Holy bike butt (part 2)

It was a year ago when I last thought it would be a good idea to enjoy the springtime weather via bike, leaving me with one very sore tush. Well evidently I don't learn from my lessons because this weekend we decided to explore around Baltimore by way of bike. And thus, holy bike butt part two.

Sean (6' 5") was away at a book thingy, so I (5' 3.5") was cruising on his bike for the day, trying to keep up with Trish, Kelsey, and two of Kelsey's neighbors. We took off from Fed Hill and went up around Fort McHenry. We were midway around the peninsula when a ranger stopped us so that they could fire the cannon. Fair enough. So we sat on the seawall and watched the waves coming in and the boats going by.

We waited for the loud bang and then continued on our way, looping around and then heading back towards Fed Hill. We kept on going and went around to the other side of the harbor, making our way to Fells Point. We made a bike orgy - 5 bikes, one pole, one bike chain and walked around their Annual Privateer Day (read: dirty old men with hair chests and open shirts, and lots of misplaced female bosoms). Stopping, of course, for some delicious Mr. Yogato.
They have a tangy vanilla that is pretty amazing. Especially when mixed with fresh raspberries and chocolate chips. Yummmm! Then it was time to head back to Fed Hill, trade Trish and the neighbors for Sean and get some beer. Enough of this healthy exercise bit ... a pint of your raspberry wheat please! It turned out to be brewed in Ghent, one of my favorite stops along our backpacking trip last year, so I had to imbibe in a second in celebration.

As I didn't have my camera for any of these adventures, I decided to employ my decade of photoshop experience to make this sweet map of our journey. Oh, Matt would be so proud...

Cranberry Hazelnut Granola.
Eventually I had to stop playing and start working. Sunday was slated homework day. But I can't start working on an empty stomach. And it's Sunday - so I need to put a little effort into the meal instead of my standard 1-minute oats with maple syrup. So I decided to make some granola. I don't even own a measuring cup, so I'm guessing here. But it was about..

• 2 cups of oats
• 1/2 cup of hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup of dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
• some dribbles of sesame oil

Mix thoroughly, spread on a cookie sheet, bake for 20 minutes on 350, stirring midway through. I found out afterwards that you should probably hold off on the dried food until after the baking. But it was still a tasty treat! I'm still snacking on some as I write this.

Bustin' out the old drawing tools.
Our next interior was a kitchen.

And now she wants us to start doing shade and shadow. So taking a vellum overlay and translating the contour line into a greyscale illustration. Shapes and objects are defined by changes in tone rather than line. Oi, this is why I am one of the few people with an Art degree who never really drew. It takes foreeeeever. Sorry Gary, but it's just not my thing. Buuut, I begrudgingly dug through some boxes and found my old charcoal, smudge sticks, and sand paper and went to work.
Happy Spring!

ps. DC United fans = awesome. The game turned out to be a blast (minus somebody's spilled beer nastifying my white pants)