I might have to revise some Dove quotes.
Jun. 1st, 2007 09:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsYesterday, by sheer coincidence, both girls were gone overnight. Yamaraashi-chan was at her mothers house and Kouryou-chan was at a school-sponsored overnight event, so Omaha and I both took the day off and went mountain biking. First stop: REI, where we bought Clif bars, new bicycle clips, and a GPS. The cheapest one they had but it was all I needed: a waypoint, "Trailhead," and an arrow that pointed to it. We were going to the Pope & Talbot trails, which is basically a big managed tree farm so it's very easy to get lost in there. Having the GPS made me feel a lot better.
We made the ferry and rode it across the water to Bainbridge, then drove up to Poulsbo. Total trip time, less than an hour. A lot less than the three-hours it takes to go down and across the Tacoma Narrows bridge. We made it to where we leave the car, packed the backpack with food and water, and changed our tires for dirt.
We got to the trailhead, marked it on the GPS, and rode in. We were slathered in purple-hued sunscreen and had brought twice as much water as last time: the high ridge parts of the trail are very dry and brutally sunny. We rode out along forest roads, then took some of the trails. Most were low-impact, blue-square stuff, but one was just nasty. I'm not sure how we got into it, but it was very narrow, with brush growing into the trail such that we felt more like we were swimming through leaves rather than riding. It hid fallen logs and blackberry bushes. My right arm is a mess of scratches. Beautiful yellow and orange flowering bushes were everywhere, giving the entire forest a sweet floral undernote to the overwhelming pine scent of the place. One big area had been clearcut in the past three years, and it was so open and exposed that Omaha and I worried about sunburn.
We rode for about three hours, once wandering off into the woods, but generally having a good time, even if I was bleeding from a half-dozen scratches by the time we left.
We took the ferry home again. We were harassed twice, once by a ticket scalper with Mariner's tickets, and once buy a petition holder trying to get us to sign up for a county-paid "shadow county council" that would "advise" the working council on "matters of interest to members of the community too busy to attend county council meetings otherwise." Yeah, right. I did get some burn on my face, and pulled out the sunburn lotion, which immediately triggered memories of Florida. I think aloe vera & lidocane is Florida's official state perfume or something.
It's so Seattle.While we were on the ferry I did the canonical ferry thing, taking photographs of the skyline of Seattle as we approached, and making notes along the way. At one point while in the ferry I came across a wall with all of the certificates for the crew. The language on those certificates was so lovely and traditional that I immediately snapped pictures of a few, and then became paranoid: Was that suspicious behavior? Why would anyone want pictures of the crew's certifications? Nobody turned me in, but I felt awful about how we've come to mistrust everything.
Omaha and I made it home, unpacked the car, showered, dressed, and then went out for sushi. Mmm, sushi. It was pretty good, but I think the ebi (shrimp) had been left drying a bit too long. The fatty tuna was great, though.
We went to the Grind, danced like mad (they played Juno Reactor's "God is God," which is one of Omaha's favorite songs), as well as "Sade" by Enigma and "Cry Little Sister" by Gerard McMann, so the night wasn't a total loss musically. We went in the back and did things I'm not going to tell you about, danced more, went home, and went immediately to bed.
In one of my stories, Dove, who's 27, complains about Zia & Polly, who are both 23, saying "Young people have too much energy." I may have to change that complaint.
Today, my knees are killing me. I'm having trouble going up and down stairs. But it was all worth it.
We made the ferry and rode it across the water to Bainbridge, then drove up to Poulsbo. Total trip time, less than an hour. A lot less than the three-hours it takes to go down and across the Tacoma Narrows bridge. We made it to where we leave the car, packed the backpack with food and water, and changed our tires for dirt.
We got to the trailhead, marked it on the GPS, and rode in. We were slathered in purple-hued sunscreen and had brought twice as much water as last time: the high ridge parts of the trail are very dry and brutally sunny. We rode out along forest roads, then took some of the trails. Most were low-impact, blue-square stuff, but one was just nasty. I'm not sure how we got into it, but it was very narrow, with brush growing into the trail such that we felt more like we were swimming through leaves rather than riding. It hid fallen logs and blackberry bushes. My right arm is a mess of scratches. Beautiful yellow and orange flowering bushes were everywhere, giving the entire forest a sweet floral undernote to the overwhelming pine scent of the place. One big area had been clearcut in the past three years, and it was so open and exposed that Omaha and I worried about sunburn.
We rode for about three hours, once wandering off into the woods, but generally having a good time, even if I was bleeding from a half-dozen scratches by the time we left.
We took the ferry home again. We were harassed twice, once by a ticket scalper with Mariner's tickets, and once buy a petition holder trying to get us to sign up for a county-paid "shadow county council" that would "advise" the working council on "matters of interest to members of the community too busy to attend county council meetings otherwise." Yeah, right. I did get some burn on my face, and pulled out the sunburn lotion, which immediately triggered memories of Florida. I think aloe vera & lidocane is Florida's official state perfume or something.
It's so Seattle.
Omaha and I made it home, unpacked the car, showered, dressed, and then went out for sushi. Mmm, sushi. It was pretty good, but I think the ebi (shrimp) had been left drying a bit too long. The fatty tuna was great, though.
We went to the Grind, danced like mad (they played Juno Reactor's "God is God," which is one of Omaha's favorite songs), as well as "Sade" by Enigma and "Cry Little Sister" by Gerard McMann, so the night wasn't a total loss musically. We went in the back and did things I'm not going to tell you about, danced more, went home, and went immediately to bed.
In one of my stories, Dove, who's 27, complains about Zia & Polly, who are both 23, saying "Young people have too much energy." I may have to change that complaint.
Today, my knees are killing me. I'm having trouble going up and down stairs. But it was all worth it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Mountain Biking in Other Mountains
Date: 2007-06-01 08:38 pm (UTC)The main chair lift (approx. 1200' vertical climb according to my GPS last weekend), in addition to the tourist and hike-down crowds, has bike racks on the back of each four-person chair. An all-day mountain bike ticket is $18, and let's you and your bike ride the lift up, for biking down the blue square and black diamond runs. Even in the late afternoon, there were about a dozen bikers taking advantage of this kind of excitement.
In my experience, deep forest can be a difficult place to use some GPS's. And finding a suitable clearing with enough open sky might involve a bit of distance.
Seattle would be worth visiting just to stay in the Camlin again.
Respectfully,
DB_Story
no subject
Date: 2007-06-01 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-01 09:40 pm (UTC)Do you and Omaha often go to the Grind on Thursdays? I'm looking forward to starting to go out dancing again, and would love to possibly meet up sometime. ^_^
no subject
Date: 2007-06-01 11:50 pm (UTC)Glad you guys got to spend a whole day together. I'm envious!
no subject
Date: 2007-06-02 06:05 am (UTC)We haven't been, simply because we just haven't had the time. But we're planning on making more time for this in the near future...not every week, but maybe once a month or such. I'd love to catch up with you there. :D
no subject
Date: 2007-06-02 06:08 am (UTC)Oh, that's too bad..it is *such* a beautiful flower!
Glad you guys got to spend a whole day together. I'm envious!
When the opportunity arose, we grabbed it gleefully...this kind of thing happens so rarely. It felt like being twenty again. Heh.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-04 05:59 am (UTC)