Missing

What I absolutely do miss here in the US, is using my bicycle as means of transportation. In the Netherlands and Germany that was how I would get around, to school, to work, to the grocery store, to friends' houses, to the dentist...well, you get the picture.

borrowed this online, obviously (to me) this could not have been taken in my neck of the woods

And when I had T, at first he would come with me in the baby-carrier of that time (don't recall what brand or anything unimportant like that) and later in a seat that was attached either in the front on the handle bars or in the back above the wheel. Of course this got trickier after the girls arrived, and we went by foot for a while.

well well, found this online too- this would have been ideal- if we had stayed in Europe

In CO, I had one of these for a while:

But apart from the fact that the bicycle was not sturdy enough to handle this cart, and that the kids seemed uncomfortable in it, the main reason that we don't use the bicycle as transportation here is the infra-structure. These cities/towns simply are not designed with bicycles in mind. What's more, they are not designed for any form of transportation other than a car. Yesterday, when R and I went for a bike ride, I was once again flabbergasted by the planning (?) of the paths around neighborhoods- It is uncertain what these paths are for to begin with, because there is no sign to inform us about the designation. So people use them for walking and biking. Clearly they are meant for some form of recreation but not transportation, since they just cease to exist at some point. And when they do go on for any length, they are not meant for people who use wheelchairs because there are either no ramps at all or the ramp is haphazardly put together.

Things are as they are, and I have to concede that in the city planning committee is trying to remedy the situation. By painting bike lanes in the middle of the road, in between car lanes (!!). Also, there are relatively more ramps in the city. (I just wish that they would have visited Hannover, Germany, and studied the situation there...).

Would I bike-to-work if it wasn't such a suicidal mission? I might not, it already being over 30 minutes by car to get there. For now though, that question is moot. I think I used that word correctly. I'll write a scrap about language another time. Enjoy your day!