Anne and I went bicycling in Forest Park today. It has been over two-weeks since either of us had last been on our bikes. This is mainly because it has been so God awfully cold as of late, but not today. Today it warmed up into the high fifties, maybe even to sixty degrees. It was too nice a day not to be outside. We first rode in the park, where we got our miles. There aren’t any real hills in the park, although there are places that are called hills, like Art Hill or Government Hill. More serious cyclists would just scoff at naming these rises hills though. After we had loop-de-looped the park, we headed over to the Loop, which was holding its annual winter ice carnival. In sixty degree weather mind you.
The Loop was mobbed. Every store had its own personal ice sculpture outside of it. Like the Loop that has expanded eastward of Skinker in recent years, so too has this year’s ice carnival. We had taken DeBaliviere north from the History Museum and then Delmar into the Loop. We did this same route last summer, but I swear that there is even more new construction edging further east than I remember. As soon as we hit the Loop, traffic snarled, we dismounted and began walking our bikes the length of Delmar. This was sometimes quite a slog, because the carnival was very crowded. We could have ridden by then, because traffic had freed up a bit, and riding in the street would have been easier than walking on the sidewalk, but Anne wanted to see everything, so we walked.
There were all sorts of street performers out, musicians, jugglers, dancers and the like. Then there was this lady in white. There were all sorts of games to be played, like ice bocce ball. The most fun game looked to be a pair of 12’ diameter, hollow, inflated balls. Think of a giant hamster ball. Two participants at a time would go. Sometimes they would race each other through an obstacle course, while sometimes they would just butt heads against each other. It looked like great fun. There was an ice slide for the little kids, which Anne thought would be a great way to get a wet butt. Eventually though, I had about as much fun as I could stand and then we headed for home.