10 miles to donuts

Last Saturday, I was itching to go out on a family bike adventure. I had in mind a hiking area about 5 miles away up in some hills. The rest of the family was interested in the bike riding part, but not so much the destination. Jeremy suggested a visit to Psycho Donuts instead. Despite the seemingly tons of candy and junk food we've been eating lately, I acquiesced. The kids were pretty excited and got dressed and ready pretty quickly. Gabriella even French-braided Daniella's hair:

I had no idea she could do this and it came out pretty well- -much better than I can do.

As is the case with bike adventures, we saw and stopped at lots of interesting things along the way. We saw/did:

1) Picked up Jeremy's new glasses (with transition lenses that turn dark in the sun). Here is Jonah happily waiting (holding a fan Daniella decorated last summer):

2) While stopped at an intersection, we saw a guy spray-painting fluorescent orange markings on the street. The little kids really liked this. (Sorry, no photo.)

3) About a mile from the donut shop, the girls insisted we stop at "Dolphin Pet Village". The girls have a thing for dolphins. There were, of course, no dolphins in the store (the girls, I think, understood this going in), but there were tons of fish and a few parrots.

4) Our third stop was the original destination of Psycho Donuts (about 10 miles from home). This was a totally weird (and a little pricey) store, but fun and yummy. Donuts had names like "headbanger" and "cereal killer" with all kinds of strange toppings/ fillings (like cereal). The lady behind the counter was dressed up in a 1950s era nurse outfit. When we walked up to the counter, she handed each of the kids a little chunk of bubble wrap to play with (very cool). There was also a little "insane asylum" area with a pile of dress-up clothes and all kinds of other wonky "psycho" kitsch.

The kids liked this sign.

5) After stuffing ourselves with donuts for lunch (it was about noon when we finally made it to the store), we spotted another bakfiets way down the road. A traffic light momentarily stopped us, but as soon as it turned green, Jeremy insisted we go "chase the bakfiets". We couldn't catch up and Nathaniel wanted to be held, so I stopped on a quiet street in a beautiful neighborhood full of fall colors while Jeremy and his two stokers (Joey and Joshua) and the girls on their own bikes went around a few blocks to see if they could find the bike. They couldn't, but had a nice look around anyway.

6)With the bakfiets chase over and a still fussy Nathaniel, we stopped at yet another park we've never been to before.

Leaving the park via a pedestrian overpass (over an expressway). 

7) And then we stopped at REI. At this point, the kids were a little cranky, but we really wanted to get a few things for Daniella's bike. We decided to just get the repairs done there while we waited.

Joseph watching kids on the climbing wall while we ate a snack in front of the store.

8) Since we never had a proper lunch, we stopped at Trader Joe's for real (as in, not donuts) food.

Big kids in front of Trader Joe's.

9) We brought the food and picnicked at a park we've been to several times.

Rainbow Park. It was getting chilly!

10) And, at dusk, we rode peacefully home-- enjoying the gentle downhill.

It was a wonderful outing. It wasn't about just getting donuts, but about the stops and sights on the way there and back. I'm wanting to go on more adventures. I'm still eager to try out some real hills with bakfiets and to see how I do!