P.A. Countyside

On the Saturday we were in Baltimore, we had all day to kill before the baseball game that night. So, of course, Mike had found some dirt roads that weren't too far away in Pennsylvania. So, as if riding for 7 hours to Baltimore on a seat that the CIA could use as a torture device wasn't enough, we spent pretty much all day Saturday on the bike too.

We did find the dirt roads Mike was looking for and it was fun. I also really enjoyed the peaceful country paved roads we rode as well. I just loved the old barns out in the middle of the fields, so I snapped a few pics as we rode past.

4th Annual Baltimore Baseball Trip

Well, once again, we made our annual trek to Baltimore to catch a few games of a weekend series the Angel had with the Orioles. I say it every year, but I just love going to that ballpark. If you haven't been, you should. It's not too far away.

The past 3 years we've driven up on Saturday, saw the Saturday night game and Sunday afternoon game, then driven home Sunday night. That makes for a long weekend!! Well, this year, we went up on Friday, saw Friday and Saturday night games, and came home Sunday. Staying two nights makes all the difference. It was nice to get home about 4pm rather than a little before midnight.

As usual, the Angels won one and lost one. At Friday's game, there were three brothers (ages 11-6??) sitting beside me. The parent's and one grandparent sat behind them. Those boys put away the food!!! Let me recap what they ate:

• hot dog
• hamburger
• nachos
• cotton candy
• slushy thing
• lemon freeze thing
• ice cream

By the end of the game, the littlest one literally could not sit still. The parent's were a little annoying in that every time a left handed batter came up, they'd say "Watch the batter!" This was important because we were first row behind the 3rd base dugout and could potentially get a line drive foul. After 9 innings of hearing that warning, the kids and I both were a bit tired of it. After Friday's game, there were fireworks. All and all, it was fun as usual.

Backwood Dirt Roads

So, as some may know, Mike has sold his Harley and bought a BMW GS. It's basically a big dirt bike. It's meant to go on and off road. Well, as a GS owner, we have a reputation to uphold as being off road adventure riders. Apparently, there are some dirt roads all throughout the NC mountains. Some of the better ones are just north of Lenior. So, we took off one Saturday after I had been working until about 3:30 (I had no idea what I was getting myself into). We head to the mountains and make our first off road excursion. It was pretty successful if you don't count the fact that we had no clue where we were or when or where the road ended. Then, to top it all off, we think we're finally at the end of the winding dirt mountain pass when we come across a tree in the road that we can't get over. We had to turn around and go the entire 25 miles back. Of course, it started to get dark and rain. But, as you can tell, we lived to blog about it.

After that adventure, Mike was invited to go with another couple to do some more off road riding two weekends ago. We started in the same area as Mike and I started but we also went to many other areas. There are dirt roads everywhere - for one, we rode up to Linville Gorge. The couple we met were really nice and were good riders. It was fun. Check out the pics...

Statesville Criterium

As I mentioned in the previous post, I couldn't stay long with my nieces last Friday because Mike wanted to go downtown to see the Statesville Criterium. It was a warm up event for the Charlotte Criterium that was held on Saturday. Actually, I don't think any of the 'good' riders were there on Friday. I think it was a lot of local guys. But it was still neat. They had downtown blocked off for the course. There were lots of different races. We watched a few then had dinner at a downtown restaurant. One of my favorite parts of the races was the lead car. It would fly around the corners squalling the tires.

After dinner we got a spot on the inside of the course. It was on a downhill left hand turn. You could stand right on the corner and the bikes would come flying by, real close to the corner. Some would scrape their pedals as they went by.

It was a fun night. I really enjoyed getting to spend a relaxing night with Mike. It may sound silly but we don't often go out to a restaurant and have dinner, just the two of us. It was nice!

Cute Baby Pictures!!

I had a brief visit with my nieces on Friday after work. Susan made a last minute decision to come to Troutman to see Kathy and Virginia. I went by Kathy's house after work. I couldn't stay long because Mike wanted to go see the Statesville Criterium. Though there for only a brief time, I took lots of pictures.

Samantha had a handful of Mommy's hair...she thought it was hilarious (as did I) !!

Look at the angel face!!

Samantha is such a funny and inquisitive kid. She was lots of fun to play with.

Virginia had a bit of a love affair with the computer monitor.