normal" day seems like heaven.   What ever it is, I'll take it!   Hope everyone else is having a wonderful day as well.  Thanks for stopping in.