bicycling on the freeway

Scott and I went on a long bike ride today, on one of the very few warm sunny days we've had this year. We biked on both sides of the river and all around the place, and of course we brought our dogs along in their super-dee-dooper special dog trailer, which does get alot of attention. And the dogs enjoy riding around in the trailer a lot.

After meandering about the place for a couple of hours, we opted to cross back over to our side of the Rhein over a bridge that's just south of our neighborhood. It's also a bridge for the freeway. Yes, there is a bike lane on the freeway. So we took the freeway on our bike ride. Such fun. It's the little things, people.

Yesterday, a friend and I took a day trip to Heidelberg, Germany, where we had lunch at Pizza Hut for that genuine American experience. Then we went to a best-kept-secret outlet shopping place where I found two great, cheap pairs of shoes, two sweaters for winter, and a shirt for now. It was really good fun.

happy camper

Hello again. We've just returned from the states. We are tired. And our bags were lost for a few days, but we just got them back. British Airways sucks; BAA and Heathrow airport suck even worse. Please avoid all of these as you would a plague-infested chipmunk.

Hey! Speaking of plague-infested chipmunks, this is what the little effers'll do to a previously uncut watermelon the minute you turn your back.

I am not kidding - the squirrels and chipmunks and other rodent vermin at Tahoe were SHAMELESS. They would come eat off the table WHILE YOU WERE SITTING THERE. They TOOK A CHEE-TO FROM A SMALL CHILD. Unbelievable. When *I* was a kid, rodents still had manners. Sheesh.

Also? Here's how AWESOME you will look due to jet lag (and old age and bad clothing combos and no makeup and being fat) following a cancelled flight, then four flights in two days, then sleeping in a sleeping bag in a small tent:

Breathtaking. Don't you wanna be my friend??!?

And here's what you'll see through your viewfinder when you get caught taking my photo in aforementioned tired-n-cranky state:

I tell you what: Scott's a lucky guy.

Aside from our (very fun!) time at Tahoe with the entire family (got to see my grandmas, my uncle and aunt from Honduras, my cousin and her baby, in addition to all of my immediate family), we also spent a few days in Utah visiting family and friends. Then to Ohio to visit Scott's family - very fun and relaxing to boot. Then back to DC to see more friends and family. Honestly? We had two point five weeks of a VERY good time!! All the flights and luggage hauling and jet lag were totally worth it. We miss you all - come visit us, dammit.

In sum:

• BA: Bad, to be avoided.
  
• BAA: Even more bad, should be summarily fired a la Air Traffic Controllers in the '80s.
  
• Heathrow: Where Hitler probably would've been consigned to if he wouldn't have been nice to that one little old lady that one time.
  
• Lufthansa: AWESOME, to be used whenever possible - followed by Swiss. Germanic people routinely make the rest of us look like halfwits, frankly.
  
• Me: Jet-lagged, cranky, hostile.
  
• Scott: Nice, occasionally cranky, mostly patient.
  
• Both of us: Missing friends and family, & should be visited posthaste!

Speaking of visits, I also just uploaded the photos from when my mom and Nolan came to visit. We had such a good time, you will all be envious and will immediately call to book some flights of your own. Don't Mom and Nolan look cute in the French wine country?

We spent a lovely day in the Alsace. We also went to Grindelwald, the Black Forest, and Mom and Nolan also spent a week in Poland with some friends. They said it was awesome, but we don't have any photos. We're going to try and go to Krakow with some friends here soon.

Another fun thing we did was to go to Luzern, where we did the walking tour of town, but also took a side trip to Hergiswil, to this factory where glass is hand blown. We also got to do a little glass-blowing ourselves, just some simple glass-ball ornaments. This is a far lovelier photo (from their website) than we could take. But it's really that pretty in real life. And a fun tour and an interesting learning experience too. And good shopping as well...a whole outlet of 'seconds' there to peruse.

We also, spurred by the visit of our family tourists, did something we hadn't done before. We took a cruise on the Rhein river, the banks of which are only about 300 metres from our apartment. This is the boat we took - cute, no?

I still can't believe we'd never done this before in nearly three years. It was really cool. Scott's always liked these fishing shacks along the banks of the river. This is a typical one:

We also got a great view of one of the old Rhein ferries:

I had Scott take this picture of one of my favorite houses along the river (that's the Basel Muenster [cathedral] on the right):

And at the more industrial end of Basel, Scott was digging the barge freight un/loading gear:

And the fireboat:

And, as always, it's important to keep your small, wussy dogs warm and protected from ANY breeze whatsoever.

Thanks for visiting, Mom and Nolan!

And finally - this just in: I was voted "rockin' girl blogger" by my friend Adriana, and there's this groovy badge you can put on your blog...only I haven't the faintest clue how to do so. So, my lovely reader(s?), please be so kind as to imagine a great, hot-pink-ish "rockin' girl blogger" badge in my rather spare sidebar. Oh yeah, and WORSHIP ME, FOR I ROCK! :-)