Father's Day - Part 2

After lunch -- and a nap -- we went for a bike ride in Moline for the first time. We'd ventured out on the trails in Iowa plenty of times, but never in Illinois. This trail winds for miles and miles through Rock Island, Moline, East Moline, Hampton, and then north along the river for at least another 50 miles.


Here you are in a face-to-face meet-and-greet with a friendly rat terrier named Poppy at one of the parks in East Moline.


In that same park, they had a pretty nifty contraption we called the Cowboy Swing. It spins on its axis, kind of like an amusement park ride.


It really captured your fancy and as we rode away from the park northeast toward Hampton, you asked me several times: "Are we going away from the Cowboy Swing? Can we go back to the Cowboy Swing?" Naturally, on our return trip back through the park we did hit the Cowboy Swing again.


In the tiny village of Hampton, we stopped at Remember When Ice Cream and Candy Shop. This is a neat little old-fashioned ice cream parlor right on the river inside a 150-year-old building. The owner is a really nice man who lives next door and is obviously very proud to see cute little girls like yourself come and enjoy themselves so much.


They have a lovely patio on the river side of the parlor where we enjoyed our ice cream and the river view together.


"Daddy," you said, looking over my shoulder, "Look, pirates!"


Sure enough... I turned around to look up at what you were pointing at and had to laugh. Your sharp eyes spotted the skull and crossbones flag. I'd never seen that before and I've been here a few times.


It was pretty hot (rare that it is not these days)...



...so you enjoyed a delicious Clifford juice.

Admiring their vintage jukebox, you were particularly impressed by the bubble lights all over.

I think we found a new favorite spot.

Daddy