2010 June

Entries from June 27th, 2010

Tour de Fat

June 30th, 2010 · No Comments

Tour de Fat

Killian & Jill

Molly & Liz

Stephanie & Dallas

Front: Killian, Dallas Back: Lisa, Jess, Brian, Stephanie, Andrea

Stephanie & Rachelle

Crazy Tall Bike

Bike Powered Bubbler

Sign at the crazy bike corral entrance.

Rachelle

Stephanie

Stephanie & Rachelle

Rachelle

After the Tour de Fat bike parade, Jen and Quinn had to head out but the rest of us went over to Palmer Square for the Tour de Fat festival. Last year we had just a few people with us at Tour de Fat, but this year we had something like 10, plus we ran into our condo neighbors and hung out with them. Last year Brian, Dallas and Killian’s friend from college, drove in from out of town for the event and has so much fun that this year he brought his wife with him.

There were a few new things at Tour de Fat this year, but generally things were the same as last year. Same crazy bikes, some of the same music and performance acts. Dallas wished they had switched it up a little, but I still had a fun time. It had stormed in the night before the fest so the grounds were pretty muddy. And while it didn’t rain the day of, it was so hot and humid. My hair was wet with sweat. Kind of gross, but still a good time.

After a while some of our friends headed over to Dunlay’s to check in on World Cup soccer. Steph and I walked around a little bit then met them at Dunlay’s. We sat outside, though, with all the other people who didn’t care about soccer. Then a bit later on Jess (my friend, not my niece!), Dallas, Steph and I had dinner at Rocking Horse.

Tour de Fat Bike Parade

June 29th, 2010 · 2 Comments

On Saturday Jen and Quinn came over early in the morning to watch the Tour de Fat bike parade, which goes right by our house. It seemed shorter than last year, and not as crazy. Most people were ringing bells and wishing us a good morning or happy Saturday as they rode past our stoop. Quinn was a little shy about waving and saying hi to people when they went past, but maybe next year he’ll be more into it. Killian and Brian rode along with the parade. When they got to our house they jumped off the route and joined Dallas for a 10 a.m. beer. Yeh, it was going to be one of those days!

- 2009 Tour de Fat Bike Parade

Chicago Segway Tour

June 28th, 2010 · 1 Comment

A few weeks ago I saw on Groupon that they were selling discounted rates on Segway tours. I’ve always wanted to ride a Segway, so I called my niece Steph and asked if she’d like to do it with me. This weekend was Steph’s weekend to visit us in Chicago so we went on the Segway tour.

We had to meet up at Foster Avenue Beach on Chicago’s north side. After turning in our Groupon and signing a release, Steph and I had to pick out our helmets.

Nutcase, is right!

While everyone was gathering (we had 8 people in our group), I noticed that all the Segways were plugged in and getting charged up.

One by one we got 5 – 15 minutes of training and instruction on how to use and ride the Segway. Here’s Steph getting her lesson.

Our instructor/guide Chris was very smart about how he taught everyone and very personable. I overheard him saying he’s a basketball coach so I’m sure that helps him be able to relate to people and teach them very quickly.

It took just a few minutes to get a feel for it. Once you were on the Segway for about 15 minutes or a half hour it felt like second nature. Like you just had to think where to go and you’d go.

Steph got the hang of it very quickly.

We rode the Segways south from Foster Avenue Beach.

Soon we arrived at Montrose Beach. The weather was perfect that day. Sunny and not too hot or cold. Probably in the low 80s. The beaches were pretty busy. We got off the Segways, made a bathroom break. There was a stand selling refreshments and some people got a snack or a drink.

Around the bend we came upon a really beautiful view of Chicago’s skyline. Our guide, Chris, had us each take turns getting our photo taken in front of the beautiful view.

In this photo he told us “no hands!”

We went through Montrose Harbor, which was really pretty with all the sailboats docked.

Here’s our guide telling us….. something…

After the harbor we took a pretty much straight shot back up to Foster Beach. I didn’t want the ride to be over, but it was fun to reach some max speed on the Segway. I’m convinced I really need to get a Segway to commute around the city. It was SOO fun!

Here’s a compilation I made of some video clips we made while riding the Segways:

Oh, PS. I just looked up Steph’s previous visits to Chicago. I thought there were more, but this was only her 4th year.

- 2009
- 2008
- 2006

Is it getting dusty in here? !?! Must be my allergies acting up!

Utah Misc

June 27th, 2010 · No Comments

Just a few more random photos from my trip to Utah.

Snow-capped mountains!

Snow-capped mountains in the rain.

One night we had a lot of work to do when we got back to the hotel but it was also the night that the Blackhawks were playing for the Stanley Cup win, so we brought all of our work and computers down to the hotel bar and worked from there. Here’s Ashanth working and watching the game.