Great Couple Days

After a chilly Monday, yesterday warmed back up. It was time to rev up the bikes! Paul was so excited. (No not really). But he's been a good sport about my DSM bucket list. We walked over to the Des Moines B Cycle check out spot on the corner of 3rd and Locust. I had scoped it out earlier to make sure there were bikes available.
http://desmoines.bcycle.com/home.aspx

We took a couple minutes to read the directions. Looks like it's free if you use the things for an hour or less! I selected Marilyn, and Paul, Freddie. After we punched a few things into the keypad, and Paul stuck his credit card in. Did I mention that it's $65 if you keep one for a whole day? Let's hope we got credit for returning our little blue friends.

I started peddling with Paul following closely. We didn't have helmets of course, but we were wearing protective visors/hats. There are bike lanes on some downtown streets so we turned onto Walnut and followed that street east to the Capitol Building. Actually I pedaled halfway up the hill and decided my seat was too low. So I stopped to adjust and ended up pushing the bike the rest of the way up that steep hill. We stopped for a photo shoot.

The ride back down the hill was good! We rode on Locust and I waved at smokers outside the Locust Tap. Paul told me later there was a Santa-like guy on the other side of the street waving at me that I totally missed. We turned north at third street and rode in an industrial area, then farther north to the Botanical Center, where Pablo's bike decided to pop a wheelie.


Once we cruised across the bridge to Wells Fargo and then it was time to turn Marilyn and Freddie back in. Quite a workout! We walked across the river to the Royal Mile in the Court Avenue District for a couple brews and appetizers before retiring for the evening. Such fun - hate to see it end.






Tonight we knocked a couple more things off our (my) DSM bucket list. I successfully completed person accountability training at work. This photo is from that. The panda was helpful - Jeff and I entertained ourselves by pushing its face in. The training was quite helpful - all about how each of us can only change ourselves and how we approach life's challenges. Blaming others doesn't help. I needed that reminder!

After Paul came home, we drove by the Metro Waste Authority Recycling facility (no that wasn't on the list), we stopped at Gateway Market - a local gourmet market. Kinda like the place Amy used to work in Denver. Only not quite as cool, and it has a little cafe with it. Then we went to Alba, near my office for supper. There I ate vegetarian hash. It was a perfect marriage of herbs, several vegetables and what tasted liked like dumplings. It came with jalapeno corn bread. Paul got pork medallions that he said were fab too. I've been driving and walking by Alba for over three years - now I know why it's on all the lists of top DSM restaurants! We give it 5 Moki heads. (that's our rating system)

Our meals

Doors on the ceiling at Alba