What’s Goin’ On?

We’ve had several visitors lately:

Ingrid and Rich and PenelopeAnn Francis Rose stopped by on one of their whirlwind roadtrips from Colorado, through the Pacific Northwest, and back again. Little PAFR is just the sweetest little thang! She was born July 2nd at 2:42 am, so she was just a couple weeks old when they were here. She still had that reddish newborn tint to her skin, and her tearducts hadn’t fired up yet, so she had eye goop going on. She has a great head of hair, and her pastimes include eating and sleeping. We of course forgot to take any pictures. Here are a couple PenelopeAnn pictures from Rich ‘n’ Ingrid:

Her First Bath:

Helping Daddy in the Garage:

It was great to see Ingrid, Rich, and PenelopeAnn–we hope to make it out to Colorado one of these days!

The next weekend my friend Andy visited. He had just completed a little bike ride from Boston, Massachussetts to Astoria, Oregon. He accomplished this in just 30 days and 9 hours. Here is his brief account:

Occian in View–July 20 (as William Clark would say and spell)

Andrew L. Crick
By Land
July 20, 2004
Boston, MA on the Atlantic
to Twin Rocks, OR on the Pacific
Total Miles: 3209.33
Total Time: 30 Days
9 Hours
103.52 miles/day average
Longest Day: 130 miles
Shortest Day:
96 miles (last day)
17.41 mph average for trip
184 hours 20 minutes riding
time on the bike
5:56:46 average daily riding time
13.2 mph (slowest day
against severe headwinds in Nebraska)
20.75 mph (fastest day with light
tailwind in Iowa)
17.4 mph mean
17.1 mph median
18-19 mph mode

For a little perspective, Lance’s Tour de France covered 2106 miles in 22 days (including two rest days). Andy didn’t take any days off.

It was great to see Andy and talk about old, current, and future times. We grew up together (well, a block apart) and I have fond memories of watching Monte Python movies, trips to Wendy’s with Andy and his mom Karen for burgers ‘n’ Frosties, playing D&D, mowing acres upon acres of grass with Andy and now-Rabbi Joey, building forts, many games of soccer and Nerf football in the street (”Car!”), and endless trips around the block on our bikes (mine was a Huffy Thunder Road and Andy’s was I believe a red Schwinn–both with banana seats and coaster brakes, of course). They had a pool and a dog, and it was good times.

Back to biking and the Tour de France, Grandma Arlene was in town for two weeks while Auntie Bonnie went to France on a bike tour. We’ll have to blog about Bonnie’s Biking Odyssey another time, but it’s quite the story, involving cancelled flights, puking, living on the street in Paris, and bodies falling from the sky! While Arlene was in town she took Rona and Zoey to see the Van Gogh exhibit at SAM. Word is Zoey enjoyed it very much.

Two nights ago Zoey’s Grandpa Lou stayed the night and then went for an early-morning walk with Rona, Zoey, and Murph. Afterward Lou and I talked a bit about Web stuff. He might have an opportunity for me–should be fun!