I have a terrific knack for getting lost. I blame Santa Barbara–the coastline runs west-east instead of north-south and is surely responsible for ruining my sense of direction back in babyhood. Missing a turn in the car is a huge pain and often takes me a long time to correct (even with my GPS patiently telling me what to do), but missing a turn on the bike is usually just a bonus adventure (or not even worth mentioning). This morning we ran an errand in the U-District and got a bit turned around trying to get down to the Burke-Gilman. I got stuck crossing the University Bridge, but bridges are always fun and we had no bridge-crossing plans for today.

While waiting for the light to change to cross to the northbound side of Eastlake Ave, I chatted with a pedestrian who told me she wished she’d had a front baby seat when her kids were little because her only option was to sit her big kid in a rear seat and wear the baby in a backpack. I’ve seen babies strapped to biking parents in backpacks a couple times and once on the front in an Ergo. I don’t think it looks particularly safe, but I know my perfectly safe setup looks crazy to lots of people and have decided to be more accepting of all bike arrangements I initially deem kooky.

So our light turned green and we waved goodbye to the woman whose kids survived being transported on her bike and back and had our first ride on the northbound side of the University Bridge. Northbound is just as nice as southbound, but I prefer riding on the west side of Lake Union so this may have been our one and only NB UB trip. I found my way to the bike path (second time’s the charm!) and along to Golden Gardens Beach. It truly is summer finally–we saw a woman on a beach cruiser with two tiny dogs in her front basket.

In keeping with the summertime theme, we stopped at Molly Moon’s for ice cream on the way home. I honestly just stop here because it’s an excuse to ride up Stone Way instead of the shorter and steeper routes. Lately we also stop halfway up Stone to check out the big construction site at 40th so it’s a doubly rewarding: excusable rest break and ice cream!