Reasons I Love Bloomington - Today's Ride in Pictures!

[Mr. Bloom]

Today, I slowed down to take the pictures...unusual for me...but this is the first decent day in two weeks!

Lake Monroe:
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m516/MrBloom1963/63844f97.jpg

Lake Monroe Overflowing (not a reason to love Bloomington...but my in-laws are one of 10 houses on the other end of that water!:eek: and yes, that waterfall WAS a road!)
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m516/MrBloom1963/2756e527.jpg

A pastoral scene along the Clear Creek Trail - 3 miles from downtown.
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m516/MrBloom1963/5f7b1542.jpg

A new leg of the B-Line Trail...my first time on it - not quite done yet.
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m516/MrBloom1963/68c9f0c8.jpg

A JEWEL - a field of purple flowers in the middle of no where...2 miles from downtown!
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m516/MrBloom1963/d46d1b2e.jpg

The Gateway to downtown on the B-Line:
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m516/MrBloom1963/1fa5bffd.jpg

Modern Art on the B-Line:
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m516/MrBloom1963/075cc04b.jpg

City Hall - an old furniture factory - clearly repurposed!
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m516/MrBloom1963/27695cba.jpg

The County Courthouse - renovated by our local billionaire who just passed away last month.
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m516/MrBloom1963/248f19f9.jpg

The Square - a scene in Breaking Away was filmed in front of those buildings.
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m516/MrBloom1963/e7e5322b.jpg

Kirkwood Ave - "Main Street" to campus...
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m516/MrBloom1963/ff1d0519.jpg

Campus - The Sample Gates:
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m516/MrBloom1963/e703f52a.jpg

A beautiful campus...lush green and traditional limestone architecture everywhere:
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m516/MrBloom1963/60661000.jpg

The Chapel I was married in:
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m516/MrBloom1963/593e9dfe.jpg

[pll]

Wow! Very pretty!

[VeganBikeChick]

Gorgeous!

[Kerry1976]

Lovely!

[Artista]

I wanna move there now!

[indysteel]

Sigh. I've been gone from Bloomington for 15 years (almost to the day as I moved away the first weekend in May, 1996), but it's still Home. Thanks for sharing, Mr. B.

[Miranda]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing. My favorite is the pastor scene. I love our wide open pastors and farm fields here in IN.:)

[Savra]

Beautiful. The gate at the University reminds me of the "gate" to Berkeley. I had a friend once compare Bloomington to Berkeley - I can see why now. Looks like an awesome ride.

[emily_in_nc]

Those are great photos and it really looks like my kinda place! :) Thanks for sharing!

[Tri Girl]

just beautiful!! Thank you for sharing. Seems like I need to visit Bloomington some day! :)

[PamNY]

Gorgeous. Love the courthouse.

[ClockworkOrange]

Nice pics Mr Bloom.

[Bike Writer]

Wow, great photography! What a beautiful ride you had, your civic pride is showing and I can see why, you have a beautiful town. They are all so nice it would be hard to pick a best photo but I wish I was there to see that field of flowers, it looks breathtaking.

[channlluv]

I love that field of purple wildflowers. We don't get a lot of that out here in San Diego. Really pretty!

Roxy

[Susan126]

Beautiful places to bike! I love the pictures of the brilliant blue sky with the white clouds and the pastoral scene too! :)

[Melalvai]

Every time we passed that courthouse this weekend, we wondered: why the fish?

[Mr. Bloom]

Since most of the lakes are man-made, it's not a deep fishing tradition!

Clipped from the library website:

"Why does Monroe County have a fish on top of the courthouse?" The answer is probably because Austin Seward, a Bloomington blacksmith, wanted to put it there. Mr. Seward made the weathervane for the 1827 courthouse which was replaced by the existing building in 1906. Mr. Seward was a Presbyterian church elder and probably chose the fish because of its Christian symbolism. Also, fish were common on weathervanes in the eastern and southern part of the country."

Apparently, the fish is huge...

[Velocivixen]

Those photos are so pretty. I can't wait until we have more nice weather.