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By Gilbert, July 19, 2009 4:05 pm

The road to Eatonville proved to be the first real hill we had to bike up. It seemed like it would never end… but we prevailed!

We went next to the house of an artist who used wood and metal to make sculptures. We hadn’t seen anything like that before, and didn’t expect to find something like this on the way to Paradise.

Big sculpture made out of wood branches.

Another sculpture we thought for a bit was a person resting.

Metal was also another material used for the sculptures.

We were approaching Mount Rainier, and although it was pretty much a constant climb, we were still very motivated, although the ride was slow and not the easiest one.

Approaching Mount Rainier...

Still motivated. Yeah!

A lady from a store in Elbe helped us pick the most convenient routes we were to use after our departure from Paradise.

At the Cougar Rock campsite, the nice rangers found room for us despite the camp being already full. There was no hot water (or showers) at the camp, so we set our tent and went for a walk to check out the glaciar-water river close by. With a lot of courage (on Michel’s side), and a bit of lack of courage on my side, we ended up skinny dipping in one of the slower water pools of the river as an alternative to showering. Michel went full on, all at once, and I had to do one part at a time, as the water way too cold for me (although I took my time to “get the job done”).

Distance covered:  73.5km

Total distance so far: 459 km

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By Gilbert, July 19, 2009 3:38 pm

On our last morning in Seattle, we again had breakfast at the Pike Market (so many good things to eat, although at times a bit expensive).

No burritos for us today.

The produce and fish/meat looked great! Everything was placed aesthetically and the salesmen/saleswomen made sure to yell around and throw goods at each other to give tourists the impression of being in an old-fashioned market.

There were some huge lobster tails and crabs at several stands.

Lots of crabs... hopefully we can find a place with all-you-can-eat crab during the trip.

Michel - checking out the produce in the market.

After breakfast, showering, packing and buying food for the road, we started our trip to Eatonville. We were planning on staying at a Motel that night, but we saw a campsite (RV Rainbow Resort) 10km before the city so we decided to stay there and enjoy the lake.

On the way there we were also able to see Mount Rainier (still far).

Heading towards Mount Rainier.

At the campsite we went for a quick swim after setting up the tent and preparing the things we’d need to cook dinner soon after. The water was nice and warm (although it was getting late and thus cooler outside).

Setting up the campsite before going for a swim.

It turns out there were bacteria in that lake that could cause itching (people fish there a lot) so we were told to make sure to shower after the swim.

The lake at the campsite.

The swim was very refreshing, and we had a big dinner (pasta with polish sausage and cheese) before resting for the next day.

Distance covered: 87 km

Total distance so far: 335 km

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By Michel, July 18, 2009 9:43 pm

The morning after arriving at Bainbridge Island, we started the day by drinking a warm and comforting coffee offered by our Norwegian friends. Since we had decided to take a rest in Seattle, there was no rush to pack that morning. We had a long and lazy breakfast. During that time, Isaac (the oldest of the three children) was unicycling. Considering his young age, we were really impressed! I couldn’t help myself to ask them if I could try it out. Isaac was more than glad to lend me his machine and give me some tips!

Friendly Norwegian family at Bainbridge Island

We finally left to go to Seattle (in the afternoon). There is a ferry to and from the island, between Seattle and the town of Eagledale. The road to get to the ferry was surprisingly hilly (too bad for our first resting day…)! The ferry goes directly to downtown Seattle.

Michel firing a coast guard boat from his mouth (on the Seattle ferry).

Arrived in Seattle, we headed to the Green Tortoise hostel, which was recommended by the Lonely Planet guidebook. It’s located downtown, costs about 30$ per night, is very clean, and offers free breakfast everyday and free dinner every two days. We visited the Experience Music Projet, a museum featuring Jimmy Hendrix’s history and a room with interactive music leasons (guitar, piano and drums). Very interesting if you have a couple of hours to kill! That night, we partied until late with Nico and Patrick, a Swiss and a Dutch respectively.

Party night at the Green Tortoise hostel. From left to right: Patrick, Nico, me and Gilbert.

While buying beer for the night, a guy with his eyes all puffed up and crying/drooling on himself came into the liquor store and asked for help. The guy had been pepper-sprayed. Wanting to help him, I was about to buy him a pint of milk for him to pour on his eyes (it’s supposed to help in comparison to water which worsen’s the burn). Seeing my intentions, the clerk told us that he had been pepper-sprayed for having harassed a lady and thus that he didn’t deserve our help. Shocked by the whole situation, we left without saying a word…

Michel trying to blend in (in downtown Seattle) - note the picture in the background

After a late morning, we went to the Pike Market, an outside market(partially, at least) selling fish, fruit, vegetables and other things. Interesting fact: the Pike Market Roast offered at Starbucks was named after the market, since the first Starbucks is located right in front of it. After sleeping-in (biking really is really tiresome ), we bought fish n’ chips for breakfast at the market.

Fish n' Chips at the Pike Market

Gilbert having a good time at the Pike market

As you can see, our two resting days in Seattle were pretty tiresome!

Distance covered: about 10 km

Total distance so far: 294 km

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By Gilbert, July 18, 2009 7:54 pm

Michel has updated the “Real Itinerary” link on the lower right column of the blog page (it’s more up to date than the posts since “internet access with computers” is scarce – there are lots of wifi hotspots but rarely do they offer computer stations).

Having left the Tyee Motel in Coupeville, we headed towards the Fay Bainbridge State Park camping site.  We took our first ferry to Port Townsend, a small nice town.

Michel holding the nut-mix with chocolate - soon to be devoured

Gilbert eating while posing to show the rain that awaited after Port Townsend

We were worried we’d have to dress up in waterproof clothing, but somehow we managed to escape the rain (I guess the wind was going our direction).

While buying food (and my first espresso – delicious of course) at Port Townsend, we met with Jason, who has crossed the states from New Orleans to Portland on his bicycle. He was very nice and offered to give us a biker’s map he had at home, but we were a bit late so we had to decline his offer. He showed us a nice bike path (where a railroad used to run through before) right along the coast, and he rode along with us till the highway started.

Picture with Jason at the end of the nice bike trail. A lot of people use the mirror attached to their glasses around here.

On our lunch stop we ate at a gas station, just next to another bike path Jason had recommended. There we met a couple of bikers (Canadians) we talked to for a bit. A local stopped to ask us where we were heading to, and after that gave us a crab to eat for dinner (which we were very excited about when dinner time came).

Heating up the crab on the campfire. It was definitely one of the highlights of the day.

The side-road Jason recommended was great. It was pretty much flat and with little wind (and a very nice landscape) so we were able to ride next to each other and chat all the way till we got to the bridge before the camp site. There were lots of very expensive houses around the area (but it seemed like they were trying to keep a hippie-like decoration). The road to the camp site had a very steep slope, and we thought we’d have to push our bikes up the hill the next day (but we were just tired… it was quite easy to bike it up). The camping site had free hot showers (the hot-water counter was broken), and a nice beach with a view of Seattle (and a bit of a smog cloud on top of the city).

We met with a very nice Norwegian family (Uwe, Ingrid and their children). They reminded me of a friend from Vancouver (if you read this, don’t worry – I didn’t try out my Norwegian with them!). We had a delicious cold beer with them before setting the tent, having diner and going to sleep.

Distance covered: about 80 km

Total distance so far: 284 km

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By Michel, July 14, 2009 12:56 am

The next day was July 4th (a big US holiday), and Blaine had a parade and a market open (we got to treat ourselves to a slushy and iced latte), then left in the afternoon (once again way before the expected time). Since the sun was about to set, we decided to stay at a campsite on Chuckanut drive, next to the coast. It’s small but very nice and natural. We had another minute-swim in the freezing cold ocean water. We were able to take a couple of shots of the beautiful sunset. This was our first dinner and sleep in nature!

Gilbert and the sunset at the Chuckanut drive campsite (doesn't this look fake?)

Michel preparing a camp-style breakfast

After breakfast (without peanut butter, since it mysteriously disappeared…), we left to get to Coupeville. This day was certainly the most tiresome day yet… we pushed ourselves way too much! We quickely understood that it’s better to ride at a lower speed during a longer period of time than to push hard for shorter periods. In the latter case, our muscles were acheing and stiffening up.

Break on a bridge between campsite and Coupeville

Michel finally discovered that loads of blackberries grow in the west!

We finally decided to stay in a Coupeville motel to rest and get a proper shower.

Distance covered: 140km

Total distance so far: 190km

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By Gilbert, July 14, 2009 12:23 am

The days spent in Vancouver went by very fast. Gilbert had to finish off some work (as expected) but we got to try out the 133m Kits’ swimming pool, and swam a couple of times in the cold ocean water (after all we had to compare it to the Santa Barbara one). We visited the UBC campus, and ate lots of sushi (twice, and the second time, we almost burst!), and got to spend time with some good friends from Vancouver.

Going for a bike ride with Enej

Having beers with some of Gilbert's Vancouver friends

As could have been expected, the day of the departure from Vancouver (3rd of July), we weren’t really ready. Still, we took our time and went for a bike ride around Stanley Park and then took our time to pack things, only to realize that the front rack of one of the bikes couldn’t be installed. Michel cooked up a good (temporary) solution. After an ice cream at Mario’s Gelato (which made us miss the closing time of the bike shop), we finally started the trip to the US at 7pm, but not without Michel thinking he had forgotten his passport at Pete’s place (for which we didn’t have the keys for anymore).

Michel looking for his passport

Michel ended up finding his passport after almost giving up (yeah we have good packing skills)

We arrived in Blaine at midnight, after riding a couple of hours in the dark (Blaine is the first city after the border). At the border we had to show photocopies of our plane tickets. The Border Agent told us it was a good thing to have those handy.

We had burgers for dinner and finally went to bed in a Motel.

Total distance so far: about 50km (we didn’t have time to install the odometer… was low priority )

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By Michel, July 1, 2009 11:05 pm

Our adventure has finally begun! We arrived in Vancouver yesterday noon. And thankfully, our bikes arrived and are still  intact.

We are probably leaving Friday morning for Seattle. We’ll give more elaborate news soon…