I am so pro!

Woke up Wednesday morning and all was well! The Heavenly Bed was just that. We were now on a quest for Tim Hortons. Since we weren't in Ontario we really had to search. 20 minutes later we enter. We go in, start placing an order and then ask about credit cards. Nope. Down to the 7-11 and the ATM. There they had a new dew called Dew Fuel. It tastes like Mountain Dew and has more caffeine. In fact I am pretty sure they no longer have Mountain Dew but instead have just Dew Fuel. Anyways, back to Tim Hortons.

12 donuts, 6 cookies, 1 blueberry muffin & 1large hot cocoa. 1 Boston Cream and 2 Chocolate glazed and Jess' muffin later we were headed south. We drove to Anacrotes to hit the ferry. We get to the ferry and some golf team was there. Some Beav like dude got out his driver and teed one up. He swings and then the head went flying, his club broke. Hilarious! Anyways, we got on the ferry and headed to Orcas Island. My plan was to ride to the top of Mt Constitution, over 2000 feet of vertical. We got to some lake and I got out. 5.5 miles to the top. We saw some otters at the lake, they jumped right on to the deck and hid in some boats. I got on my bike and Jess played sag wagon, support and photographer. I got up in 42 minutes. Lots of photos. Lots of video. At one point I was riding up and two deer were there. The mom liked me and would've probably ate out of my hand if I wasn't out of corn. I did get about 5 feet from her. Anyways, I made it finally! The reward? Rain! :) OK, it was a drizzle and we went up on a tower that was awesome! I then rode down. I wasn't that comfortable on this bike and I certainly am alot more timid that I was 10 years ago. I got down in maybe 10 minutes, probably could've got down in 8 back in the day. We then raced for the 4:15 ferry getting to the dock at 4:05. Oops, that ferry is a Sunday only. We got on the 5:20 (after like 4 sudokus) and headed back to Anacortes. We then drove to some outlet mall that sucked, then Taco Del Mar (Jess' new favorite) and Jack in the Box for me (underrated and quality) before hitting Seattle about 9:30. It was quite the bike ride and I am glad I did it.

The mountain in the background is what I climbed. See the ride data below and let me know what you think!!!

Ride Data!

Tuesday! This report is from a lap-top and I suck at Lap-Topping. We woke up early to hit the ferry to Orcas Island. Unfortunately we checked the schedule before leaving and we'd miss a ferry by about a half hour and then wait a good 2-1/2 for another one. Guh! We planned to do Orcas on Tuesday and Vancouver on Wednesday but we reversed it. We got through customs and were in Vancouver by 11am. We went to the Capalino Suspension Bridge first. It is one of the highest and longest suspension bridges in the world. It is like 300 feet above a gorge and plenty long and sketchy. Anyways we did it, and it was almost fun. We also did a tree top adventure which was like 9 bridges from tree to tree. These trees had to have a diameter of 6-8 feet. We got done with that and it was time to ride bikes. First we detoured up to the ski area but the lift to the top, although running, was cloudy. So we opted to not go up there to check stuff out. We got to Stanley Park in Vancouver and got the bikes ready. Nice weather (50s and light wind) greeted us. A nice casual ride down to the beach and then we rode through town. We got in like 16 miles and plenty of sights. We saw where the Canucks play and saw some huge-ass dome which shows me that Canadian Football is alive and well. Vancouver is an awesome city, the bike paths we rode were the most fun, scenic and entertaining ever. On the way back to Stanley Park we stopped so I could try a "tube steak." It ended up being a beefy hotdog-like thing and was awesome! We got back to the car after a nice 250 foot climb, one of the most fun rides ever. We even saw them taping some TV show called "Saved" and they were going to throw some dude off a bridge. We watched for like 20 minutes but nothing really happened. We got to the car and checked into our hotel. Jess got us a sweet deal on a Westin so we had a king size, Heavenley Bed! Awesome. We went to some super-mall place. The day took a turn for the worse. The McDonalds there (and one I saw on the way) had signs for the elusive Cadbury Cream Egg McFlurry. Words can't describe how awesome they are, I had one in the past. Anyways, I was pumped. We ate at the mall, having a less that stellar Taco Time experience. I did score a new t-shirt and some $.25 Canadian Wunderbar cream eggs so all was well. On the way out though, the McDonalds was out of the CCE McFlurry. :( We hit 4 more McDonalds but the promotion ended the day earlier and all were out of ingredients. Thus my caloric needs went unsatisfied for the day, I actually probably burned more calories than consumed for the 2nd day of this trip (Monday.) We hit the beds (couldn't stay up for the 11pm Trailer Park Boys Series 6 opener.) BK Cheesey Tots rock!!!

Monday: Monday was a sad day, my parents and the Beav would be leaving. :( We made sure we made the most of it though. Anyways, I got up at 6:30 to get a ride in. 40 and rain, great. It only rained for the first 2 miles though (which kind of sucks though) but I rode the bike path to UW, across the bridge, down on the west bank of Lake Washington, and onto the I-90 bike path for the 2 mile bridge. Yes there is a bike path lane on I-90 to ride bikes. I then got to Mercer Island and someone told me to ride there. I did. I rode the loop, beautiful roads. The east side of the island was just back and forth as the land was naturally fjorded. It was awesome! I then rode the rest of I-90 across Lake Washington into Bellevue. I rode north on random roads and got to Juanita Parkway. Then I did a nice 500 foot climb, followed by a 500 foot decent and then 10 more bike path/road miles and I was home, 48 miles was the total. It was nice when I got home. The Beav and Dad went golfing so Mom, Larkin, Jess and I went to Red Mill burgers, supposedly the best in Seattle. They were closed on Mondays so we opted for Kidd Valley. The burgers weren't good and they specialize in Garlic Fries. They were weird, but not in a good way for me. The Oreo Shake was great though! :) Back to the house, Jess and I headed to the Space Needle! We went up there and it was beautiful and it was nice to be in the open air! We hung out there for an hour and decided we had some time and my mom forgot to buy some stuff at the market. We bought her that stuff, got some treats and I had to hit 1 more of those tamales as I couldn't afford not to. We got back home and then just hung out while my family packed and took turns holding Anna. Then Larkin took them to the airport and we met him at Taco Del Mar. Taco Del Mar resembles a Qdoba but the food is different. They have alot of fish tacos and stuff like that. I opted for the shredded beef burrito with rice, refried beans, cheese and sour cream. It was one of the best burritos I've had, not as big as the Q and a little pricey but the taste was awesome! Eric and Beth went shopping, Jess and I came home and crashed...

Welcome to Seattle!

Sorry for the delay, it has been go-go-go here so I haven't had much time. I woke up a bit early on a Thursday morning so I have a little time. This is also my first ever post from a Mozilla Firefox browser as well. I'll do a day by day update here.

Friday: We left Madison a little after noon and headed to wonderful Chicago. We had extra time so we decided to stop at the Cheesecake Factory in Schaumburg, yummy!!! An order of Buffalo Blasts later we hit the Target to get some snacks and stuff for the plane and headed to O'Hare. O'Hare was very O'Harish, but everything went off without a hitch. Even scored one quick Dunkin donut for fun. We flew American which meant 4+ hours, one Coke, no food and no entertainment. Lots of Sudokus and other puzzles later we arrived. My parents were supposed to beat us by an hour and then by 10 minutes as they were delayed. We showed up and saw Larkin but no family, we beat them. 15 minutes later, Mom, Dad and the Beav showed up, it was a family affair!!! We got our rental car as my brother was taking them to the house, but we ended up beating them there anyways. Seattle at night was really cool!!! Then we got to see Anna! :) It was our first time to see our niece (or granddaughter to my parents) and she is even more adorable in person. 2 weeks old and she already has tons of personality. Although like any baby she cries and eats alot but she is so cute!!!

Saturday: We got up a little late and Jess, Beav, Dad and I headed out for breakfast. Just looking for something simple, we drove down a road finding some normal fastfood options turned around and hit McDonalds. We then went to Fred Meyer to buy some snacks for the next few days. We then kind of chilled at home as everyone still wanted to hang out with Anna! It was then off to the Pike Street Market. This is where they have those people throwing fish all around. It was so much more than that though! You can buy about anything but they specialize in fresh produce, fish, flowers and food. Consumption at the market included: $1.35 tamale...best tamale ever, it was not only the cheapest and tastiest tamale it was also the biggest. What a combination. I also had an order on mini donuts and we all went and had Gelato together. Thank god we walked over a mile. We got home and everyone was tired. my body felt weird with all the sugar and the flight and the crappy sleep, I jumped on the bike. IN true Seattle fashion it was raining! It was a cold, wet and windy ride but I got in 22 miles on the Burke-Gilman path with a little detour for fun up some hill. We got home and I showered. We then went to eat for my Dad's birthday. We went to Green Lake where most of us (them) ate at Spuds (fish) and Larkin, Jess and I ate at some random mexican place. Good food, I would've been ok either way. That night we kind of hung out and chilled. Some of them went grocery shopping with easter the next morning. Tab Energy sucks, it is like salad dressing flavored energy drink...thank god I only wasted 5 calories on it. 5 out of 5 people agree..it totally blew! Saturday...done!


Sunday: Easter! It was supposed to be crap that day so instead of getting on the bike I thought it would be nice if we took a drive. Mom (grandma) wanted to hang out with Anna so the rest of us (minus sister-in-law Beth who was still sleeping from a hungry/crying Anna all night) headed out for a random car tour. It ended up being beautiful out. We went to Husky Stadium, home of the Washington Huskies, and took some photos. Then off to theor Arboretum as things were well in bloom here. We then hit the 7-11 for some Slurpee action and then saw Seattle U and the hospital Anna was born at. From there we headed to this random park under the freeway where they were building a mountain bike skills park. On our way to the park we saw a DeLorean car, silver, straight McFly! Awesome! Anyways, we get to this park and people were actually working on the trails. It will probably be bigger than Ray's, dry, but not as extreme. They were making some switchbacks and already had one log crossing. I figured they'd be farther along, but alas they weren't. Above the park were beautiful sights of the city with lots of photos!!! We then went to a K-Mart for the heck of it and then back home just in time for some Easter dinner! After a ham induced coma we then went to some crazy-ass waterfall. Of course we get to the deck and it was beautfiful, I was just jealous of the 4 people who somehow made it down to the rocks 330 feet below. Well not to be outdone, We (the boys and Jess) found the trail. The trail gets you close to a lower observation deck, you then have to climb down some rocks, around some signs advising you not to do what we were doing, and alas you were in the rocks about 100 feet from the base of the falls in a fog of mist. Beav and Dad opted to stay on deck. After the falls, we had two cars, our car took the scenic route home (their's did too but their's focused on golf courses) and then we were home. Some leftovers and John making milkshakes later we were all pretty much cashed so we just sat there and I fell asleep watching Family Guy (to my defense it starts at 9 here and I was beat.)

More to come later!!!