Moscow Sunsets

Solo Rides

I've taken some solo bike rides lately.  I enjoy them much better than I thought I would.  The only drawback is that I have no judge about how fast or slow I am going.  Wait a minute, is that actually a drawback??

Summer Rains...

...are weird if you live on the Palouse.  The first few days of August were unseasonably cool and RAINY!  I'm not sure what to make of it--volatile weather patterns to say the least!  But rain when it's been so dry is much appreciated, even as it disturbs you with its unpredictability.

Yesterday I did something that I hope will become a more regular habit--solo bike ride!  So lovely to ride to Troy and smell the ripening wheat and the pine trees!  Even the spring wheat is turning golden, so summer is truly winding down.

Things are still a little unsettled around here, much like the weather.  Hopefully we will have more certainty and "settledness" once I start to feel the chill of fall in the air.  The drama of the day was that our washing machine died--mid load, if you can believe it.  Lovely.  We made ourselves feel better by completely reorganizing our son's room, to much success.  I guess you win some, you lose some!

Garden Beauties

Relic of a railroad age on the Latah Trail

Made it to Troy!

Moscow Mountain

 

Rainy Day Exploring

 

We have been exploring on this rainy weekend.  My husband participated in a bike "ride" (it was not a race!) in Leavenworth, WA, so we joined in for one big family road and camping trip.  The rain mainly came overnight, so it didn't bother us in our nearly-new family camping tent.  My husband had a whopping six flat tires on the 85-mile ride, and his riding partner was besought with a gear shifter malfunction and chain issues.  So we were pretty amused when hubby won the grand prize in the raffle drawing:  a toilet paper roll dispenser made of bike parts (quick release changer, no less).  

While they were riding bikes, the rest of us were exploring Wenatchee State Park.  Four little boys, one very cold lake.  A long, flat beach perfect for swimming--if you could take the freezing temperatures.  The boys couldn't resist, even as their lips turned blue.  Luckily, when they got cold, there was lots of shoreline exploring and fort building to be done.

This is definitely a spot we will have to adventure back to!

Backroads Road Trip

We just returned from an epic road trip.  1,500 miles in five days through some really remote (and some not so remote) country.  Redfish Lake and the Sawtooth Recreation Area, where have you been my whole life?  The area made me fall in love with Idaho all over again, Idaho's other shortcomings notwithstanding.

The trip to Park City (via Stanley and Redfish Lake) was just my son and I, my little buddy, as my husband had a work-related meeting.  He was such a great road trip buddy, I can't even begin to describe it.  Never, well, hardly ever, complained and so helpful.  The kind of road trip buddy that will roll down his window so you can take a picture of the sandhill crane.   And on the way home, a complete family with hubby included, and this time I didn't have to do the driving!  I could finish my bike yarn bomb for Moscow's Artwalk and knit a saddle blanket for "Neigh Neigh."  

Park City was nice, but I loved Stanley, ID, population 63.  The winters are pretty rough though.  Luckily we caught it in a mellow June, and not a typical June with snow squalls.  I didn't love Sun Valley and Ketchum.  All those fancy stores, but the yarn shop is hard to find.  I'd take Whitefish, MT any day.     

Here are some of the trip highlights:

We were stopped when a bad accident occurred on HW 55.  For two hours.  The man cub tried to recruit other kids to play soccer with him to pass the time!

Oh, Sawtooth Mountains!

Redfish Lake!

A Sandhill Crane!

"Mom, are the antelope those bouncy things?"

Headwaters of the Salmon River

Rockin' bike trail in Park City, UT

Top of the Wasatch Range overlooking Park City, UT

Bike trail in Sun Valley, ID

Returns at the Sawtooth Hatchery

April Showers Bring...

Unbelievable weather we are having here.  Nearly 80 and only early May.  I try to just enjoy it and not worry that it means we will have a hot, dry summer.  

Here's the enjoyment part:

Oh--and we've discovered a new joy in our household:  bike commuting with our son to school/work.  So much fun, and today it was quite the social excursion, on National Bike to School Day!

Made in New England

I recently returned from a work-related trip to the New Hampshire.  While I was there, I was able to make a pilgrimage, of sorts, to Independent Fabrication (IF), the bike makers who made my husband's mid-life crisis bike.  IF is located in Newmarket, NH, which was only about five miles from Durham, where I had my meetings.  I popped into the retail store unannounced, and received well more than the nickle tour!  The gentleman who greeted me showed me the bikes crafted for the North American Handmade Bike Show,  including this sweet cruiser with real gold for the detailing.  I picked up a couple t-shirts for me and hubby, and spent a while chatting about bikes and cross and other things that I don't know all that much about but hope to learn more.

The very cool part, on top of the generosity of the bike shop employee who took so much time out of his day to chat and show me cool stuff, was the fact that the shop and factory are in the old Newmarket mill building.  I love it when old buildings are renovated and re-purposed!  The mill building, granite of course, is located on Main Street along the river, and is now home to high-end shops and apartments.  Newmarket was a pretty little town, with lots of good places to eat and explore.  While I've never been particularly inclined to live in New England, I admit I love the small towns and the architectural charm.  And of course it's nice to drive around in a place where the ocean is in the East and the mountains are in the West.  Fourteen years in the PNW and the dang Rocky Mountains screw me up repeatedly, as in my brain I always think that if you are heading in their direction, you must be going West.  I have ended up going the wrong way on the I-90 multiple times here, but never in the East!

Looking back in the direction of the IF factory, from the rear.

Main Street, Newmarket, NH

    

Winter Roadtrip

Last weekend we took a roadtrip to Bend, OR for the USA Cycling Gran Prix of Cyclocross.  I had long wanted to visit Bend, having built it up in my mind as the penultimate small Northwestern city.  

It's funny how when you built something up in your mind, it often comes out differently in reality.

Bend had way more sprawl than I was anticipating.  The downtown area was nice, but I'm not sure I'd consider Patagonia to be a local merchant.  And what the heck was up with all the traffic circles?  

However, Bend also has some really lovely features.  I love the fact that the Deschutes River runs right through downtown, and I love even more the fact that for much of the downtown stretch, a public park and walkway line the river.   We didn't even begin to explore it to satisfaction.

Bend also has big, pointy, white peaks going for it.  These should warrant future exploration.  Of course we didn't see them until our drive home, but they were lovely never the less.  And the desert is its own form of beauty.

Of course, we were also quite pleased to be back on the Palouse.  Back home.

Fish ladder on the Deschutes

The deserts of Eastern Oregon

Mt Hood

Mt Adams

Fog as we enter the scablands

What a beautiful sunset...we were amazed by how nice the weather was for mid-December!

My son took this picture!