Don, Claire, and I made plans to ride bikes downtown to check out the Ironman competition. Claire rode my old hybrid, Don his tadpole trike, and I cruised along on my Trek Electric Assist. ;) (http://ironman.com/events/ironman/wisconsin#axzz269mHR5s5).
First stop on our way downtown was at the boathouse on Lake Wingra in Wingra Park.
Next stop, after taking a small detour from the bike path, was when we noticed activity at the Goodman Community Pool, which had closed for the year on Labor Day. (http://www.cityofmadison.com/parks/pool/) Don had read that the Capitol K9s (http://www.capitalk9s.org/index.php/events/dog-paddle/) were going to hold their annual fund raiser this past weekend but had thought it was to be on Saturday. How lucky we were to be able to see so many dogs enjoying the crystal clear water of the community pool!
Humans were not allowed in the water....only dogs.
As we arrived, the dog jumping contest was about to begin. I believe there were 8 dogs in this competition. Taking turns, their humans threw a tennis ball into the water and the dogs would run from the side of the pool, jumping as far as they could through the air, to land in the water and retrieve the tennis ball. Here is one caught in action (lower right). If I heard correctly, the winner had jumped almost 17 feet!
And this Golden Labrador is swimming for the retrieval.........
Everyone truly was enjoying their time at the pool!
Continuing along our way and detouring various places because of the Ironman competition (the bike ride portion), we made it down to Monona Terrace (http://mononaterrace.com) where we watched the competitors ride in, strip off their biking shoes while running from the their bike valets, go into Monona Terrace to slip on their running shoes (and whatever else they do while inside), and emerge once again on the opposite side of the observation terrace/deck to begin their 26 mile (I "think") marathon to the finish line.
Here are Don and Claire on the observation deck.......
After leaving Monona Terrace, we threaded our way through the cheering crowds around the Capitol Square and down State Street until time to head back home so Claire could get on the road back to Chicago. We made one more stop after leaving downtown, eating at Pizza Brutta (http://pizzabrutta.com) on Monroe Street. Delicious!
We had a wonderful time with Claire this past weekend and hope she plans another visit soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment