And yet, another step back in time

This weekend has been a step back into time on so many levels.

First, the REO concert on Friday night which brought back so many college memories.

Then our bike ride back in time on Saturday.

We rode the White River Bike Trail which is located just behind the first home we ever owned in Elkhorn.

Always bittersweet to go back and see all the old landmarks in that little town.

After we ride the trail. (17 miles) with a stop for lunch a little restaurant called "The Cup and Pedal," we take our bike tour of Elkhorn, stopping along the way to take photos and talk about our good times there.

We moved to Elkhorn in 1977, a year after we got married.

It was our first time moving "away" from our families.

Well, except for college, but that doesn't really count.

I vividly remember the first time we drove into Elkhorn.  Neither of us had ever been there or heard anything about the town.

We were so excited as we pointed out landmarks and took it all in on that first visit..

As far as we knew at that point, Elkhorn would be our home for many years to come,

We figured it would be the place where we raised our family.
That is where the bittersweet part comes in.
Life seldom goes as planned, there is always a bigger plan, God's plan, and that plan did not include a stay in Elkhorn, but for the two years, we were there it felt like home to us and we met so many people.
Wonderful friends who we still visit and with whom we are still in touch.
We lived in our first apartment and then went on to buy our first home,
we had our two babies there,
and
we loved every minute of those two years in Elkhorn.
Here are a few of the special things we saw yesterday on our bike ride back in time:

So, here is the trailhead.  I am ready to ride the 17 miles.

There are many pretty wildflowers along the trail and so many butterflies and grasshoppers.

 Here a very shady part ot the trail.

 Pretty berries along the way.  There were also many apple trees and we could smell the sweet apples as we rode.

We love to stop at the Cup and Pedal which is right off the trail in Springfield.

We enjoyed some wraps out on the rockers on the front porch.

 Back on the trail again.

 Lakeland Hospital where my babies were both born.

 This one is for Tom and Patti Kovach.
Tom came up to Elkhorn from Ohio to go to school at Getzen band instrument repair school.
We lived in the same apartment and became fast friends.
We may have been the only sane people in that apartment.

 And look Tom, they need some help.
I think you should come back up and work here.

This is where we purchased our first home.
Bob Getzen, as in the Getzen band instrument repair, was the developer of this area.  I am guessing he owns most of Elkhorn in one way or another.

 This is the home of our other good friends, Terri and Mark Hubbard.
They lived right behind us and Terri and I spent so much time together in our connected backyards with our little babies.
Their house still looks nice and well cared for, ours not so much.

Here is the backyard of our house.

 And here is the front of our house.
Very over grown.

 This is our church, First Lutheran.
Our girls would have attended school here if we had stayed.

 We found this labyrinth at the Episcopal church.
Of course, we had to give it a try.

 It took awhile, but we both made it to the middle.

 This is the location of John's first office.
The one where we figured he would stay for a long time, but it was bought our by a bigger company which moved it to Milwaukee, so began the job search that led us back to Watertown.

 Here is the courthouse.
I remember Mark Hubbard and I taking our girls there for their immunizations.

 This was our bank.
It appears that it has moved and left only its big pillars behind.

 A very famous restaurant on the square.

 A much more popular restaurant to me when Courtney was little.
We would head over here for breakfast or lunch with friends and all the kids got their milk in little cow pitchers that they could take home with them.
I wonder if they still hand those out.

 And here is our first apartment.
This is actually where Patti and Tom lived.
They were in the front of the building with their own balcony, we were in the back with no balcony.

There is the apartment where we first met Patti and Tom.

We sought each other out in amongst some unusual people.

Everyone else in that apartment had had their kids by age 16 or 17 and they found that perfectly normal.

Patti and I were definitely on the outs there. In our twenties and no kids, just husbands.

 

So, there you have it, our ride back in time.

It was a great weekend filled with memories.

 

John just left for his week up in Michigan.

This is his second last week, soon he will be in Pewaukee and I will be in school.

Time flies.