To continue on a theme from a previous blog post, today was messy.
Wayne was gung-ho to get me my birthday present. REI had a sale and a nice bike, the Novara Transfer, on sale. I was looking for something solid enough for me to haul girls until they’re independent with bikes, keep me upright to take pressure off my hands, and comfortable. Thus a commuter bike.
We got to REI at 9am so we could have the salesman’s attention and have fresh kids. The bike we wanted was only available in Xsmall. For perspective, I bought a large today. The salesman directed me toward the Novara fusion, with a huge price tag…over a 1000. In fitting, it was evident that the didn’t fit me well. The seat didn’t have a quick release adjustment and the stem was too low. So much for the concept of upright. I expected to move onto the next model. The salesman sputtered at this point and said there were no others. I just pushed the bike around the store and sat on it. Already the seat and handle bars were uncomfortable. It seemed to be a huge deal to take it for a test ride. They did try to adjust it for me.
At this point the salesman seemed to lose interest. I was looking at buying some other bike equipment, not to mention a bike, but got frustrated and left in disgust. This is not normally my experience at REI. I’m normally very happy with their service and expertise.
The kids also seemed frustrated and disgusted at this point. Laura, in the car ride home, started crying to get out the car. She was ready for nap at 11am. Wayne had done some research and insisted we go to Ballard BikeSport. He saw a neat Cannondale on sale. I was skeptical the girls would last, but it seemed a shame to go home empty handed.
Completely different experience. Hooray for independent stores! Amazing price. No problem getting a test ride. Rode like a dream. And voila, I have a new bike for commuting to school.
Of course, when we started the minivan, the battery had run down as Wayne had entertained the girls with a movie in the van. Oooops. Wayne gallantly rode the new bike home to get our other car.
I walked down the street with the girls for lunch. Sara had wished for fries earlier in the week. She got her wish. We trialed Hamburger Harry’s. I found it very good. The fries were decent. They had 5 flavors of ice cream for shakes. The hamburger was juicy and tasty. The place is expensive. $10 for a burger. You get bottomless fries. This works well since my girls just eat fries, so we all got lunch for $10. Mostly, contrasting with Zak’s, the food came fast (relatively). Sara did bemoan the lack of coloring pages variety. She remembered the fun tub in Zak’s. So not a replacement, but not a bad stand in. It kept Laura going for another 20 min while we jumped the car.
Naps.
Then up for a date.
Wayne and I saw Up in the Air. What a fun movie with great acting. There’s not much point to the whole thing, no great lesson (maybe that marriage and kids are good), thus what makes a great independent movie. Great slice of life about airports and hotels.
We sampled Molly Moon’s- theo chocolate and salted caramel. The line wrapped out the door. I guess it did get up to mid 50′s today. Wallingford has lots of small children out after 8pm on Saturday nights.
We might go bike riding tomorrow now that Wayne can have his bike back. 