The Summer of George continued today. We were in the Seattle area for a few days for Matt's wedding. The plan was for me to catch the early shuttle from Anacortes to Orcas Island, but since we had only driven over the day before and we stayed late at Matt's bachelor party, I caught the mid-morning ferry instead.
I ended meeting up with 15 other cyclists that were doing the same thing, albeit not all going to the same island as me. There were several bike packers (retirement bucket list), a young couple that was spending the first few days of their honeymoon on the islands, and other general cyclists like me. I didn't study the map elevation other than the climb up Mount Constitution since I had been to Orcas Island a couple of times before.
The ride was great, but much harder than I had anticipated. I encountered a little wind, but I had no idea how hilly the island really was. Around every corner seemed another hill, not counting the climb up Mount Constitution. The total elevation gain was 5,400 feet, which is similar to what I just did on the Copper Triangle (writing this a month later), but over only half of the distance! I was well prepared with fitness and food though, even if I was expecting more of a casual day but got more of a workout.
Although I encountered the typical gray, low clouds on the hour long drive to and from our hotel (not too mention the ferry ride was an hour each day), the weather on Orcas was actually pretty clear. I got some great views from the top as you can see below. Interesting fact, Mount Constitution is the second highest mountain on an ocean island in the lower 48 states (about 2,400 feet).
At the top I grabbed coffee and then made my way back to the ferry. I made it in plenty of time, but I always had that nagging feeling I was only one problem away from missing the ferry and spending the night on the island. I'm glad I took advantage of the opportunity, even though I knew I wasn't 100% (I ended up getting a cold the next day). Who knows when I'll ever be back here with my bike.
This year we took a three week trip up to Washington and Idaho. We decided to drive there due to the length of the trip and so we could take whatever we wanted.Ffor example, our bikes, lots of clothes, and coolers of food. The drive went well and the kids did great. Below is a picture of us leaving our house the first morning.
The first day we drove to Billings, MT. The next morning I got up very early and went for a ride south into some farmland and an area predominately inhabited by Native Americans. I parked at a church after scouting out the route the night before. Below are pictures crossing the Yellowstone River and of a pretty farm.
The third picture has a little bit of a story to it. At a certain point I came up on a car parked on the side of the road and two dogs sitting right in the middle of the road. One of the dogs ran off the road, but the other started chasing me. Or maybe running with me. He ran with me for a pretty good amount of time, at least long enough for me to watch him and then decide to take out my phone and snap a few pictures. When I came back the same way he did the same thing, except he didn't stay with me as long since I was moving faster downhill. Before I got up to the dogs I grabbed my water bottle, just in case either one of them tried any funny business. It was fun to have a pacing buddy, even if it was only for a short amount of time. I made it back to our hotel room just fine, and then we drove about 8 - 9 hours to Spokane.
Julia has made a good friend this year. Sierra is the name of her new pal. This summer we invited Sierra to attend VBS with Julia. Below are some of the results of them attending VBS together.
First, they spent some time down at Sierra's house coloring, designing, and "churching up" their VBS t-shirts. They turned out pretty fancy with the help of Sierra's mom.
The second picture is the lemonade stand that raised over $100 for a charitable cause as part of VBS. Jonathan helped out with the stand too. They (and Stacey) spent several hours one afternoon on a corner in our neighborhood. It was great seeing them spend their energy, time, and donating all of the cash raised to someone else. We covered the cost of goods sold and advertising materials - ha!
Two other fun pictures from Fargo: 1) Joking around after I put a pair of grandma's clip on earrings on Jonathan, 2) Mid run photo with Dad on the banks of the Red River. We had a good 5 mile recovery run together!
