NOVEMBER 15 (I think) - Around Around Around She Goes and Where She Stops Nobody Knows

 When I opened my eyes this morning, I noticed the sun trying to sneak through the horizontal blinds on my bedroom window, and knew I'd have no excuses not to have a Breehy kind of day. However, the air was really cold - all the little children on their way to school looked like they were smoking - so I thought I'd just wait a while and see if the sun warmed up the Earth a bit before I went. 

Well, as you can see, I guess I should have waited a little longer.

However, the sky was brilliant blue, only marred by the trail of jet planes on their way to exotic places.

I decided not to go on a long bike ride (HA!) and headed down to Bear Creek Park to see if the girl salmon were still flicking their tails at the boy salmon, and yes, indeed they were. There were several by the first Salmon Walk stop, but the day just wasn't the best to take pictures - sun shining and dappling on water, making it difficult to see, let along photograph, them. So I just brought Breehy on the rest of the trails, finally covering all the paths in the park.

Hmm. Two paths converged. One obviously led to a busy street (probably 88, but what do I know? Stay tuned and you'll find out ... ) and the other, not so well travelled, led to a bridge. Bridge = Water = Salmon. Maybe. So left we went.

Well, not such a great bridge. In fact, I wouldn't have been surprised to see a troll lurking underneath.

Not much water, either.

And this trail sorta kinda petered out - I was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable here, so back we go, one more backtrack in a life of backtracks.

Uh uh, no way. Not going that way, either.

We did find our way to another nice little path, wider and more populated. This pretty stream didn't seem to have any salmon in it, but it would have been a nice birthplace for their babies, I would think.

And then it was time for lunch, before I headed home. One of my yummy Blackberry/Blueberry/Coconut Muffins and a thermos of coffee to warm my frozen hands. Sitting here in the sun was lovely. (In case you're wondering why the muffin looks funny, it's because it's missing its top. Burp.)

After my snack, we travelled back through the park to 88 Avenue. Imagine my surprise when I saw the kids in the swimming pool. I wouldn't have thought it was that warm.

As I rode past the track oval, I passed two ladies - one of them asked the other 'Have you ever had fo?'

Now, if this were years ago, I would never have known what fo was. But now, since I'm a city girl in a hugely multi-cultural environment, I do know. It is actually 'pho' and it is Vietnamese noodle soup, and some of it  comes with thin slices of raw meat that you actually cook in the hot broth before you eat it. I've never had it, but will some day.

And of course, we couldn't leave the park without one tree picture.

Now, this is probably where I went wrong, as I decided to ride up 88 Avenue for a bit and see what I could see. Since this is a pretty busy non-bicycle-lane road, I took the sign's advice and stuck to the sidewalk. If I got stopped by an over-zealous policeman all ready to hand out Riding-On-The-Sidewalk tickets, I could just show him this picture.

False advertising ahead. I could see no creek, let alone any salmon, just a huge forest area with a leaf blanket on its floor.

A familiar place came into view - this corner store was where I bought my first East Indian food last summer. However, now I would think twice about eating at a place that also sold bait.

Up the road I go, riding on the level, walking on the incline or whenever I came across pedestrians. I called this number to see if someone could come change the light bulb over the side entrance, but of course, they were busy. Too bad. (Also not true - oh they probably were busy, but I didn't call. I have my own busy boy to do that - even most of the time he's too busy to do stuff too.)

Now, this is where I got my first stomach cramp. Not a good thing when we live on 133 Street. However, I persevered. And I think this is when I maybe took a left turn instead of a right turn - or a wrong turn instead of a left turn - because all a lot of the way was uphill, and it all seemed to go downhill from here.

It seems that even though all the streets and avenues are numbered, when they get in my head, something happens to them -

1                                                                  5                                                                0

                            3                                                                    2                                  8

        4                                       2               

                3                 8                                                                                     7

8                                                   9           6   
- and even though I believed I was getting closer to home - I was definitely not. However, the beauty continued.

Now I probably wouldn't have noticed this strip mall, except I had just passed the Green Timbers Covenant Church, so it was odd to see the Green Timbers Pub not so far away. What I didn't realize at that moment that maybe I was nearing Green Timbers Park, as I was certainly heading in the wrong direction for that particular part of Surrey. Ha.

Well, this is where I decided to take advice, stop, and head back home - then changed my mind at the thought of getting closer to the mountains in the distance ....

The road seemed to morph into a ski-jump. Breehy made it clear she was neither carrying me down, not carrying me up. So stupidly enough, I went Shanks Mare.

Just because I saw mountains in the distance, I wondered if I'd get a beautiful view if I went a little farther. Well. I just found out I had travelled to the very end of 92 Avenue.

So I huffed and puffed up the hill, wondering if the muscles in my thighs would hold out long enough to get back home.

This should have been another clue. Remember the river at Tynehead Park? Serpentine? I really thought I was heading towards the Fraser River and a mountain view, maybe even a bridge. Double HA.

 

These were the wrong mountains. But they are so beautiful, and I was still ignorant of that fact at the time.

So, pedal pedal walk pedal. I finally came across a very familiar looking intersection. Yes, down in the valley, the valley below, was Tynehead Park and Salmon Hatchery. Now that was probably the place to go see salmon - but was I up to going down then up that hill pushing and pulling Breehy? Uh uh, no way. But now I knew how to get home - that wonderful yellow house nestled on the corner hundreds of miles away. Crap.

I decided to cut across to the Greenway, away from the traffic. As I rode along, I came up to two guys walking in the same direction as I was going, so I called out 'Old lady on bike behind ya!' and they separated - one going on the grass on the left, and one going on the grass on the right. I pedalled through - and said, 'I'm not that bad at steering!' They laughed. I pedalled and groaned.

And pedalled I on. And on and on and on. By the time I got to a soft easy chair I was glad to tuck Breehy away for at least an overnight - and I'm sure hoping that I'll be able to walk tomorrow. I have no idea how far I went, as so much of my travels were zipping up one road, down another, and across yet one more. I would think at least 15 km. My legs disagree. They think more like 238 km. Maybe an average of the two would be closer.