When I can be outside, the bike is my preferred experience, but I appreciate any leisurely outdoor activity in pleasant weather. We had a gorgeous day on Saturday, which led to my girlfriend and I both wanting to do something outside. Of course, I wanted to go for a long ride. She wanted to continue foraging for wild edibles.
There was really no losing in this situation, but we did agree to compromise by packing the bikes into the car and heading to Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park, to forage and go for a ride afterward.
That was taken after nearly an hour of wandering through some woods and meadows looking for whatever we could find, or whatever seemed appetizing. We didn't end up finding any good quality mushrooms, but we did gather up a bunch more dandelions:
We also found a bunch of wild onions (some of which are seen below):
We also gathered some garlic mustard, as well as a few other smaller crops of things we may experiment with hunting in the future (but no need to go into detail about that here, really). We finished off the morning with a relaxing lunch by the creek near where we'd parked:
We then headed towards the Camp Chase Trail parking area to take the bikes out on the trail. This is the first time I've been back to Battelle since about this time last year, and I was very much looking forward to returning because...there was previously a gap in the Ohio to Erie Trail that required a small section of road riding through this area. That's now been fixed:
Looks pretty nice, right? There's a serious hill near the parking area, but otherwise, it's mostly flat with a few winding areas between the trees:
After the brief stint through the woods, the trail opens up to what you may know of as a traditional rail trail. It's home to some of my favourite trail signs, including this one:
There was a slight breeze in the air, but nothing detrimental. Looks beautiful too, right? With no real set destination in mind (because really, where is there to go these days?), we just rode until it felt appropriate to turn back. We decided to pause in Galloway for a quick water break about 4 miles out:
We discussed going further, but considering the fresh cut flowers and vegetables we had in our car, we decided to head back to figure out what to do with those before they turned to dust. If any businesses were actually open for us to sit down and have a drink or a snack, we may have decided otherwise. That was a weird realization that I somehow haven't really experienced so far this month. I'm so used to riding to beer or food as a ride destination, and that's not something we can do right now. Whatever the case was, the time seemed right to turn back.
After arriving home, we decided that we could still go support some local businesses, and since the kiddo had opted not to go out with us in the morning, we decided to drag her along in the afternoon. Ice cream is usually a good incentive:
Jeni's is selling takeout pints only for the time being, but you can get cones to go as well (they're in the paper bag) and "build" your own. It's certainly not the same, but it's better than nothing (I also love that they have a bunch of dairy-free flavours).
Not quite satisfied, we stopped by Sideswipe Brewing for a couple crowlers for the later evening:
And then the real fun began: figuring out what to do with what we'd collected while we ate ice cream and drank beer! Well, Faith didn't drink beer, but you get my point. Rae made a couple nice sauces we're going to try with some pasta later this evening, in addition to the dandelions we prepped for future wine. As I mentioned yesterday, I may have to start a new blog to keep up with all of these things once 30 Days of Biking is over.
By comparison, the conditions outside are rather dreary, which makes me really glad that we made the most of a gorgeous Saturday. If only we could forecast more things in life...
If you happen to read this before 10:30AM EDT, tune in to my Instagram feed @ewokawoka for a World Open Mic that I'm joining. Whatever you do, have a great Sunday and be safe!
30DoB Mileage Counter: 278.3
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