As I write this, we are in a small town just south of Mt. Rainier National Park.  We just spent the last few days riding away from the Seattle area and around Mt. Rainier.  Luckily, yesterday was a stunningly clear day and we were able to see the mountain in all its glory.  Pictures included, but after I talk about visiting family! This is kind of a long post, so bear with me!

We spent a wonderful rest day in Port Townsend with my (Daisy) cousin, Mimi.  I hadn’t seen her in a decade (gasp!), and it was a blast to visit with her and her two sons.  We had a true rest day here – watching movies, playing with her adorable almost-two-year-old, and eating pizza.  Best of all, we had a blast getting to know her older son Anchor.  He has excellent taste in books so we happily took his recommendations for future reading material.  One thing is for certain, we won’t wait another decade to visit!

From Port Townsend we spent a day riding south to Seattle.  The weather had been beautiful for the last two weeks in this area, but of course a drenching storm rolled over us.  Oh well, a typical Seattle welcome.  We took the ferry from the Olympic Peninsula straight into downtown Seattle, and it was so beautiful, even in the rain and wind.

We were quite overwhelmed when we rolled into the heart of a giant city.  We had to resort to pushing up the steep hills when traffic was too bad to be on the roads at our glacial pace.  Many folks stared, but only the crazy ones said anything!  It didn’t take too long before we were out of the bustling center and into the neighborhoods where our host lives.  An incoming Penn State Statistics grad was kind enough to host us and tell us about his bicycle trips this summer.  It was great to see him!  We felt guilty about not taking the time to visit with our many many friends in Seattle, but we were so overwhelmed.  Please accept our apologies Seattle folks!

The next day my mom drove down from Bellingham to spend the day with us.  We had a blast at the flagship REI store (which is insanely large), and taking a tour of the Seattle underground.  Seattle has a really fun, gritty history complete with ‘ladies of the night’ that controlled most of the city’s government for a few decades, a police chief that also was head of the rumrunner’s in the area during prohibition, and an entire downtown that was slowly sinking into the tidelands.  The city rebuilt on top of itself, leaving an entire abandoned first story underneath modern street level.  It was really fun to go on the tour!

That night we rode a short but difficult 16 miles to visit Jason’s extended family in Redmond.  They were so kind, welcoming us to their 30th anniversary party and getting everyone out on the street to cheer us as we rolled in.  At that point, we were happy to find food waiting for us!  Daisy snuck off to visit with a dear friend from college.  We spent two hours reminiscing about our days as super math nerds, and catching up on the days since.

We spent a leisurely morning at Jason’s family’s home, and then finally starting riding South again.  Finally!  Then… we got lost on the bicycle path.  Ha, serves us right for being so excited about getting out of Seattle.  We eventually made it to Enumclaw, where we saw a sign that indicated fairground camping.  Curious, we ventured over.

It was a giant gathering for the highland games!  We slowly rolled through the full camp, hoping to find a friendly face to share with.  We found it alright – a fellow and his adorable dog were camped in an REI tent with a bicycle nearby.  Perfect.  We set up, and ventured through the fairgrounds to listen to bagpipes and see the sights.  Another unexpectedly wonderful night of free camping!

The next morning we tried to roll out early to climb into Mt. Rainier national park, but were a little slow.  Eventually we did get on the road into the forest, only to find that construction had recently laid a large amount of gravel on the road.  As cars passed they transformed the gravel into projectiles.  Luckily, a cyclist in a car stopped and insisted that we get a ride through the construction.  Even as we loaded up the bicycles, we got hit by those damn gravel pieces.

She dropped us off quite a few miles up the road, and just past the end of the nasty gravel.  From there, it was all up up up to Chinook Pass.  The climbing was pretty easy, and the cars were very polite despite it being a sunny Saturday.  Our route took us to the south before the road’s highpoint, but we decided to finish the climb and go to the top before returning back to our turn.  Good thing we did, because the pass was stunning!

It was still early when we got to our chosen destination – Ohanapecosh campground in the national park.  Of course, it was full, but we found a little spot that no one else was using and the rangers seemed to approve.  Somehow, we got another unexpectedly free night camping!  Daisy worked on her dissertation until her laptop ran out of batteries, and we were asleep early.

Next stop, Portland area to pick up Jason’s cousin for our next leg heading south in earnest.  Yippee!

 

It has been a strange few days for us, since we have been doing a good amount of riding and sightseeing within a relatively small radius. If you remember waaaay back in Bella Coola, we got five days ahead of schedule because of the change in ferry service. We have been spinning our wheels (ha!!)  now getting back on schedule. It has been so different to not ride in a line, but more in loops in and around the town of Port Angeles. It has been fun, and more of an adventure than we thought.  In particular, we have met some wonderful people.

The first night back in the USA we got off the ferry at 9:30 pm. It was getting dark, and we still didn’t know where to stay. Overall, a not-too-good situation. As we rode through a neighborhood searching for a school or a park to stealthily camp in, we asked some folks for directions. After a bit of discussion they decided we should camp in the backyard of the house next door, which was vacant and for sale. The neighbors were all notified, and voila – we had a lovely place to spend the night.

The next day we found a real host in the same town through warmshowers. They agreed on short notice to let us leave our stuff there while we took a day ride into Olympic National Park. We dropped off our belongings at their wonderful cyclist cottage, and headed into the park. We rode from sea level to 5,242′ over about 18 miles. It was beautiful!

 

We learned of a Lavender Festival going on in a nearby town, so we rode over to see it. The best part was visiting a local farm and seeing the different varieties of lavender both in the fields and also drying in the barn. The festival itself was pretty similar to every small-town fair: craft booths, fair food, and a small stage with background music. We camped at a nearby county park that had hiker-biker sites, a rare treat in this area.

The next day on the way back in to Port Angeles we spotted a sign that said $9 haircuts. It was a hair cutting school! I (Daisy) immediately had to stop and get one – I have been dreaming of getting my hair cut off since Anchorage! I was hoping they would donate my locks for me, but they wouldn’t. Once they learned my hair was un-dyed and all-natural though, they were practically fighting each other to get a braid of it. Apparently, they need hair like this to use for their school projects! My hair was quickly braided and chopped off. What a relief for me!

 

 

Our other fun side trip was a circumnavigation of Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park. This deep blue lake had a narrow road to the south and a trail to the north. We began our sidetrip on Saturday, which is bad bad news for finding a campsite. The park ranger on the phone said that no sites were available in the park, not even for cyclists. So we decided to try and wildcamp, either stealthily in a day-use area or off the side of the road somewhere. We got caught by the rangers when we tried in the day-use area, but they did tell us of a good spot up the road. Oops!

 The next morning we rode along the narrow, winding trail to the north of the lake. It was a challenge for us with our bikes because of the bumpy surface and sometimes steep drop-off. However, it was beautiful. We got to ride through the lovely forest next to the lake without the crowd and crash of any motorists. When we finished the north side of the lake on trails, we turned around and rode back on the congested and narrow road to the south. It wasn’t so bad though, and we were soon back to civilization in Port Angeles.

We planned to spend another night camping in the hiker-biker site before resuming our ride east and then south, but luckily we found a much better place to spend our last night in the area. A lovely couple with a friendly dog stopped us on the side of a busy highway to offer us a place to stay! We quickly agreed, despite the uphill 5 miles to their house. The ride was made easier since they also took half our bags! We spent a lovely evening chatting about our various travels.

Now we are en route to the town of Port Townsend to visit Daisy’s cousin for a day.  After that, we will head to Seattle and then back into the mountains and finally south again.  Yippee!