I got thirty-seven miles today and I am feeling it now.  Anne got twenty miles.  I got up early.  Anne rolled over.  I biked in the Park.  There were two things of interest there.

First, I met Edward Crim, who has a web project, Forest Park 365.  He plans making a post about the Park everyday this year.  Did I mention that he is a professional photographer?  His pictures are gorgeous!  I met him while stalking the great horn owls.    He informed me that one of the two owlets have already flown the nest.  I better hurry if I plan on getting any photos.  Today’s header is of a male wood duck and was taken at the base of the owl’s tree.  Edward’s list of great horn prey included wood ducks, in addition to raccoons and Canada geese.

Second, I watched the start of the Paraquad Roll and Race.  The roll part involved people operating hand powered cycles.  There were about a dozen or so of these racers.  The race part was a conventional foot race.

After I returned from the park, Anne and I launched for downtown.  While Detroit is hosting the men’s final four, Saint Louis is hosting the women’s.  We rode downtown to watch the parade for the women’s final four, but got sidetracked by a battle of the bands.  I got good footage of UCONN’s band, they were quite impressive.  This is especially true considering that they had to field two squads this year.  Do I feel another Marquis production coming?  We never did make it to the parade, but watched Saint Louis University’s band warm up the crowd.  Eventually, the two-thousand kids dribbling basketballs started to show up.  We beat a hasty retreat.

We retreated a few blocks north to the grand opening of old Saint Louis post office’s new plaza.  The old post office is a Victorian structure, while the plaza is way modern.  They had the University City High School jazz band playing there.  We purchased a light lunch.  Anne got truffles for dessert and I got a beer.  So if you have gotten this far in this post, you might as well answer the following question:  Beer or chocolate?

On the way home we saw a wicked auto accident at the entrance to the Park.  The fish hatchery was overrun by cub scouts.  They were all getting their lines wet; a few had something to show for it.  So the MSU and UCONN halftime is almost over … ta ta