I spent the weekend in Atlanta with the ladyfriend on a much-needed weekend getaway. We saw the Deana Lawson exhibit at the High Museum, took the bus and the metro, went to a show, took The Nephew out for lunch, got tattoos, tried sodas from all over the world, and saw a whole lot of girls in spangles and paint, in town for the Cheersport National Championships. My god, it looks so expensive to have a kid on a traveling competitive cheerleading team, and the moms look like they are simultaneously having the best and worst time of their lives. It was such a great weekend away, and we just walked and walked and walked. That city is geographically enormous.

And now I’m back in Baltimore and back to commuting by bike–a good think seeing as how my dogs are still barking from the many miles walking in Atlanta. Tuesday’s ride took me down the hill like it always does, over and down, over and down. I locked up to the racks by the med center and hopped on the shuttle to campus. B. was there–she works here now!–and she gave me a tour of her office when we got to UMBC. I had a meeting, did some teaching, lunch with a friend, and then I was back on the shuttle to my bicycle. I had planned to bike straight home, because I’m still tired from the weekend, but it was the only day the Work Wife could meet up, so I made a stop at Zella’s to suck down dome diet coke and catch up.

The Work Wife recently moved to the Hollins Market area. I have been stopping on my way home from campus to meet her for a beer every week or two for a decade, and almost always in her neighborhood, halfway between work and home. This time I grabbed my bike and headed west instead of east and north to our new hangout, Zella’s. We are the same people doing the same thing, and I love doing it in a new neighborhood, especially since it means new routes through the city.

Sometimes when I’m coming from her place I ride up to Baltimore, take that over to Eutaw, and just do my regular ride home. Tuesday, though, I decided to head north and zig zag slowly west so I could avoid downtown altogether. It was around 5:30, sun going down, still light out (much lighter than in this picture), and the wind had died down a bit. Mardi Gras day, I remembered, and the chill in the air brought back visceral memories of biking around during carnival season in New Orleans.

But I wasn’t in New Orleans yesterday, I was in Baltimore. I snapped this picture while waiting for the light to turn at Schroeder and Mulberry. The silhouette of the tree against that sky, damn, it’s beautiful here.

I zigged north and zagged east until I was back on Lafayette, through Bolton Hill, in the bike lane, over to Maryland, and back up to home. I have so many new routes home from N. & B.’s place in my future. Lucky us.