Moscow Sunsets

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!

November Snow

We had another wonderful cyclocross weekend.  My husband raced in Spokane at what is definitely my favorite venue, Walter's Fruit Ranch.  So much fun!  I have to say cheering for a bike race in the snow and mud and 30 degree weather is much more fun when you've had hot spiced wine with your lunch!

But oh, winter, you are already making yourself known!
 

 

Getting Ready for Fall

Even though fall has been decidedly here for several weeks, we spent some time this weekend "getting ready for fall."  We went around the neighborhood and found pretty leaves and dipped them in paraffin wax to make a garland.  We dug up the carrots and planted the garlic.  And of course, we went to cyclocross races.  Fall.  We're ready!

Leaf garland...unfortunately it matches the brick colors almost perfectly!

Getting ready to work in the garden

Who says red and green and yellow don't go together?

The willows, looking pretty.

A rainy day for cycling...

 

Date Weekend, CX Style

We spent the weekend in Walla Walla, along with many members of our "cyclocross family"--i.e. the folks from all over the Inland Northwest who brave rain, snow, wind, and, rarely, heat, to travel long miles for an hour or two of suffering.  The weather was classically unpredictable, true to cross style, but we did catch a glimpse of fall color.  

Even though the venues are the same, each time, each race, is still unique.  Life gets in the way, so it's a different mix of "regulars" each time.  The courses change.  The weather changes, often several times in a day!  This year, my husband and I are feeling even more a part of the group.  People know us, they asked where are son was, and they laughed and teased us when we said we were on a date.  I didn't have to be the mom up at 4 am--though there was one of those!--and we could sleep in late.  Awesome!  We got to act like grown-ups and go wine tasting and have a nice dinner out.  We bumped into other friends at breakfast.  All of us are on different trajectories, from college students to empty nesters.  But we all do this crazy thing every fall and support each other.

Of course, the only thing about being "known" is that people are starting to ask me when I'm going to race....   

Goodbye, September

This post may be somewhat random.  So many thoughts going through my head.  I think the fall does that to me.  Even though I hate the end of summer, and dread the cold, dark period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I do love fall.  I love the cool that comes in the evening, the breeze with a hint of change, and the leaves rustling on the ground.  Not that we have many of them out west (leaves, that is).  

I bogged down somewhat in the garden.  I think I am waiting for it to rain, and it doesn't, so I just forget about the garden.  Every year, it feels like one of three things happens to everything in the garden:  1) it completely underperforms--this would describe my onions to a T this year; 2) I get the impression that if I had only helped it a little bit more then I would have had an awesome crop--I feel my squash fits into this grouping; or 3) I am overpowered by the shear awesomeness of its production--my tomatoes and blackberries fit this category.  In the five years we've owned this house, my blackberry vines have never done as well.  I'm not sure if it was the cool, wet spring, or the fact that they received windfall water from watering the yard, or if they were just excited to be near the sandbox, but I have picked for weeks.  I wasn't even planning on making jam this year, but I am going to make some blackberry jam now!!  And don't get me started on the tomatoes.  I can't keep up with them--salsa and canning and fresh oh my!

But on the other hand, cyclocross is ramping up!  And we've been able to enjoy so many of those lovely fall evenings (despite the dust and smoke from want of rain)!  I took these pictures on Wednesday night...the last one is my favorite!

A Snowy Conclusion to Cross Season

The Inland Northwest Cyclocross Series ended yesterday, with much fanfare and camaraderie.  Of course there are still races in Bend, OR and Nationals, but for our family, the season is over for another year.  I admit I am sad we have reached the conclusion, although my husband informed me that he was not sad he didn't need to get on his bike today to train.  

It was a lot of work, this cyclocross season.   It was a lot of work for my husband to train and compete, a lot of work to drive all around Washington and Idaho, a lot of work to figure out how to kill to two hours at the course prior to the race so that my husband could complete his pre-race routine, a lot of work to figure out how to take pictures, wrangle children, and ring cow bells simultaneously.

But it was totally worth it.

Apple orchard rows make good cyclocross courses at the next-to-last race in the series!

Just a light dusting of snow for this race--enough to ensure complete carnage.

Pumpkins line the course at Walter's Fruit Ranch

Four to five inches of new snow awaited us in Coeur d'Alene Sunday.

It's a good thing the tape is blue--all the better to see it in the snow!