Sunday, April 27, 2008

Tour de Lopez

We had an amazing day yesterday and participated for the first time in a bike tour. Can I say, ‘WOW’!

Abner took care of the 3 girls at home for us and we dragged T-rev and Evo-man along for the ride.


Up bright and early before dawn so we could drive and make the Anacortes ferry ride to Lopez Island in the San Juans. Misty mornings are so pretty in the Northwest if your up in time to see them.

If you’ve never been to the San Juan Island’s in WA then you should add it to your list of places to visit. Beautiful!!!

Ferry rides are always fun the first few times you ride them. Here’s my friend Smiley and her family enjoying their second ferry ride. Can I mention that I'm jealous of the zoom lens.

They lucked out and drove on. Most of the bikers on the ferry walked on, including our family.


Here's T-rev enjoying a few moments outside the boat. The weather was still a bit nippy at this point so we spent most of our time in the cabin.
All too soon we arrived on Lopez Island. Along with hundreds of other bikers. Fortunately we were some of the first bikers off the boat.

Then we met up with Smiley and Wonder Woman and other family members to start our bike tour. You had the choice of 10, 17 or 31 miles. Most of us took the 31 mile route.
If you ever get a chance to bike an island - do it! You'll see everything from beach cottages on the sound to...
Evergreen forests.
Evo-man did awesome - especially considering that he went the entire way on a very heavy, cheaply made dirt bike.
Here's T-rev chugging along. Sporting a very fashionable socks-holding-his-pants-out-of-the-chain look. He also made the entire distance on a heavy bike.
From coastland, to forests, to rolling pastures, everything was beautiful. Those rolling hills did add a bit of a burn to the thighs. But of course the downhill rush made up for the agony of the climb on the way up.
I ended up taking my time on this trip and not keeping up with my biker babe friends so that I could shoot a few pictures. Here's me multi-tasking. Good thing the roads were great and there were no potholes or too much gravel to look out for.
And of course dashing Prince Erik was constantly going from the front to the back of our strewn out family line to make sure everyone was still alive and pedaling.
The weather was perfect. In the 60 degree range - which considering it was April - was pretty good. Blue skies in the Northwest, well I think we lucked out with the weather. Towards late afternoon it got a bit nippy and we were searching out the sun between the trees. Notice the camera on my back. I wouldn't go anywhere without it.

After the ride was over we still had to make our way back to the ferry. Our bikes registered 34 to 38 miles ridden. The best part was - everyone is still smiling! And at this point we were all in need of some ice packs for our hind ends. But completeing the journey was a big accomplishment and we were all excited.
T-Rev zonked while waiting for the ferry.

And Evo-man caught his Z's on the ride home.

Great day. I'd love to take the whole family next year!

7 comments:

Trena Doll said...

Sounds like a great day. I think the boys should get bonus points for a) not using road bikes and b) adding huge knapsacks for an extra degree of difficulty.
Kudos to all!

cking said...

That sounds awesome. I need to get a bike!!!

Susanne said...

Wow, that is so awesome!!! I really admire your family! And that first picture of the sunrise is gorgeous. Ah, I miss the northwest (but not enough to move away from the coast of California). :-) That must have been amazing to get to see so much of the island. The San Juans are SOOOOOOO beautiful!

Trena Doll said...

I was just looking through your photos again...does anyone ever tell T-rev that he looks like a tall David Archuleta?

Anonymous said...

Wow!!! How fun to live where you live. I guess there are fun things to do everywhere though. Thanks for sharing the story. I am also glad you take your camera along, it makes the story all the more enjoyable. Love,
Aunt Sassy

Pam said...

Beautiful! What a great day!! Wish we were up to doing a ride like that..maybe we could get you to pull us in one of those child carriers :-)
Keep on having these great adventures, those kidlets aren't kidlets anymore, wow, they're growing up!
love and hugs, and special high 5 to the E-man for watching the girls

Pam said...

oopps...guess it was Abner who watched the girls.. kudos, big guy. And high-5 to all the bikers, I'm impressed :-)