Thanking the Firefighters

When I think of 9-11-01 I always think of the firefighters.  So it was fitting this morning when we rode through the deserted downtown streets of Baton Rouge toward the levee that would take us to LSU, that we had the opportunity to see the ceremony being held for the 5 Louisiana people killed in the 9-11 attacks on the Pentagon and the Twin Towers.  The firefighters were there in their truck and I got to thank them.

There were lots of flags in view.....and that is the way it should be.  I meant to bring flags for our bikes but put them down to take the sweet potato from the Farmer's Market out of DiNozzo's mouth and forgot to pick them back up.

Our total for today's ride was 16.5 miles.  We rode to the levee after the ceremony and headed to LSU to see the new statue of Shaquille O'Neill.  Everyone knows who he is, right?  He was the 7 foot 1 basketball player from LSU who just retired from the NBA.  I guess that deserved a statue.  Here is Frank trying to make that dunk ball and Dan just out of the picture admiring The Shaq.

We found one of the old old oak trees on campus called the Bicentennial Oak.  It was 200 years old in 1976 or so.  The branches of the old oaks are so thick and heavy they often touch the ground.  Here students just walk underneath them to hurry to their classes. 

This was cool.  When we hit the outside of the Field and Track Stadium there was a boneyard of old equipment and we saw these wonderfully rusted cranes.  Heading back to the Louisiana State Capitol Building were butterflies collecting nectar from the purple and gold lantana flowers. 

Even though Frank and I were meeting Carrie and Andrew and the In-laws Bobby and Fayne or a late lunch, all of us wanted to make the ride last longer.  So we headed out past the old Our Lady of the Lake Hospital building that is now government buildings.  My Uncle Buddy was Chief of Ob-Gyn there many years ago.  The lake is beautiful and there were nutria, ducks, geese, mallards, grebes and plenty plenty turtles.  Those three geese reminded me of the Three Stooges for some reason.  I thought the capitol building was beautiful in the cloudless day.  And Huey P. Long gets to watch it all!