#30daysofbiking Day 15: secret garden

wisteria bike

I know – it’s been a little flowery around here … but it’s springtime, so what do you expect?  Even though I was due to take a grocery run on the Xtracycle, the day was just too lovely to not go for a road ride.

When I was young, one of the first “chapter books” I remember receiving for my birthday and reading was The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  I remember being fascinated by the idea of a beautiful garden locked up behind a wall.  Today’s ride took me by a lovely old home in Hamilton County, with an amazing (and somewhat overgrown-and-gone-wild) collection of beautiful flowering plants and trees, climbing green ivy, and a tumbling picket fence.  Since it was all growing right along the side of the road, I couldn’t resist stopping; it begged to be photographed.  Beautiful to the eye, but the scent of the wisteria was even more incredible.

I had a wonderful ride (despite the excessive amount of pollen in the air – we’re above record levels), and got home just in time to leave again for Grant’s tennis match at Lee University in town.  I don’t know which is better – a college campus on a crisp autumn day, or a college campus on a gorgeous spring day?  While I was waiting for Grant to get on the court, I walked around and was happy to see a nice number of bicycles and cyclists on campus.  And I think I’ve mentioned it before, but one of our good friends who is a professor at Lee (and I often shudder when I think of him reading this mess :-0), rides or walks to campus every day – and I’m sure he’s inspiring others.  So awesome you are, Jeff! 😀

It was a long but lovely day – and a great improvement over yesterday.  Pretty exhausted, but definitely in a good way.

bicycles and clocktower near the tennis courts - Lee University

bikes on campus - Lee University