Getting down to non-brass tacks

I escaped the Midwest, changing my work-from-home locale to the home of one of my sisters and her family for a couple of days, and spending the weekend with them. In addition to the good quality family time (and remarkably productive work days, plus a delicious treat of cream tea), my sister and I went to the Cantor art museum at Stanford with her friend, where they have a huge collection of Rodin's work and some really cool temporary exhibits. I also got in a nice ride with my brother-in-law, although it was cut unexpectedly short.

Obviously not a temporary exhibit.
Cool serpent fence thing. If I lived on an
estate and was rich,
I would do this.

I was totally enamored with this exhibit by
Josiah McElheny - the intersection of art &
physics. Huge lit up constellation things
that they wouldn't let you photograph up close.
You also had to stand >3 from them. The security
guard confessed that she does, indeed, lie on the
floor under them at the end of her shift.

Rodin's Gates of Hell

The Thinker is cool, but look at the guy
hanging from the ledge.

Creepy skulls and all that jazz.

It's a good thing that last weekend's
bike ride-induced neck injury has
gotten much better, so that I
can do things like this once again.
Rodin's sculptures have unusually
large hands and feet.

Today, my brother-in-law and I rode up Old La Honda Road, which apparently is "the" hill to ride up in the area (although the one we rode up in the fall has a higher elevation gain). We stopped shortly before the top. Despite my panting and sweating (sweating! outdoors!), I was willing to finish, but we turned around and had a great, long, long, ride down the hill. Thankfully, I didn't ride over a tack and get a flat tire until the bottom of the hill, where controlled steering was less important.

A very shiny bulletin board tack.
Not a construction or furniture tack.

Sad flat tire.

Apparently peeved area homeowners have been known to put tacks on the road to sabotage the riders.
It reminds me, yet again, of Boffo and the Great Motorcycle Race.

Oddly, neither of us had thought of bringing spare tubes, a patch kit, or a pump on the ride. Doh. And, unlike Boffo, we did not find any nearby lactating animals to help us out. My sister had to come and get me, taking off the part of the ride with the good view of the bay, but at least I got to do some hard riding and some fun winding downhills among the redwoods.

I don't think I'll be back here until I do the 100-mile BikeMS ride in September, with 6000+ feet of elevation gain. Since I'll be riding my niece's bike for that ride, I ordered new tires and tubes and some bar ends directly to my sister's house, and will bring my spare bike seat. I will have to get some serious riding in between now and then. It's going to be hard with the hills! 

Now it is back to Minnesota, where apparently we're in for some snow this week. Oh joy. At least I'm now within $600 of my fundraising goal! Woo! Thanks to all who've donated or supported me in other ways! http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/GoMaggieGo