It finally looks like it's going to rain here today. It's been horribly dry on the west coast in general and there are upsetting fires on Vancouver Island--we've been seeing the smoke from it over here for days. I think they need at least a week of rain, but at this point I suspect they'll take what they can get.
We went to see a mountain bike movie at the local theatre last night and there were piles and piles of people there. Luke said considerably more people attended the movie here than when he went to see a mountain bike movie in Toronto. Impressive, given the population is a fraction of Toronto's population. We even briefly met a local woman who just did the 24 hours of Light in Whitehorse a couple of weeks ago.
So, here are some highlights from the last bunch of weeks. We kept going north to the Redwood forests of Northern California. We rode the Ossagon trail and, besides seeing two elk and two lovely waterfalls, it was used as a set for Jurassic Park 2. After the bike ride we stopped to make dinner at a gorgeous pull-off by the ocean. Here's the view:
Our next stop was Ashland Oregon. It's a very cute town that has a famous Shakespeare Festival and lots of great parks and cute boutiques. I was surprised to learn from Luke, after seeing lots of broken window glass in parking lots, that they have a big meth problem and that people have been known to steal anything and everything out of cars...including the inside trim. Pretty sad.
We stayed at a campground for a couple of nights and we had some unusual neighbours. They slept most of the day and stayed up all night drinking and fighting. Very loudly. The woman was very friendly and respectful, but loud as anything and seemed to say everything that was in her head even when no one was with her to listen. She told me she has six kids and I heard them say multiple times that it was the 'best honeymoon ever!', so I'm guessing they were newly weds. Colourful!
We spent part of a day in Portland and I was surprised that I didn't like it much. I've had lots of people tell me how great it is and that I'd love it, so I'm not sure if it's just because I'm so used to being in nature away from cities by now. I thought the traffic was just awful, which was a surprise to me given Portland is known as a cycling city. I suspect if you live there and get to know the neighbourhoods and people that it's a great place to live, but my small taste of it was underwhelming.
Next we stayed a few days around Tumwater WA, where we found a free camping area where local dogs would come by and visit on a regular basis. One dog was pretty shy, but obviously interested in food. The others were very friendly and they were all very sweet.
Our friend Ed from Toronto flew to Seattle to travel with us for a couple of weeks. After a bit of a slow start when his bike didn't make it to Seattle with him (it showed up the next day, but Air Canada didn't make it easy to find out what was going on in the meantime), we travelled along Oregon and Washington. We started in Bend and made our way north to Oakridge, Hood River, Sandy Ridge, Mount St.Helens, then to the Mount Rainer area before dropping off at the Seattle airport again. Ed is a very good cook so we got particularly gourmet meals while he was around, including camping hollandaise sauce!
One of my favourite days was Mount St.Helens and the Ape Canyon Trail. It's a good climb on the trail so I didn't lug my camera up there, but this shot was close enough to the bottom for me.
Lava field that ran down the canyon
The view at the top was spectacular!!! It was a 360 degree view with a snow-capped volcano in each direction. I could have stayed up there forever.
Not far from the trailhead there was Lava Canyon. Here's a shot of the lava that traveled through this area. It's pretty neat how there is a 'cap' on top of the distinctive columns.
There's a waterfall there too.
Here's a shot of a very pretty waterfall at one of our campsite in Oregon:
After saying goodbye to Ed we went up to BC, which I'll cover in my next post.
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