Connor and I went for a bike ride in beautiful Calistoga. We had a lovely time, started the trip with a stop at Taylor’s Refresher (where only the one-armed man gets to use the restroom), had a Western BBQ blue cheese burger (sweet!) and an awesome white pistachio milkshake. They have this outdoor eating area that feels to me like the town of Spectre from Big Fish. It’s not just the lights, although that helped… it’s something else about the place. It feels like it’s from another time.

Connor did really well on the bike. He was too short for the tandem, so the bike shop hooked us up with a “tagalong”. It’s got one wheel with pedals, and it attaches to a normal bike with a hinge, so it’s kind of like a hinged tandem bike. We didn’t fall over one time.

In the middle of the ride, we stopped for pizza. This time, the restroom was only for costumers. (Visions of roadside Ren Faire prep going through my head… where was this bathroom when we needed it?)

We also stopped at the “Old Faithful of the West”. It’s a genuine roadside attraction, complete with vintage signage. I loved it.

After the ride, we went to this lovely chocolate shop, Woodhouse Chocolate, in St. Helens. It was a beautiful little store with tons of chocolaty goodness. The ones that look like pineapples are hazelnut chocolates. Really, really good.

What a great weekend. What a great friend, who planned the whole thing for us (you know who you are). A+++ WOULD BIKE AGAIN.