Labor Day 2011

This was the first Labor Day in recent memory that I did not travel to a different Midwest locale. A few years back I spent the weekend with my great friends Brian, Amber, and Ajay, in southwest Wisconsin, camping/hiking/canoeing at Devil's Head Lake and Governor's State Park. Last year my girlfriend Cristin and I traveled across the state to visit friends (Alex and Nick) in St. Louis. We toured the Schlafly Brewery, bar crawled the Blues Festival, tailgated at the Gateway Cup final circuit stage in The Hill neighborhood, and wasted away in Lafayette Square. Those were some great times! This is also the first year that I'm working as an emergency department nurse in a Level 1 trauma center. My schedule did not allow for me to skip town for the long weekend… so I made the most of my one day off.

Cristin and I began the morning with home-ground, freshly pressed coffee from Broadway and B.E.L.T.s on the porch, immersing ourselves in the glorious sub-80-degree weather. Shortly thereafter, unfortunately, Cristin had to work at her studio in the West Bottoms to produce fabulous textiles. What else was there for me to do than grease down my bike chain and explore Midtown. This was my route. I began by going south on Troost to Wild Child's Custom Shop to pay a visit to my neighbors Justin and Wayne. Next I found myself in the Volker neighborhood, cruising up and down 39th Street. At this point, riding 5+ miles on a single speed bike through varying elevations, I desperately needed to hydrate.

From the canopied Roanoke Parkway, through the Plaza, up the giant hill going south on Broadway, I finally sought refuge at The Kauffman Garden.





This place is like a bountiful oasis in the middle of the city. I'm not a botanist, but I can definitely appreciate the abundance of foliage the garden has to offer. After a few minutes' break I was back on the saddle heading towards the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art.






(Picture of my Timbuk2 bag, as promised)...


Back to business… We needed a few groceries for tonight, so a run to Sun Fresh was in order. Of course I had to pick up some essentials.



The quick two mile sprint home culminated a near 10-mile adventure.

At the homestead things started to relax further. In lieu of our trip to Chicago this weekend for the Renegade Craft Fair, I wanted to use as many leftover items as possible. I decided on a vegetable hodgepodge stew topped with feta and arugula/asparagus/mozzarella sliders. The end result was magical.



What's more is that we have lavender bushes growing in our front yard. Naturally, we harvested them, dried them, and made all sorts of things… most notably tea and syrup. So when life gives you lavender syrup, make lavender gin fizzes.





Despite the fact that I was not able to enjoy a Labor away, I was much happier spending it on two wheels and with the woman I love. That's all that matters...