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On Saturday we drove a 15-person electric pedal bike.

A wagon bike hybrid with 15 seats and 15 sets of pedals that is supposed to be pedaled by 15 people.

It can be used for tours, weddings, proms, funerals, bat mitzvahs, birthdays, pub crawls, etc. Think of it like the newer, trendier trolley. It’s only in a few U.S. cities so far – Las Vegas, New Orleans, Newport Kentucky….

Only, we were the only two who signed up for the earliest “Bikes & Barons” tour from Cincy Haus’ “historically entertaining” American Legacy Tours company that Saturday morning, so it was pedaled by 4 people instead of 15. Two tour guides and ourselves on a totally personal tour.

It was kind of awesome.

We pedaled through the beautiful, quiet, tree-lined streets of the historic mansion district of Newport, enjoying the architecture of the mansions and learning all about the wealthy steel barons and entrepreneur millionaires of the 1800s, and all their antics. We came upon a little girl selling lemonade in her front yard. Our tour guide hopped off to treat us to a cup of lemonade as we pedaled along. It was very relaxing and sweet and lovely.

After the tour we stopped at one of Newport’s most popular destinations (another place I’ve been aching to try since we moved here) to split a plate of hot, soft pretzels with beer cheese  and a bratwurst with sauerkraut from The Hofbrauhaus in Newport – a fantastic authentic German biergarten and restaurant established and (still) maintained by brew masters in Munich who come over twice a year to keep an eye on the beers they brew there and German eats they dish up. It’s a fun place with lots of spirit and good German music and festive biergarten atmosphere and massive mugs of beer and bench style seating with long wooden tables and leiderhosen and dirndls and really tasty German food. I can’t wait to come back with a group of friends for a fun night out.

Another great Saturday morning under the belt. We’re on a roll here – two weeks in a row. Though after the hell that was this week, I kind of think a beautiful, fun, relaxing Saturday morning was very much needed to re-focus my mind.

Also, if you ever get the chance to try Cincinnat’s Street Pops (a portable street food cart that sells gourmet popsicles), the hibiscus mint mojito popsicle is absolutely heavenly! They were in the lobby of Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati during intermission of Life Could Be a Dream on Friday night giving out complimentary popsicles to drum up business. Popsicles should be sold during the intermission of all happy, upbeat musicals. It’s a perfect combination.

So, in conclusion…15-person bike wagon = awesome, Haufbrauhaus biergarten = awesome, free hibiscus mint mojito popsicles = awesome, Life Could Be a Dream = awesome, Ted = awesome, Mav = still terribly, terribly missed. When does this get any easier?