We celebrated America’s 250th birthday yesterday. We had friends over for the classic Fourth of July BBQ of bratwursts, hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans, and strawberry cream dessert. My brother Jim and his wife attended, as well as our good friends, Scott and Heidi Bociek. It was a beautiful summer evening as we contributed to the noisy neighborhood when Jim brought an old box of bottle rockets he found in his garage. We finished the evening by going up to the Stambaugh Airport to watch the fireworks display. We also visited with many of my old high school friends.
It was a beautiful, relaxing, summer day for me. Nadia and I worked out in the morning at the West Iron County School fitness room, courtesy of my brother who is a teacher at the school. I did an hour of yoga while Nadia was on the exercise machines and in the weight room.
Iron County is a cycling paradise with many smoothly paved roads and little automobile traffic. I had another glorious mid-summer ride yesterday, completing a loop from my house to Ski Brule Resort. Cycling brings me happiness, and I can’t get enough of rides. The hills in Michigan are challenging but not the spirit-breaking mountains of Uzbekistan. On yesterday’s loop of 30 kilometers or so, I encountered a handful of cars. My daughter Ocean practiced driving by taking Oliver and me to Ice Lake for a quick swim to freshen up before dinner. I try to get a dip in an Iron County freshwater lake daily while I am here in the summer. So far, I have swum in Ottawa, Sunset, and Ice Lakes.
We had a lot of laughs and great conversations and it was a fantastic way to celebrate America’s birthday.
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