I woke up at a reasonable hour this morning, tied up this loose end and that loose end while doing laundry, and by 3pm had put the Fall 2010 semester to bed for good. You know what that means? Time to go for a bike ride. I took the Surly out and headed to Lake Pontchartrain via Bayou St. John and City Park. It felt so, so good to ride with nowhere to be at any particular time. Once I hit the bayou the waterfowl were in full effect on this 60-something degree day. I stopped to watch a pelican dive into the water and then poke around for more to eat. Then he took off again, running a few steps along the surface before flying into the air. Pelicans are ridiculously cool. I also saw ducks, geese, egrets, a giant heron, and, at the lake, more pelicans and a whole passel of terns. Such a treat. After some time staring at the water, I headed back to the park to avail myself of free day at the museum before hitting Celebration in the Oaks. I got myself a glass of wine (yes, this is New Orleans–we sell wine at the park) and waited in line with the sticky children and hand-holding couples that were my company tonight. I snapped this picture as the train choo-chooed through a tunnel built with lights, thinking about the many weird things we humans do with our time and resources, especially around the holidays. I got off the train, got a second glass of wine, and did my tour of the light show before hopping back on the Surly and riding home in the temperate weather to grab a pizza and a salad before flipping on the TV. One of the exhibits at the museum–and one you should most definitely see if you live in New Orleans–was Bernard Faucon‘s The Most Beautiful Day of My Youth, a photography project that gathered youth in various cities across the globe and gave them disposable cameras and a day to use them. The pictures were incredible, and the days these kids had were fascinating. I had a beautiful day, too–all the better because I rode it by bike.