One Mom's Alternative to the Minivan!

This mom and her customized bicycle caught my eye during the spring city bike ride. Every year here in Cambridge we have a city bike ride in May as part of Bike Week. It's a great chance for riders of all abilities to enjoy a ride around the city.

"One less minivan" was the rear plate on this mom's bike. It featured two seats suitable for young children (although it appeared only one child was riding today) The bike also have attachments for bags, water bottles, and other items. Plus headlights and rear lights.

She's saving on the cost of gas, has less problems finding parking spaces, and is not polluting with car fumes. Now, not every mom can ditch her minivan or SUV and take to the road with a multi-passenger bicycle. But, still, I had to admire this mom and her alternative to the minivan!

Cycling Along the Cape Cod Canal

Cape Cod is widely known as a famous vacation destination in eastern Massachusetts. Known for ocean beaches, sand dunes, and cranberry bogs, the Cape is an arm-shaped sand bar left behind by the glacial recession about 12,000 years ago. The Cape became a popular vacation spot in the late 1800s, when the industrial revolution filled the cities with smoke and coal soot. Urbanites yearning to breathe free flocked to places like Cape Cod, arriving by rail.

In the 20th century, the Cape became synonymous with summer vacation. Perhaps, this fame is best illustrated in the lyrics of "Old Cape Cod," a 1957 hit by Pattie Page. The song (written by Claire Rothrock, Milton Yakus, and Allan Jeffrey) could have been sponsored by the tourist bureau, praising the Cape for its “sand dunes and salty air, quaint little villages here and there.”

Today, the Cape remains popular with tourists seeking beaches and boating. The gateways to the Cape are two bridges that span 135 feet above the Cape Cod Canal. The Sagamore and Bourne Bridges, opened on June 22, 1935, are also known as the pinch points that back up traffic for miles on summer weekends.

Despite the traffic, the bridges afford picturesque views of the canal. But to see more than a fleeting view of the canal, one needs to spend some times on the banks of the waterway. Perhaps the best way to do that is to bike the pathways that parallel the canal.


Last weekend, as part of our summer hike-and-bike “stay-cation,” we took the bikes to the mainline side of the canal and biked the 7 miles (each way) along the canal. The warm sun was mixed with cool breezes along the canal, at times providing a stiff headwind for the westbound ride.

But overall it was a nice day and a pleasant ride. And an opportunity to mix this with a little photography of engineering structures captured in the scenic backdrop of the cape.

Below: Looking up at the Sagamore Bridge towering above the canal and bike path.


Above: a power plant on the "cape" side of the canal.

Below: the canal meets Cape Cod Bay.


Above: typical view along the canal. With all the trees, you feel far away from the traffic and development.

Below: looking up on the massive tower of the railroad bridge.


Below: the quait railroad station at Buzzards Bay. It was a busy station before the auto surpassed the train as the popular way of traveling to the Cape. Now, only one train a week leaves from Buzzards Bay to Hyannis.

View of the Charles River

Yesterday it was 80 degrees F. in April, and for Boston, that's like heaven!

So, in part encouraged by a reader of this blog, and in part because I just had the urge to get out there, we went for a bike ride along the Charles River. We're fortunate in the Boston area to have a long series of bike and walking paths that follow the river from Boston all the way out to Waltham, about 7 miles.

The river has many faces, in some places a placid pool with bordering marshes, in others passing old factories (like many an old New England mill town), and others with more formal development next to the river. Here's a few of the faces of the Charles on a warm spring day.

Below: Two Canada geese swim in the river near the Moody Street bridge in Waltham

Above: Rapids in the river below the falls. Though the banks are wooded, urban development lurks nearby, hidden by the buffer of trees.

Below: A towering stack rises above an old factory in Waltham. Note the silhouette of an abandoned railroad trestle crossing the river.

Above: A restful scene reminiscent of a lazy summer afternoon as a mother and small child (too small to see in photo) relax on the river bank under willow trees. In the background is a footbridge and another abandoned railroad trestle (part of the same rail line). [What can I say, I'm an engineer and I love bridges!]

Below: My all time favorite footbridge - the Blue Heron Bridge. It's a beautiful example of a slender graceful arch with cables supporting the walkway. And the greatest thing: if you're not walking or riding on the trail, you'd never know this little gem existed!



Above: The path in Newton snakes through woods next to the river. The trees just have a touch of their early spring light green foliage.

Below: The falls at Watertown, looking upstream at the early spring foliage along the banks. And, yes, another footbridge.


Above: One of the many arch bridges that cross the Charles.

Below: The dead tree and bording marshes present a natural foreground (pay no mind to the high-rise apartments in the background).

Dusk on the River

I was riding home from work along Boston's Charles River around sunset this evening. I couldn't resist taking a few photos.

It's Spring -- Time to Get Out and Ride

Today spring arrived and it was time to start riding my bike to work again. The snow banks are finally gone and the bike lanes are available again.

But, yikes, am I out of shape!! Too much sitting around all winter. As I plodded along, other cyclists were passing me by. Then there's a modestly steep incline to get over the Longfellow Bridge in Boston. By the time I got there, I was out of steam and seemed to just be crawling up.

But despite the wind and chill, it was still good to get out and ride. And with daylight savings time, I could enjoy the longer scenic ride home along the Charles River (see photo at right).