While Zach was out to lunch with Rosa, I decided to take the bike in to town with me, and ride around Cambridge. I don’t get much opportunity to ride in town, so I thought it would be a good opportunity.
I managed to avoid all the downpours that were skirting through the area, and got in about 10 miles on city streets. I passed all the hot spots of Cambridge… Porter Square, Community Boating, Central Square, Harvard Square, etc etc
Afterwards, Zach and I had an hour or two to kill, so we walked down on the north end and took a good look at the Constitution (I had never actually seen it in person). We didn’t have time to go on the tour of it, but Z was suitably impressed (“That’s a big boat! All wood? Wow.”).
The combination of the long walk and the bike ride, and my lack of anything resembling regular exercise lately (coupled with helping Tim and Ellen move yesterday) has left me pretty wiped out. The hot tub is calling my name.
About Dave Shevett
A wandering geek. Toys, shiny things, pursuits and distractions.
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All wood and built without power tools, Zach.
You’re inspiring me to get my bike tuned up. Although I doubt I’ll be ready for city riding until next spring! The trails, however, are calling my name! Glad you had a good ride. And.. wooden boats and history and happy kid! W00t!
Mmmm. Hot tub!! Yay you! Reading that made me wish very much that I had access to one. Mmmm.
Thanks so much for your 3-D Tetris skills 🙂
@jacflash – I even pointed that out to him. Actually, the big lecture came when he asked what the railroad rails were doing in the pier, and I explained that the railroads were the MODERN way of getting materials off the ships and to inland cities. When the Constitution was in service (yes, technically it’s still in service, and yes, it’s a warship, not a merchant), things got unloaded from the boats by hand, onto wagons, and moved to inland cities by horse and ox.
(this was bolstered by us seeing a Hansom Cab go by, and me explaining to Zach (after he said “That’s a HUGE HORSE!”) what draft horses were for.)
@Ellen – You’re quite welcome! It was fun fitting things into the storage unit!
@Terry – The ride was super-awesome, but man am I wiped out. Legs are all wobbly, and then we had a couple hours of Mosaic meeting to attend. It was a great meeting, and Zach was super through it (yay!), but i am totally toasted.
Was it really a hansome cab? That’s very unusual! And actually, small carriages are usually drawn by smaller fast horses. Draft horses are for heavy and slow hauling, farm work, etc. A hansome cab ( or carriage) would more likely be pulled by a light, fast horse. When I drove a carriage in the city, my horse (as are most of the carriage horses) was a very small gelding. The load is pretty light, as I could actually pull the thing myself.
@mah sister:
You know what, I think you’re right. Actually looking at that wikipedia article, Hansome cabs are two wheeled, and what we saw was a 4 wheeled carriage. The horse pulling it was draft-sized though, not a smaller faster horse. Big hooves, long forelocks, Big Animal 🙂
Yeah, I thought so. I don’t think I have ever actually seen a hansom cab, I drove a Victoria ( carriage). People often use draft horses for carriage horses because they think that is how that should be. It’s one of those things that bother me. Kind of an anomaly. A carriage horse should be light and lively. Didn’t it smell good!