Tour de Bocrie

Duckys want to know, "How in the World did we go across the Entire country last year??" We're too old for this!

But first, we didn't/can't/haven't said enough about Vancouver. The international collection of people are incredibly friendly, lots to do for families, the restaurants and bars are all smoke free, farmers markets in the middle of the city and everyone seems to be in-shape and outdoors playing on the water,

strolling, running or biking on the miles of sidewalks. For a city of two million people, you never feel crowded or even in a smog-filled city, and everyone is considerate of walkers and bikers.........Virginia Beach could sure learn a bit.

For the first time since we arrived on Wednesday, we had a beautiful, clear, sunny day. Our way out of town,
we wound through miles and miles of beautiful homes
with yards full of flowers.
We followed the famous Fraser River out of Vancouver. Obviously, their tide can be quite dramatic and without warning. We had some unexpected (and a bit precarious) steep climbs on bridges
and roads that snuck up on us.
We stopped several times along the way to pick fresh blackberries
growing wild and cultivated blueberries
Mountains were off in the distance the entire day, but too far away to see in photos but close enough for us to enjoy. The weather was stupendous, sunny, high 60's-low 70's and a cool breeze......Fabulous!
In typical fashion, our last 20 miles is all about getting there; but we did. After 72 miles, a couple of (Red Hook beers from Seattle-for you, Kurt) beers and a carafe of wine, time to turn in.

What a beautiful morning, cool, crisp almost sunny and the first mile and a half is all downhill. Which is great, until we realize we should have only gone a mile; but the detour afforded us this view.

Once we actually headed out of town we began to climb, and climb and climb, but the trees-every kind of pine/spruce tree imaginable-lined the roads. Occasionally, we would hear a lone seagull or small boat puttering along in Samish Bay (Stacey, if you're reading, remember when you used to say 'samish' for sandwich?) In Padilla Bay there is oyster farming (note the rows in the sand),
the heart of Pacific Oysters.
We dropped out of the hills as if we were transported to a different state. Picture Kansas connected to the California Sierra Mountains, very dramatic.
But in this very flat and low lying land lays every food group, from salmon (fishing)
to bison, corn, apples, blueberries
pears and potatoes.
We made it to Anacortes by noon,
which is amazing considering how many times we stopped for photos. After a long relaxing lunch on the outdoor patio at Calico Cupboard Cafe (they must have one of the worlds largest cinnamon roll) , we headed to the ferry to take us to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. This collection of over 300 islands is as beautiful as everyone claims,with million $$ homes tucked behind beautiful spruce and a snow capped Baker Mountain in the distance. This island is also where they filmed "Free Willey". What a serene place to spend the night.

Slow start this morning; amazing we left at all considering the full pot of coffee, smoked salmon and cheese omelette and a dinner-plate size apple fritter. But since we wanted to see the island before catching the 1:00 ferry, we needed to get a move on; and thank goodness we did. San Juan Island is spectacular! We cut through the middle of the island

through farmland and winding roads lined with Chickory, Queen Anne's Lace and wild blackberries being looked over by majestic pines. We did have to come to a complete stop once to wait for a small deer to cross the road-surreal! All was a delight to the senses.
Once again we did an unintended 1/2 mile downhill, but were rewarded with a shot of Snug Harbour (low tide).
We climbed and dropped more times than we can remember, but the work was worth it when the west coast of San Juan dramatically appeared before us.
The coastline is breathtaking
and the view beyond of Vancouver Island is icing on the cake (sorry you probably cannot see it in the photos).
We paddled (we have to say that for the Duckies) aling the coast hoping to see whales, but apparently you need to sit and wait for more than 10 seconds to actually see them-so no whales today.
We cut our entire island tour short as we needed to catch a ferry and actually make forward progress. A quick stop for a photoon to the ferry, for one last spectacular shot of Baker Mountain.After disembarking the ferry we continued through the west side of Anacortes, which can easily hold a candle to the beauty of the San Juans. We skirted the spectacular coast of the Island of Fidalgo until reaching the Deception Pass.Incredible site with water the color of the Caribbean. Ten more miles and our hotel room in Oak Harbour, Good Night!

We got an early 7 am start on a beautiful morning on Widbey Island.

Though we only had 50 miles to traverse we did not know how hilly it was going to be. The course weaved us through every cove on the island and up and down every hill there was. Once again our senses were tickled by the taste of blackberries, the smell of pine and fresh cut wheat and the view of water and mountains in the distance.We crossed the Strait of Juan de Fuca (part of the Puget Sound)to Port Townsend. We enjoyed the charming town while sipping coffee and watching the seals play in the harbour. Shortly past the town we biked our first trail, through a tunnel of green, dropping back on the roads along coves and harbours. We crossed the 1.5 mile Hood Canal floating bridge,

all grates with the exception of a two-foot wide metal plate closely hugging the short jersey wall; a bit unnerving. With 48 miles under our belt and 20+ left to go, somehow we had a bit of a miscalculation; guess we should have stopped for lunch when we had the chance.
Still can't get over the mix of farmland, mountains and bays, just breathtaking.With more miles than anticipated left, we 'paddled' and hard as we could uphill and as fast as we could down in order to catch the ferry from Bremerton to Seattle........remind us to tell you those details! After 74 miles and 12 hours, we dragged ourselves to a hotel; we will not be sleepless in Seattle tonight!

Seattle's Public Market and all of Seattle, for that matter

is an unbelievable cornucopia of color, people (of all sorts) food, flowers everywhere, fish (yum, yum) and things to do.
The must do list in Seattle: eat at Famous Ivar's visit the very first Starbucks, see the Space Needle, check out the view,and ride the bus.Okay, we didn't really ride the bus, but the Duckies insisted we take this picture. Tons to do for families, so put it on your list Moms/Lisa, but bring good walking shoes as the weather is incredible. Not sure what the story is that it always rains in Seattle. We think the locals are spreading that rumor to keep this fabulous city to themselves.

Mother Nature Rules and apparently reads blogs. As if to prove us wrong, as we left Seattle this morning it was overcast, cool and misty.

Our one hour ferry ride to Bremerton and back on our bike route south did not improve the weather. Luckily, the misting only lasted a half an hour and was never heavy enough to sting our face. Bremberton had several aircraft carriers in port at the Puget Sound Naval Base, but too wet to photograph.
We followed the Hood Canal south, occasionally catching glimpses on the incredible tidal change.Our course was lined by pines some so heavily laddened with moss, there was no room for other growth. We stopped for a long chat with Harry (heading north) from the Netherlands. This is his third month-long bike trip in as many years in the United States; loves the country and it's people, very refreshing from a Europeans perspective. We picnicked at Mason Lakeamong very friendly ducks.Mason Lake is huge, dotted with vacation homes along both banks of it's very long shore, we know it's long as we biked from tip to tip.
We paddled into the cute little town of Shelton, rich with logging history and at the base of the Olympic National Park, rather early in the afternoon, but after a terrific cup of coffee and wonderful people at the local coffee and book store, we decided to stay the night; 50 miles completed.

This morning was damp, overcast and cold. Apparently so cold that our navigator decided we needed an extra 5 miles of hills for a warm up. It worked, though he says he "was asleep at the map". The cold was a welcome relief to the hills we climbed all morning, within an hour into our bike we had worked up quite the sweat despite the low 50 degree temperatures. The hills were shrouded in clouds and the course quite and peaceful.

We made a coffee stop (to warm our hands) at Buck'sthen continued on to Elma (that's a town, not a resturant) for a quick lunch. In the less than 1/2 an hour we took for lunch the clouds were dispersing and the sun was breaking through.The dark green evergreens majestically reaching to the clear blue sky softened by the white billowy clouds was just heaven.Of course, having the last 40 miles on flat road with the wind at our backs was nice, too! Not to mention, lots of horse filled farmsand picturesque rivers.Though we could have gone all day in this fabulous weather, we stopped after 70 miles.

Vancouver British Columbia, Canada to Centralia, Washington

336.2 miles