Skagit Valley Bike Trip

Hi everyone,

We took three overnight bike trips this summer. The first was just around the valley. It gave us a chance to see how it would go with the gear and trailer and me. It went pretty well, I thought. How about if I mostly just show pictures? That's pretty much what I do anyway, right?

The traditional "before you go" photo

This poor possum! We thought it was strange to see him out during the day, but when we got a look at him we kind of figured out why. We think he was recently hit by a car. He was missing his tail! The poor guy. He crawled into the taller grass and Mom though she heard him crying as we rode away.

Snack break at a local farm. They mostly grow beautiful flowers, but they also have fruits and veggies too.

Our awesome valley!

Two awesome dudes!

Lunch break! Will I ever learn to wipe my face while eating? That is the million dollar question.

Family shot at the campsite

Gorgeous sunset

Isn't he cute? And you'll never guess. He too was missing his tail! Really! I'm serious! We don't know what was up with wild animals on this trip missing tails, but it is the truth.

Coming a little too close for his comfort before hightailing (oops, no tail), er, running away!

A morning game of yatzhee, anyone?

 

Ahhh, more beautiful valley!Before heading out on our return leg we had to fix a flat on the trailer that Mom was pulling. What bike adventure is complete without a flat tire to fix?

Until next time . . . when I tell you about our second bike trip!

First Day of Kindergarten (Real Time)

Hi everyone,

A post in real time, you gotta love that! Guess what? I am officially a kindergartener! Yep, today was my first day. I though it was going to be really hard but it was super easy. All I had to do was draw a picture while my teacher talked to all the parents.

 

 

There are only 12 kids in my class so Mom and Dad expect great things of me this year with that small teacher/student ratio. Who am I kidding, I expect great things of myself too!

Until next time . . . (where we will jump back into the recent past)

What, 4th of July now?

Hi everyone,

This will wrap up our camping trip from the end of June and early July. I can't believe I am just now posting about 4th of July at the end of August. Yikes!

We biked the trail that runs across a good chunk of Idaho. What a great trail! It was paved, right next to the water, beautiful views. What's not to love about it? It even had an old trestle on it. Can you see it in the second photo? It's not really the original trestle, but it used to be a real trail trestle. Pretty cool!

I rarely have my own ice cream cone. For some reason I'm just not a huge fan of them, but I finally was able to have my very own. And what did I pick? A cake cone with chocolate ice cream. Nothin' fancy folks, just plain and simple for me!

 

Dad and I did a little off roading while Mom took the real road back to the campsite. She caught up with us (waited for us is more like it) as we were coming off the trail.

And finally, 4th of July! The campground hosted a kids' bike parade. We decorated our bikes and helmets and the host played some patriotic music on a boombox while we biked around the campground. It was pretty fun, but it sure was hard to stay behind the guy carrying the flag!

 

 

Until next time . . .

Silverwood

Hi everyone,

We should be just getting home from our trip to Disneyland as I type this, but I'm going to tell you about a different theme park right now. Have you ever been to Silverwood? This was our family's first time going there and I'm not sure how often we'll be going back.

Even though it was July 4th timeframe the weather wasn't great. We ended up wearing our rain ponchos for the first part of the day and having to work around the thunder and lightning and wind. The second half of the day the rain stopped and we were able to take off our ponchos, but the wind never stopped and it didn't warm up enough to venture over to the water park side. Let me take you through our ride adventures!

Antique Car Driving 101

 

Look at that concentration!

I think Dad has found his spinning, diving, rolling ride partner!

 

 

The only character at the park, besides me that is!

Look at that guy who is after me!

Tongue out = High levels of concentration

Dad on one of his many solo rides.

He's WAY up there!

Another solo - I did ride another roller coaster with him but it went upside down and I didn't want much to do with roller coasters after that.

Dad on the wooden coaster and he road the green and blue machine in the background. One of the freakiest rides for him so that is saying a lot.

I'm after another plane just ahead of me! It was a girl who I was trying to match my altitude with.

Getting a kick out of Dad being a goofball! Pretty tame after his Panic Plunge from earlier in the day.

Hard to see her in the dusk but yes, Mom did come to Silverwood!

Until next time . . .

Couer d'Alene Camping

Hi everyone,

Wow! August 3rd was the last time I talked with you, really? It's amazing how quickly time flies. I still need to finish up telling you about some awesome camping trips we went on in the month of July and then move onto our trip to Disneyland that wrapped up our summer vacation. Let's get to it since I have so much to tell you about.

We had a roaring fire the first evening that we arrived. As we were getting ready for bed we had the largest hail we've ever seen. What am I saying? I didn't actually see it because I slept through the whole thing amazingly enough. Mom and Dad say it was super loud on the trailer and really good sized. Mom thought it even looked like it had snowed because it came down so fast and covered the ground.

 

 

Meet Ham the Ram. Ham, this is everyone. Everyone, this is Ham. He is the thing I chose to get to remember Glacier National Park. Isn't he cute?

I will tell you more, I promise. Right now I have to help get the trailer packed so we can start heading home from Disneyland. In a couple of days you will see the "fun" we had at Silverwood. Yes, fun is in quotes because I'm not sure fun was had by all, but you'll hear about that in a few days.

Until next time . . .

Glacier National Park - Polebridge and Bowman Lake

Hi everyone,

We chose to make our last trip at Glacier up to Polebridge and Bowman Lake. It really is out in the middle of nowhere but so beautiful that it shouldn't be missed. The road up has a large burn area, very different from the east side of the park. There also was a cute little coffee shop/bar that we stopped at in what felt like the middle of nowhere. The owners must have felt that way too because they talked our ears off. The one cool thing was a black bear that went loping across their gravel area just as we were leaving.

Polebridge is one of the ranger stations where I could do my Jr Ranger booklet turn in. The rangers there (and bikers waiting out a rain storm) got a kick out of me. I even stumped the ranger with one of my questions!

This little lady was not phased by us at all. She stood there eating, meandered across the trail, stopped for a picture.

 

 This young buck still has fuzz on his antlers.

 He didn't want to stick around for long.

Glacier National Park has finally come to an end. I sure hope that you enjoyed seeing our pictures because I know we sure had fun on our trip!

Until next time . . .

Glacier National Park - More Waterfalls

Hi everyone,

Yep, we are still reviewing our Glacier trip. Almost done, but not quite. We are still down in the Two Medicine Lake area, catching a few last waterfalls before heading back over to our camping area on the west side of the park.

Appistoki Falls

Running Eagle Falls

Until next time (the final Glacier post) . . .