Happy Birthday!

Saturday was my birthday and it seems it was the BEST ever!

All together I think I spent about $12. I had free tickets to the Humanities Festival downtown on Sat. So we went there. I biked! And got to enjoy the scenic waterfront on the bike path. Afterwards I rode over to Lutz Cafe where the theme is Old European-style pastries. I don't mean old like stale, more like old world. Where I spent a groupon with my husband and had a nice time chatting and eating this:

It's a lemon log, the ends are dipped in hard chocolate and there is lemon-flavored butter cream in the center. More than a glorified Twinkie to be sure.

Then yesterday me and my friend Stefi took the #80 Irving Park bus to the end of the line and got off at Cumberland to begin biking north on the Des Plaines River trail. Here are some pics from our ride:

It was like riding through a leafy autumn wonderland. The Cook county half of the trail is a bit more undeveloped. We were virtually riding through forests on paths COVERED with red, gold, and dead leaves. The Lake County half is more developed and marked, with not so many leaves--so we could go faster since the trail wasn't obscured by leaf debris. We had a plan to ride with the wind at our backs. The plan was also to end the ride at the Lake Bluff metra station after 50 miles. BUT I read the schedule wrong and the next train wasn't due for another 2 hours! I had to get home to a birthday party for ME. So we rode another 15 or so miles to Wilmette where we picked up CTA.


Today I am beat.

Also this month is the ONE YEAR anniversary of this here blog. so wish us both good tidings, God's speed, etc. Actually, you can just say it all to me, since the blog is me.