After Irene

Being stuck at home for 3 days straight b/c of Hurricane Irene gave me major cabin fever. Of course I've probably spent an entire weekend at home easily before (probably because I was prancing around in Azeroth killing mobs), but knowing that I couldn't go out totally messed with my head. I read, I ate, I slept, but I couldn't concentrate on any activity for more than 30 minutes. By the way, Battle-Hymn of a Tiger Mother is a very very entertaining read.

So naturally I sought my dad out for a bike ride the first chance I could. :) The weather was absolutely brilliant after the storm, a perfect outing day... or so we thought...

Sunday evening. Remnants of Irene barreling through the neighborhood sky.

Colors au naturel, no Photoshop. Pretty.

The favorite activity that my dad and I like to do together is biking. No matter which geographical region we end up in, we'll always find a way to find a pair of (often rickety) bikes and explore... a.k.a. get really lost. :) So this time we biked around Queens, through Cunningham Park to Alley Pond Park. But this time Ms. Irene left us a few things to remember her by...

An attempt to take a picture on a moving bike without eating pavement.

TREES! LOTS OF THEM!!! ALL OVER THE PLACE!!! O_O

Okay. It was fun jumping over the first 3 trees, like wow cool, the hurricane actually DID something here in New York amid all the hype and crazy flashlight-buying groupthink. Then after the 4th, 5th, 6th time lifting my steel-framed bicycle repeatedly, the magic factor started to wear off. And then after the 7th, 8th, 9th time I started reflexively cringing when we encountered yet another big branchy blockade. And after the 10th, 11th, 12th time I started just walking my bike because getting off and on every 50 meters was just not worth the effort. I really don't know how many trees I had to lug my bike over. No more trees, please.

This was one of the more annoying ones, where we had to slip our bikes in sideways through a narrow opening. Got an unexpected upper-body workout yesterday, that's for sure.

The 5th Tree or so.

Dad moved around the branch on the floor so we could pass. Are you still having fun?

THIS tree was a monster! We estimated that it must have been at least 70+ years old, a pure giant. This is why people shouldn't venture outside during storms! Mother Nature wins against Mother Nature.

I had a wonderful day even though our 2 hour adventure turned into a 4 hour obstacle course, but it's not everyday that you can climb trees with your 62 year old dad. :)