Exactly a mile from our house here in St Charles is a parking lot for the Tekakwitha Woods Preserve, a park in the county system. It is similar in size to the Riverwoods church camp, about 60 acres or so, but it also has a public nature center in a really cool old house, and a bike path runs along the east side of the property.
Those of you who have ever lived around moderate sized rivers like the Fox River here know that near rivers you have hills, and this one is no exception. The bike path that runs here goes some distance along the river, at least 20 miles both upstream and down, and because of the winding nature of both river and path, it varies in distance to the river from feet to about that mile I mentioned above.
As a result, up near Tekakwitha woods there is a huge hill - it is about 1/4 mile long and at least 100 feet high, though you would swear it was longer and higher if you were biking up it! When going north nearing the river, you can scream down approaching 40mph, and the ride passes all too quickly. Headed south you get quite the workout on the bike - even a brisk walking pace quickens your breathing and sweats your brow. Also interesting, since our house is at the river, getting to Tekakwitha you climb out of the river valley, so you've already climbed the hill to be able to go down the hill! I've often incorporated a walk on the bikepath into my nearly daily workout and the HILL is a good opportunity to push the heart rate into the red zone one more time before ending the session.
After decades of biking the paths in Tucson that follow normally dry river beds, this stretch of the path here in Illinois is quite magical - imagine, a river with real running water, and a real forest with cooling shade and creatures! This area is my usual hunting grounds for birds and wildlife in the area, so several times a week I walk thru here with camera and telephoto looking for new shooting opportunities.
I've got some great shots from one of my last photo sessions, but will wait for my next post to show you those...
I woke up this morning and the cable was working! It appeared the internet worked too, but my computer wouldn't connect - it took till Melinda got home at 8am to show me the power button on the router that made the lack of internet access a distant memory! So now I can upload Melinda's photo by kerosene lantern...
The day before leaving for RAGBRAI I made a midafternoon jaunt down the bikepath, for some reason taking the lighter 200mm zoom instead of the telescope and I lucked out. Down near the bottom of the hill, about 40 yards up from the river, I glanced left into the woods and spotted a partially obstructed deer face watching me intently about 50 feet away. I stopped walking, and took a few photos and had time to reposition myself for a better shot. She hardly moved the entire time, yet never looked away from me and after a couple minutes, I continued on my walk. 
About 20 minutes later, I headed back up the hill, but she was gone. 
As I continued up the hill to where I was parked, I also spotted some new birds - my first photo of a hairy woodpecker, and I also got a poor photo of a male cardinal, which generally don't stay around long enough for a photo! For such a short walk, it was rather productive - fortunately I had the right lens for the job mounted up for the deer photo!
Less than 10 miles from our place in the woods, Elfstrom Stadium is the home of the Kane County Cougars (affiliated with Oakland As). The saturday night game was a big deal. Joined by Melinda's sister Susan and her friend Roger, though we arrived 40 minutes early, we had to park a good quarter mile away and we got close to the last tickets in the grandstand. There were plenty of gaps in the crowd, likely from no-shows from season tickets, but paid attendance was later announced to be over 13,500. And being that it was a summer weekend, there were fireworks, in addition to skydivers!
The Cougs jumped out early and never looked back, handily beating the Western Michigan Whitecaps 5-2. It was an exciting offensive game with bases loaded on several occasions. After the skydivers and fireworks, several thousand stayed after to "run the bases", with both sliding and walking on the grass prohibited! Still, the kids had a great time with all the promotions keeping their attention thru the game. And best of all, 2 tickets and 2 trips to the snack bar for food and adult beverages cost the 2 of us less than $60! Would I go again? You bet!
As a result, up near Tekakwitha woods there is a huge hill - it is about 1/4 mile long and at least 100 feet high, though you would swear it was longer and higher if you were biking up it! When going north nearing the river, you can scream down approaching 40mph, and the ride passes all too quickly. Headed south you get quite the workout on the bike - even a brisk walking pace quickens your breathing and sweats your brow. Also interesting, since our house is at the river, getting to Tekakwitha you climb out of the river valley, so you've already climbed the hill to be able to go down the hill! I've often incorporated a walk on the bikepath into my nearly daily workout and the HILL is a good opportunity to push the heart rate into the red zone one more time before ending the session. 
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