My wife was out of town this last week for a tea convention in Las Vegas, and my parents took pity on me being home by myself and decided to take me out to lunch on Sunday. I suggested they bring their bikes over and we ride to and from our place. They took the bait, so we planned to go to Burnside Brewery for lunch.
My dad used to go to high school at a school in our current neighborhood, and rode his bike there and all around Portland in the late 60′s-early 70′s, but my mom has never really ridden a bike in the city at all. They live on Hayden Island, and ride around there some on trails, as well as sometimes over the bridge to the Vancouver side of the river, and along the trails there, so they are pretty comfortable on their bikes in general, and didn’t have any issues riding around in town.
They ended up arriving before Burnside Brewery opened, so we headed out anyway and went down through the Lloyd District to the Eastbank Esplanade, headed over to the Hawthorne Bridge area, and then back up to 6th, and cut back North over to Burnside through the Central Eastside Industrial District.
We were still a bit early (bicycles are faster than you think), so we locked up the bikes and just meandered up Burnside, looking in shop windows, and chatting. Then we came back, got seated outside, as the weather was pretty warm, and ordered some drinks and food.
We had a great lunch, a nice chat, and then a nice ride home to work off the food and beer. One of the great things about riding to restaurants, you are active afterwards (but not overly exerting yourself), and it helps your food not to sit so heavily in your stomach.
We’re planning to do this more often over the summer, and include my wife as well. There’s a ton of stuff close to us, and we all really enjoy each others’ company, so what nicer way to go out to eat together than by bike?
Have any of you had a chance to go out on the town by bike with family or friends recently?
