Ava's Birthday

This weekend Michelle and I took the bike to Fairfield for our niece Ava's birthday (she turned 4). We left Saturday morning, the weather for the ride up was fantastic, low humidity and warm with blue skies. We avoided I-95 as much as we could, taking Hwy 1 through the Bronx, Pelhams, and Westchester. I'm not that familiar with the area northeast of the city, but was very impressed. The positive, there were tons of marinas, curvy roads, old architecture. The negative, WAY too many traffic lights and congestion.

Ava and her cousin (our nephew) Dominic were all over the motorcycle, they have no fear at all!! They simply climbed on and wanted to go! I gave them a tutorial on how to start the bike, twist the throttle, use the the signal lights, and how to use the horn. The horn honking was fun for about 2 seconds. The rest of the day we sat by the pool and ate until we couldn't move, or at least I did... My sister made the most amazing tray of sausage and peppers I have EVER HAD! She is turning out to be a really great cook.

The ride back on Sunday afternoon was miserable for about 4 exits. Michelle and I were not prepared for the weather and ended up getting soaked, with me in the front taking the worst of it. I could feel the water dripping down my legs into my socks, slowly filling my shoes. It was time to stop. We pulled over and had a glass of wine at the bar at some Italian restaurant in Darien CT and discussed our options. We asked the bartender to turn on the weather channel and as we watched we saw a dry patch that stretched from our location all the way to NYC. We left at the perfect time, the ride home was a bit nerve wracking with the slick roads, however the sunset that awaited us from the BQE over looking the Manhattan skyline was incredible, like nothing I've ever seen before. It was a nice welcome.