Wow does it feel good to be back on the bikes!! This is our first trip more than an overnight for quite awhile. We left on the bikes at about noon, starting from the Alabama Hill neighborhood at our wonderful home exchange house. Daisy and I did all the cleaning and packing while the kids watched some t.v. when we were finally on the bikes, it was nice to start by going downhill! Let me let you in on a little (not) secret: our bikes are very heavily loaded. We have gear for camping, cooking, and general traveling, as well as two kid bikes so they can ride on their own sometimes. Two days worth of food (and a bit extra, which is too much!) and 6 stuffed animals (they couldn’t be left behind and be lonely, and they are pretty light). We knew right away that we wouldn’t be setting any speed records, to say the least. :)

We followed the bike path downtown to the farmer’s market. Bellingham has an absolutely amazing one, complete with all the goodies plus plenty of buskers to provide music. We stopped to eat our lunch. The kids, A (5.5) and H (3.5), played on a donkey statue and enjoyed climbing on the water fountain. Yes, it was clear from the start that we would be making plenty of stops for the purpose of kid entertainment. Although us parents are working hard pedaling, the kids are not working so hard on the trailer bikes. They need to get out and run.

We got on our way again and were treated to the section of boardwalk at Boulevard Park. The ocean views are beautiful, and it is amazing how calm the water is. We met a man fishing with two poles — one for fish and one for crabs — and H got a kick out of seeing him show off one of the crabs he caught. H decided to ride her bike for a few hundred yards, then got back on my trailer bike. (I guess that made it worth it that I was carrying the bike for the day!? Haha. Alice, on the other hand, declined to ride her own bike at all.) Our first steep uphill was coming off the boardwalk. We were treated to cheers from the pedestrians for our efforts!

It is amazing how long it can take to get out of Bellingham! It isn’t a small town anymore. We made our way to Fairhaven Park for a break. By this I mean that Daisy and I took a break, while the kids got out and ran and climbed! It was almost as if they didn’t help us pedal up those hills at all. ;). Right as we arrived, all of the kids in the park ran over towards us. But, they were just going to see the ice cream truck that pulled up right behind us. Yum.

After a snack and playtime we got back on the bikes. Chuckanut drive is beautiful, and hilly. We rode on the bike path for part of the way down the coast, which is an old railroad grade so it was nice and flat. However, it was quite steep where we chose to get up to it from the main road! The kids got off and walked for us.

This bike path led us through a beautiful forest along the edge of the hill (cliff) above the ocean. It was flat, until it wasn’t! Instead of going down the steep gravel incline, we got back on the road with only a couple more miles to go to the campground. We were all getting excited about that!

The campground was full! But Washington State has a policy to not turn away hiker/bikers from their State Park campgrounds. We made our way to walk-in site #1 to get set up. This involved pushing the bikes up a steep hiking trail of course! But it was worth it to have a site tucked into the forest and ferns. After dinner we found a fun playground, the outdoor stage, and walked down to the beach. 14 miles didn’t sound like a lot at the start, but it sure felt like it at the end.