We’re planning a short tour around the Fourth of July holiday. We haven’t really been doing a lot to prepare for it, but we realized we needed to get at least a little saddle time in.

The weather started a touch cool and overcast. While we were getting ready, I felt a few drops of rain. I declared that this was as rainy as it was going to be, since otherwise we’d need to get a bunch of rain gear ready.

The route is one that we’ve done a few times before. It’s not the most exciting of all routes — a fair amount of office parks, quite flat, and with my evening commute as the finale. Still, there’s always something new.

The housing development on Enterprise Dr in Newark is coming along. Many houses are framed, but siding and roofs were all still plywood. There’s some kind of commercial development going in along the Coyote Creek path. The site’s graded, with ditches dug for drainage and utilities.

We stopped for lunch at Alviso Marina County Park. There was a nice picnic area with flush toilets. The kids had too much fun climbing on the railing. It was interesting to see the mix of old buildings in Alviso and big office buildings looming in the background.

After lunch, the clouds finally burned off, but the wind picked up. We went along the southern edge of Moffett Field, rather than the trail on the northern edge along the Bay. With the winds, it was probably a good choice not to be exposed on the waterfront. Max gets excited when he sees the NASA logo.

We continued through North Bayshore. In the parking lot for one of the Microsoft we saw a security robot roving about, ready to dispense justice or perhaps just hunting for toddlers to run over. I don’t think I’ve seen one in the wild before. EXTERMINATE.

We opted to take the somewhat more interesting path along the Palo Alto airport, rather than the more direct levee path. It’s fun to watch the airplanes, but we caught a fair amount of wind.

Finally, we made it across Dumbarton Bridge and back home. I felt pretty good, if a bit worn out. I think Anne’s a bit more sore, but she hasn’t had the bike commute as an excuse to put in miles. Of course, that’s why we did the ride. The kids stayed jolly all day, so mission accomplished!