Journal+2+-+Sneeze

!Bicycling! During the summer, one of my favorite things to do is ride my bike. My mom and I love to try bicycling at different places. The place we go to most is probably the Rail Trail. We usually drive to Brillhart Station with our bikes, park there, and ride down the Rail Trail and back for a couple hours at a time. We have yet to take on the entire Rail Trail, which is about 20 miles long. That is something that I really want to do this summer, and I'm so excited about it. A lot of the time when we're riding down the Rail Trail we stop at a few places to get some food or maybe just look at the scenery. I forget where exactly it is, but there is one spot on the Rail Trail where the tree lining beside the trail ends for about 50 feet and you get the chance to stop walking or riding for a minute and look at the scenery. The rolling creek and distant hills, coupled with the livestock grazing peacefully, is quite a beautiful scene. I think it would be great to just sit in front of that scene for a few hours and draw or paint a picture of it. My mom's and my favorite time of day to take a ride on the Rail Trail is definitely near dusk, when the air has cooled down a bit (since we both hate warm or hot weather). We also like to ride when it starts to get dark because it is spooky riding in the dark shadows of the trees and not knowing what might wait for us around the next turn. Usually near the end of our ride when it is almost pitch black we pedal our hearts out to get back to the truck because the suspense overtakes us. There is practically no one ever left on the trail after dusk, which is even scarier. Another place that my mom and I like to ride our bikes to in the spring and summer is Springettsbury Park with our tennis racquets and huge water bottles. It is a few miles away from our house, but we often take the back roads, which run through residential areas and parks, so that we could avoid the heavy traffic on East Market and Mt. Zion. The ride to Springettsbury Park is mainly uphill and once we reach the park it is difficult for us to walk, let alone play tennis. It gets easier as the summer goes along, though, because we get used to it. But going on that ride for the first few times after staying inside all winter is pretty tough. The ride home is a lot better; it is almost all downhill and it reminds my mom and I of the grueling ride on the way to the park. Sometimes on the way home we stop at McDonald's and get one of their super awesome ice cream cones for only a buck (not trying to advertise, but feel free to go get one, 'cause they're awesome). We also enjoy riding our bikes around the neighborhood and to the barn where we board our horse, but that gets old. Sometimes we just need to get out of the neighborhood and drive to the Rail Trail or visit some new places, which we also love to do. We've visited many different parks with our bikes, including the Gettysburg battlefield. I'd really like to go there more often this summer. There's no better way to tour Gettysburg than on a bicycle! Bicycling is awesome! :D