We had so much fun biking in Brunswick, we decided to try out the Portland Trails yesterday.
We started off on the Back Cove loop because parking is easier (and free) there but our plan was to connect to the Eastern Prom trail so we could avoid riding in the street bike lane (part of the Back Cove loop is on the street and my kids aren't ready for that just yet).
Part of the Back Cove trail is stone dust with some pavement while another portion of the trail is a bike lane on the street.
We stopped for a closer look at the graffiti wall as we left the Back Cove trail and connected to the Eastern Prom trail.
The kids thought the waste treatment plant was pretty bogus - especially this bubbling brown water - but still stopped to read the signs explaining the treatment process, which turned out to be pretty interesting.
The Narrow Gauge Railroad was running while we were biking the Eastern Prom trail.
We had brought along our Identiflyer because we know this area is a fun place to hear the birds singing.
We also took a detour from the trail to visit Fort Allen Park's cannon so G. could take some photos.
The girls spotted this impression on the cannon and insisted I take a photo of it.
The girls liked the Brunswick trail better because there were less hills there but said these Portland trails had lots of fun stuff to look at.
Thank you Pati for the bike trail recommendation last month. We finally found some time when the weather was cooperating to make the trek over to Brunswick to try out the Androscoggin River Bicycle Path.
The trail was smooth without many hills and the bike lane was wide enough to accommodate the girls' occasional swerving because they are still novice bike riders (they learned to ride about a month or so ago) and are working on their steering correction technique.
Of course the reason for L's swerving is usually because she's looking everywhere but where she's going (yes mom, I know I did that too).
But her wandering eyes came in helpful for a stray caterpillar that had wandered onto the trail.
She had to 'save' the caterpillar from being run over and used a leaf to coax him back into the grass.
After the tree-eater rescue we continued on our way and before we knew it, we were at the end of the trail in Topsham.
We all thought those 2.5 miles flew by.
At the Topsham trail head there was a small pond brimming with frogs. I was surprised we heard the croaking over the highway traffic noise and airplanes flying overhead (it's not a quiet nature trail). But we did and were rewarded with many frog sightings and their croaking songs.
We found a quiet, grassy spot for a snack on our way back to Brunswick and after eating, L. demonstrated her bike hand signals for a poster she's making about bikes for her 4-H project.
Left turn signal
Right turn signal
The girls gave this trail an enthusiastic two-thumbs up! If you've never tried trail bike riding with your kids, it's worth the effort to dig out the car bike rack and load it up. And if your kids are like mine, they'll be beaming at the end of the day when they realize they rode 5 miles and passed through two towns in a single afternoon.
If you ever wondered what more was possible to do with a pet chicken, here's another gem from the Almeida girls.
Taking your pet chicken for a bike ride.
And Carl, I'm sorry about Burley the Dog's envy about riding on - rather than beside - your bike. But I think the chicken would have gladly traded places!
Oh, and my favorite bit in the video is when G. catches her dad doing a wheelie and L. lamenting that he's such "a showoff." Their commentary while recording their various videos was worth the price of their digital camera.
You know that joke, "Why did the chicken cross the road?"
It's meaningless at our house. The Almeida chickens don't cross the road -- they stop in the middle of it.
They do not seem to have the desire to actually get to the other side.
And even after beeping the horn repeatedly and driving really close to them, they don't budge.
One of several fearless hens in the Almeida driveway.
It usually takes one of the kids jumping out of the car to shoo her away.
We're not sure how Lucky Lucy broke her leg last summer but recently we've speculated that maybe she was one of our half-way chickens we just didn't notice.
The Almeida females have hair style problems (i.e., none of us like to take the time to brush our hair), which I've mentioned before and been caught in lots of places putting up a quick ponytail.
But yesterday the girls decided they could let their hair down - and stay down - while swimming because they've got a new swimming game now - Hair Flipping.
Hey, I guess when you've got as much hair as they do (which they did NOT inherit from me) you might as well find a way to enjoy it.
Swimming and Hair Flipping The early June air was muggy and warm but the water was chilly!
It doesn't matter where you live (including you out-of-staters!), you can celebration National Trails Day too because it's a great day to get out and hike!
I'm stuck at the office for the better portion of today but hope to go on a short hike with the kids when I get home. We've got a geocache on a trail near Watchic Lake that L. has been suggesting we visit and do some maintenance on (with the ulterior motive that she get a chance to swim as well). I think today is the day she'll get her wish.
