bike ride through coronado island + a puppy on a slide

Four words: puppy on a slide. OK, 12 more words: a peaceful bike ride around Coronado Island on a rare gloomy day. I had an expiring deal for a bike rental, and considering how much I love bike riding (for pleasure, not necessarily endurance), it’s crazy that I let it go this long before making good on the coupon.

We decided to take Teddy along because I’m making an effort to socialize him beyond the dog park. He gets too excited in the off chance we take him to a cafe or store, so he’s my shadow these days. For the ride, it was decided early on that Eaman would handle the dog because even though I love biking, I’m not actually coordinated and knew I’d fall if the pup made a dash for it. Eaman was ever so dexterous and after an initial shaky start during which Teddy realized that he could pick up anything off the ground because we were on bikes, Teddy got the hang of it, too. A steep learning curve, it was.

Coronado is a beautiful, if not a strangely Pleasantville-like, island south of San Diego. Residents there live in their own bubble of well-manicured lawns and multimillion-dollar homes, but for visitors like us, it’s home to a great dog beach and the perfect bike route.

We rode around the whole island…and yes, put Mr. T on a slide. Check it out:

Ever seen I saw this hilarious compilation of silly labradors (skip to the 00:24 mark), I’ve been wanting to put Teddy on a slide. Early in our ride, we found an empty playground and hoisted Teddy up to the top of the slide. He liked it the first couple of times and then he realized it was turning into a “laughing at you” not “laughing with you” situation, and then he seemed to not it enjoy it very much. Then we felt bad.

But not that bad because then we thought it’d be more fun to go with him on the big kid’s slide. He and Eaman stalled at the bottom so it wasn’t too eventful.

And don’t think for a second that I didn’t give the bike shop owner the side eye for giving me a pink bike. That said, I happen to love a pink and black color combo, so I let it go. Other snaps from the ride…