Some days we get bright ideas.  This happened to us on a recent Sunday when we had nothing planned.  "Let's go rollerblading." "Okay, hon."  "Let's put the kids in the Burley."  "If we do that we can't go in our neighborhood, it's too hilly."  "What about the White Pine Trail by Rockford?  It used to be a railroad track so it shouldn't be too hilly."  "I think you can get on that in Comstock Park."  "Oh, so we could start in Comstock Park, rollerblade up to Rockford, get ice cream, let the kids play, and rollerblade back."  "Sounds good, let's go."  15 minutes later we were loaded up and on our way to Comstock Park.  We parked by Dwight Lydell Park and found the White Pine trail nearby.  After we were moving down the trail a few minutes I asked Derek how far he thought the trip was.  "It's 6 miles from highway exit to exit..."  Okay, I thought, I've done 12 miles before.  No problem.  But what I didn't think through was the kids in the Burley.  That was awkward and slowing and took extra effort.  Luckily Derek was great at pushing them most of the way.

The trail, by the way, was beautiful and in good condition.  It is tree-lined in many places, making it shady even in the middle of the day.

We were a bit dismayed to find a sign telling us our Comstock Park-Rockford trip was actually 8 miles one way...

However, when we landed in Rockford, we had a great time eating at Sam's Joint (we actually got the food to go and took it over by the dam) and having ice cream at Custard by the Dam.  We visited Aunt Candy's Toy Store (bigger than it looks!)  and played on a nearby playground.

Thankfully, the trip back home felt more downhill and seemed to go faster.  By the time we peeled the wheels off of our feet and plopped in the van, we were happily exhausted.

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