Today we rode 18 miles in five and a half hours. Does that sound fast?! Well, it was definitely so much easier (and faster) than last year. Let’s just say we go at a very different pace now than we did before kids. Our primary goal is to create positive memories for the kids and help them fall in love with cyclotouring. Today we definitely were successful in that mission!

After a very yummy breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes we packed up and rode down Chuckanut drive, one of the most beautiful roads in Washington. It is a narrow road that hugs the cliff between the mountains and the bay. The cars here are very used to cyclists and were all extremely polite. We felt safe and enjoyed the ride.

Next we rode along the beautiful and very flat Skagit valley. We visited a beautiful farm stand that we also visited last year. The owners even recognized us! We got to chat with someone who spent the morning tagging kestrels in a nearby nest. She showed us photos and the kids really enjoyed learning about tagging birds.

It’s a holiday weekend, so there were festivals and yard sales all over the place. There was even this balloon arch going up that we got to ride under. The kids got a blast out of that.

After lunch in the quaint town of Edison, we battled some headwinds until we reached the Padilla bay interpretive center. This is a wonderful, and free, little center that teaches about the tide flats. There were some amazing touch tanks!

We got our favorite hiker biker site at Bayview State Park and spent the evening on the bay splashing in the waves and wandering the campground looking at everybody’s setup.

It was Canada Day and there was a surprising number of Canadians down here celebrating. Even though the campground said it was full, we found seven empty sites! I think that the reservation system has some inconsistencies but oh well! As cyclists we can always camp in Washington State Parks, even when the campground is full.