Back in the USA!

After leaving Vancouver Island, we drove south to Seattle, and stayed with friends over night. It was nice to be back on US soil, and now our money could go farther! The next morning we drove into the city and went to the famous “Pike’s Fish Market” we also got coffee at the original Starbucks. The city was crowded, and we were anxious to get to our next destination, Portland, Oregon.

We drove for about half of the day and made it into the city just in time to meet friends at the Oregon Brewer’s Festival. It was fun to be with friends and try out new brews. The next day we went into the city for the Saturday market, and went shopping. The market is full of local artists, food vendors, and craftsman, a fun way to see the city of Portland.

Our next stop was up the hill from downtown to the Rose Garden, from this high up you have a beautiful view of the city of Portland. On a clear day, you can also see Mount Hood beyond the city skyline. It looks like a satellite or moon hovering over the city. That night we treated our hosts to a Thai dinner at one of the best Thai restaurants in town, “Pok Pok”. The next morning we packed up and headed to Bend Oregon.

Bend is on the eastern slope of the Cascade Range and has a much drier climate than Portland. We stayed with friend’s of Andy’s here and got a taste of parenthood. Our hosts were great and helped us with planning out a mountain bike ride for the next day. We rode from their house west of town and got on Phil and Steve’s loops and rode smooth dry single track for almost 3 hours. There was a downhill section with gap jumps, burmed turns and rollers that broke up the rest of the ride which was completely smooth save for a couple of tree roots. We agreed that it was a fun ride, and it was nice to be able to ride for that long without getting beaten up by bumps and rocks.

The next morning we picked up breakfast at a local bakery and hit the road. Our plan was to make it as far as possible east, towards Boulder. We were anxious to finally get back home.

Surfing in Tofino BC

We left Whistler and drove south west to the town of Nanimo where we boarded the ferry with our car and dog to Vancouver Island. It was a beautiful view of the skyline of the city of Vancouver as we left. There was an upper deck with seats for passengers that we checked out eventually. The trip was about an hour and a half. We landed in departure bay and took highway 4 west to the coast. We arrived at our campsite which was located in the Pacific Rim National Park. We set up camp and walked a short distance through the woods to the beach. It was a little chilly, but the beach was beautiful. We checked the water and then decided to go into the town of Tofino to get some dinner. The restaurant "Shelter" was outstanding and we loved the food so much that we wanted to go back the next night again.

The next morning at 10am we had booked a 2 hour surf lesson with a company called surf sisters. We met at the shop, and then drove to the beach. The lesson includes a surfboard rental plus wet suit. We learned about balance, foot and hand positions and how to "pop up". The boards we would be riding on were called soft tops, they are soft on top and float well. Also they are of the long board type and are much easier to learn on. After about an hour of practicing, we hit the water.

It was ice cold and took my breath away. It took a good 10 minutes of swimming around and getting dunked by waves before you got used to it. The instructors helped to stabilize us on the board then gave us a tug toward the shore for some momentum in order to "pop up" on the board. It was very helpful! Before we knew it we were out farther and in the larger surf. Andy was up on about every other wave. I could pop up but fell off right away. Towards the end of the session I was able to stand for most of the ride in. It was awesome. We agreed that it wasn't that cold once you were moving around.

We later found out that these Canadian surfers ride in the winter, they told us that that is when the waves are the best! We went back to the shop to warm up with some espresso and thanked our instructors. We would definitely recommend this company, "Surf Sisters" to anyone who is interested in learning how to surf!

Mountain Biking in Whistler

Mountain Biking in Whistler Day 1

So, we stopped along our traverse of British Columbia in a small mountain town called Revelstoke hoping to find an outdoor enthusiast community like Boulder, but were not impressed. The town was dead, and we figured it was more of a ski or winter time recreational area. Or maybe the biking was up closer to the ski area. So we decided to continue on eager to get to Whistler for the legendary mountain biking.
We picked up a map from a local mountain bike guide shop and drove out to the trailhead. The ride was called “A River Runs Through It” on the map it was marked black diamond with double black diamond sections throughout. Of course Andy chose probably the most difficult trail on the map. It turns out that a black diamond marking in Canada (Whistler) is quite a bit more challenging than a black diamond marking in Colorado. We also started out riding the trail in the wrong direction. So as you can imagine, when we hit the double black diamond section which had many features including bridges and planks only 12inches wide and 6 plus feet off the ground…I was freaked. With this being our first official encounter with such features, we needed a little practice.
In the end, Andy figured out the right direction to ride the trail, and kept practicing, I rode back to the car and took Payton for a trail run, equip with my camera. I got some great action shots of Andy riding the bridges.

Mountain Biking in Whistler Day 2
Shortly after our intense zip line tour, we got changed into our biking gear, and headed out on some trails near the base of the ski mountain. This time we had a more detailed map, and did some research before riding. We asked around at a couple of the local bike shops and got the unanimous, “Ride the trails at the base of the mountain” report, and decided to check it out. I was planning on only checking out the blue or intermediate trails today and was still met with some challenging features. Andy was now an expert, but waited for me and encouraged me to try some of the smaller bridges that weren’t as high off the ground. After some time practicing I began to feel comfortable. We rode through a spaghetti plate of intersecting single track, which included, burmed turns, rollers, bridges, and planks. There were a number of challenging uphills and downhills. We rode for a couple of hours and then took some time practicing some of the features that they had in a mini practice park. All in all today was a much better ride than yesterday for me.