This is our last day on the bikes for this trip. We’ve had an awesome trip and are sad to see it come to an end. We went out with a bang, though, with some very, very steep hills and a total of 1400 feet of climbing. Our legs are much stronger than when we started a couple weeks ago!
The morning started with a strong, chilly wind. Daisy cooked breakfast and we let the kids eat their pancakes in the tent. This is a luxury we would not allow if we were camping in bear country. Everyone slept pretty well, except the small slant of the campsite meant everyone was sliding to the bottom of the sleeping pads, ha. (It doesn’t take much slant to slide when you are wearing ruu-muus.) As Daisy started washing the dishes after breakfast, the wind kept blowing them away off the picnic table! I was called over to assist by drying and putting them away before they could fly. Our new kayaker friends were heading out this morning, and I hope they were going with the wind!
We decided to head south out of the park, and finish a loop around the island. The first hill was a brutal way to ‘warm up.’ The west side of San Juan Island is relatively rugged, while the center and east is flat and rolling farmland. In any case, we made it over the hill and stopped at Lime Kiln State Park. There aren’t any campsites here, but there is an old lighthouse with a whale watching/observation station. There were two researchers inside the lighthouse and they were playing live the sound recorded by a hydrophone in the water. They count the sightings of Orcas, both resident and transient, as well as other whales. Before we left the park, we bought an early lunch at a food stand, a bagel (for A) and hot dogs (for H and me). I’ll have to ask my friend Derek, from Chicago, if Cheetos and tuna are acceptable toppings for hot dogs, in addition to ketchup. H seemed to think so!
The next section of riding was the most beautiful of the trip, and somehow we didn’t stop to take a picture. The road wound along the edge of a hill/cliff over the ocean. The shoulder was lined by wildflowers and blackberry bushes. Beautiful.
We made good time across the island, and even had a tail wind for a short section. We got into town and were trying to decide what we should do when I realized that a ferry going directly to Lopez (35 minutes of travel, instead of 1:30) was leaving in ten minutes! We walked our bikes the two blocks around the corner and right onto the ferry. Yay. That meant that we arrived on Lopez around 2:40 instead of 5-something, and that dinner and the evening routine would go much better.
The ride on Lopez was uneventful and familiar. We made it up from the ferry dock without issue. H didn’t even fall asleep! Once we got back to the cabin, we just started to get packed up. The Wee Hoos can fit entirely in the roof ‘rocket box’ (when broken down a little) with a little room to spare for helmets and other accessories. The bags got tossed into our “Adventure Prius” and the cabin cleaned out of everything but what Daisy needed for the next couple days and the airplane trip back. The car got packed, but not over packed, and was ready for the 1400 mi drive back to CO. I enjoyed one more day with everyone on Lopez before making the drive, and will pick up Daisy plus kids at the airport tomorrow. We’ll post again for our next mini-adventure on bikes. Until then, take care!
