"Labor Day Bike Ride....."

After pretty much hanging out at home Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of the Labor Day weekend, Don suggested we go on a bike ride Monday. It was a cool, gorgeous day and a VERY pleasant ride.

We stopped at the annual Labor Day Picnic, held at the Labor Temple, to listen to "Westside Andy's" group for a short time, then took the Wingra Bike Path (which follows Wingra Creek) towards Lake Monona.

Don sort of "blends in" with the tents and several others wearing the same colors......

This was the line to get refreshment (food and beverage) tickets.......

After riding through Olin Park, we took the Capitol City Bike Path along Lake Monona. Don, who was in the lead, saw this coming, so we stopped so he could take a photo of it. We've seen them on State Street before, but never away from the downtown area.

A stop on one of the Lake Monona floating fishing piers. Notice the pontoon in the background?

We waited for them to get closer so we could get some photos of this unusual pontoon. Talk about a "party barge".

By the way, this pontoon is rentable........wouldn't it be fun to hold a Friday night Happy Hour on it? There certainly would be plenty of room for everyone....and then some!

After leaving Lake Monona, we continued along the Capitol City Bike Path until we came to Williamson Street (Willy Street), which has been under construction for quite awhile. It is still off limits to cars, but we were able to bike on the new asphalt for a few blocks, until coming to the unfinished section. Taking a side street, we rode until we could connect to the Yahara River Bike Path, then took that over to the Tenney Park Locks, which are on Lake Mendota. After watching a pontoon boat go through the locks, we then retraced our route back to the Capitol City Bike Path, riding back to Monona Terrace, where we took the bike elevator up to Martin Luther King Drive, then took our "normal" route back home, which takes us down State Street, through the Memorial Union Terrace, following The Howard Temin Lakeshore Path along the shore of Lake Mendota, then cutting through the University of Wisconsin's campus to Camp Randall, where we rode home on the Southwest Commuter Bike Path, which borders our backyard.

It was a beautiful day for the ride. We actually rode 18.8 miles.......not a bad ride, eh? ;)