July 2012
July 8
As I teased in June, we had day 2 of the Northwest Tandem Rally. We woke up on Sunday morning to rain in Beaverton at 5am. I started perusing all the weather sites I could find to try to find out what the weather was like in Salem. Checking Google and Weather channel they said it was just cloudy…it was also saying it was only cloudy in Beaverton. I checked the ODOT traffic cameras for Salem, but it was difficult to tell if it was actively raining. The roads looked wet, but the trees seemed too visible for rain. Jada and I made the executive decision since it wasn’t raining really hard to go ahead, load up, and drive down. Worst case scenario was we waste 90 minutes driving down and back for breakfast. It was, in fact, raining in Salem, but it wasn’t hard. It was a heavy mist, but not much more than that. We let our friends Paul and Becky know we were on. We also met up with the other quad family who noticed our bike still on our car to check if we wanted to ride with them.
We only waited a little while for our friends to arrive. It was only misty on and off which we decided to take as a positive. We set off on our ride. We were riding pretty well trading leads and chatting all along the way. We started working on a plan to shave off distance on the ride. The first was after the first rest stop which was at a park where Phoebe was able to play on the play structure for a little bit. A few other people had also thought our little scheme was a good one and followed us as we went straight across where the route turned right to follow Mill Creek. It would have been about a 12 mile ride to the next rest stop. We did it in 3miles. I did pick up a thorn in my front tire just about a mile before the next rest stop, but our crew stopped to help with the change plus I always carry a couple spare tubes anyway. At the next rest stop all 5 of the quads happened to be there at the same time so we got some pictures with all of us together. The one on my camera didn’t come out too well, but hopefully someone’s did. While at that first stop, we figured out another way to shave some distance off. It ended up being a bit hilly, but the final downhill run to the rest stop was fast and fun. The rain had stopped, and there was even a little sun break at the animal shelter we stopped at for our last stop. The finish was at Wilson Park next to the state capitol building. We sat on the ground and some benches with our old and new friends. Phoebe went over to talk to one of the girls she had met at one of the stops who was on a trailer bike attached to her parent’s tandem. She just chats up a storm.
We only had a couple days to get ready for our next trip. I went to work for those 2 days while Jada and the girls spent the time getting laundry done and getting the house in order before we left again on the morning of July 4th for Skamania Lodge in Washington for the Santana Family Friendly Columbia Gorge Tandem Rally. We arrived in Stevenson, WA early enough to grab lunch in the town at Andrew’s Pizza. They had good stromboli. We checked in at the lodge after lunch to find our rooms already ready to inhabit, so while I took the quad down, Jada took the girls up to the room to change for this afternoon’s ride. We had to be ready for route talk by 12:45pm, but we had plenty of time. We met up with our other quad friends from the NWTR (you really can’t miss a purple quad) again. Even though this was their family friendly ride this year, there were only 5 kids on the ride (2 quads and a triple) ages 9, 11, 12, 13, and 17. They all got along great. Our first ride on the 4th was to the Bonneville Dam. (My notes for this week’s ride got lost on my phone for some reason, so this won’t be as complete as originally intended.) The gorge winds all week were blowing east, so we started into a head wind for the 6 mile ride down to the dam. We got a personal tour led by an interesting army officer since the site is maintained by the Army Corp of Engineers. The story I heard was when he asked our ride leader and owner of Santana Bicycles what sort of tour he should give to the adults since he typically gives tours to kids, Bill said to just give the tour like he does to the kids since we’re all just big kids anyway. It was the right decision. The tour was fun and informative. We got to see the 14 turbines on the Washington side of the dam along with the bikes they use to move around the massive expanse of the building. We also got to see under the water level of the fish ladders. The ride back to Skamania Lodge was quick thanks to the tailwind, however, the climb to the lodge is on a 14% grade. We made it, but it was a crawl. Dinner was provided that night in the form of a BBQ outside on the lawn. The weather was perfect. Bill’s wife Jan brought some sparklers and s’mores for the kids. There were going to be fireworks over the Columbia, but they weren’t going to start until after 10pm since the sun sets so late in the summer time. We let the girls do sparklers, but I had to demonstrate how to run around with them. There was another rider who also got in on the fun. I have to say, I’m not sure what it is about cyclists, but all the people we’ve me on these rides have been so nice and accommodating to us and the kids. After a few sparklers, it was still only 9pm, and the girls were really tired (and so were we). Plus we could see the fireworks from our room window. Our room was well appointed for us. There was a hide-a-bed in the couch where Ellen decided to sleep. There was a partially separated room with 2 double beds. Phoebe took one of those and jada and I took the other.
On July 5th, we had our ride talk at 8:30am, so we had time to enjoy a leisurely breakfast buffet down in the restaurant also provided by the tour. (as a side note, we didn’t lose any weight on this ride) Today’s route took us across the Bridge of the Gods to the Oregon side of the gorge for a ride potentially as far west as Vista House on the old Columbia Gorge Highway, but lunch would be served at Multnomah Falls Lodge. The ride over Bridge of the Gods is a little bit of a nervous experience for someone who is afraid of heights. It’s a safety mesh steel bridge which means you can see right through the grate to the river plus your wheels tend to float across the grate, so you can’t ride a straight line especially on our rig. Luckily, max speed for cars on the bridge is 15mph so we didn’t feel rushed. The Bridge of the Gods got its name from a land slide from the nearby Tabletop Mountain that was originally located near this spot in the river. It has long since been worn away by time and the Columbia River’s current, but the legend goes that the spirits of Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams were fighting over the affection of Mt. St. Helens, and the Bridge of the Gods was ripped up to keep Mt. Hood from reaching the other side. Anyway, back to our ride. We struck out with the other quad family again, and we all took the bike and pedestrian path that starts in Cascade Locks and runs along the high way for a bit before looping around back and forth under the highway before coming out at the south end of Bonneville Dam and the sturgeon hatchery. We got to see the 12 foot long sturgeon called Herman. These are an ancient breed of fish that are believed to have been around since the time of the dinosaurs. After that, we were back on the path. We were leading the way when suddenly, we hit stairs. Steep stairs with multiple landings and a bend on the way up. Jada and I made it up eventually, but it was difficult to do. I wasn’t able to take pictures of the ordeal, but I’m sure someone did. After that, it was more of a climb to the top which was above the east-bound tunnel on highway 84. After a time, the path just ended. There were some members of our group that were riding back towards us letting us know that we couldn’t go any further. We back tracked and went around a gate that lead straight to the shoulder of I-84 where we rode the rest of the way to Warrendale exit to the old Columbia River Highway. Still riding into the headwind, but now with the tree cover, it wasn’t as difficult a drive onward. We stopped off at Horse tail falls for some pictures before arriving at Multnomah. Lunch wasn’t going to be served until 1:15pm. We reached Multnomah Falls with about an hour to go before lunch, so we decided to go to Bridal Veil first. However, when Ellen threw her leg over the back of the bike like she was mounting a horse, she cut her knee on the button we had picked up at the Bonneville Dam the day before. Luckily we had our first aid kit in the trunk to help stop the bleeding. She was ok to start up again after about 20 minutes. Bridal Veil was disappointing. We took a wrong path to get to what we thought was the overlook, and then we were out of time to take the other since we’re pretty slow. The other quad family decided to go ahead and take the other path to try again, but they reported that the view wasn’t very good.
We made it back just at 1:15pm, and the other family wasn’t far behind. Lunch was good. I had a ham and cheese sandwich with tomato bisque soup and Jada had the chicken salad sandwich. The girls similarly divided their lunches. We shared the table with a different couple that got to see the girls at both their grumpiest (before getting their late lunch) and happiest (after getting some real food into them). We took off after lunch when one of the other couples on the ride needed me to unblock their tandem. We rode with them for a little while. Everyone is just so nice. I said this earlier, but I think there must be something about the personality that it takes to ride a tandem that makes them well suited to get along with each other. We got to ride for a time on the freeway…the actual road way part due to construction on the shoulder. At one point a big front loader was coming towards us taking up most of the lane. Jada asked me what we were going to do to which I replied, “we wait”. Luckily we didn’t have to put our feet down since it moved over to let us go by. With the tail wind, we were moving pretty fast down the road until we got to the exit where we could rejoin the path. It wasn’t long after that that we arrived back at the stairs where we were fortunate to find a couple of the other tandem riders waiting to help us carry the quad down the stairs. Like I said, everyone is just so nice and considerate. They didn’t have to stop, but they did anyway. The ride back across the Bridge of the Gods was difficult with the cross wind blowing, and when we made it up the hill to Skamania Lodge, another day was done, and we put the bike to bed in the storage room. Then before dinner, we let the girls go swimming in the pool joined by the rest of the kids on the tour. For dinner we all went to Andrew’s Pizza in Stevenson. The kids almost put away two whole pizzas, and the adults only had a few slices left. I took a couple slices just in case we needed some quick dinner or breakfast at some point. The girls got to bed late again.
July 6th was an early start. We had just enough time to throw some breakfast down in the restaurant with Mike and Ellen who own West End Bikes. I helped load the bikes on the truck before climbing on the bus with everyone else for the ride to The Dalles. My front tire was flat when I went to go get it from the room where all the bikes were kept. When we got off the bus at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center at the west end of The Dalles, I helped unload bikes from the truck taking mine and starting on the front tire repair. Thanks to that, the families didn’t get out until almost the last. We still caught and dropped the ride leaders on the Rowena Loops. These were wide, sweeping turns built on the old Columbia Gorge highway to allow cars to safely drive at their break-neck speed of 35mph without losing control. They also allow good views of the gorge. The 2 quads and the triple continued up the climb to the overlook. I put a little bit of a surge at the end to beat them to the top. The view from the top afforded us a look back down on all the loops we rode to get to the top. From there, it was mostly down hill. The other quad is much faster than we are, so we chased on the way down to Mosier where we stopped at 10-Speed Coffee shop before shoving off again. This is where I managed to cut my shin on Phoebe’s handlebars when I was getting off. From here, we were into the rollers on the way to the ride through the Mosier Twin Tunnels. We had fun with the kids on the climb to the tunnels. Somehow we got on the subject of zombie salmon. I can’t really remember how that came up, though. It was warm and sunny and we were climbing. We regrouped at the other end of the bike path that goes through the tunnels for some water refills and potty stops. We made a decision to go ahead and try for the medium route which started just down the road. We made the turn to the medium route and ran up against a huge hill. I couldn’t get the gears down low enough, so for the first time we had to dismount and walk up the hill a little ways to where it levels out a little. We got back on to continue up the climb. I don’t know what the grade percentage was, but it had to be close to double digits. The ride across the medium route was almost completely uphill. The wind wasn’t too bad, but there were almost no flat spots. Phoebe ran out of water on the hot day as I was watching the temps on my computer hit 100 degrees. The views of Mt Hood and Mt Adams on either side were clear and incredible. We pulled into a vineyard to refill our camelbaks, and we caught up with our other quad friends after we came out of there. We had one more nasty climb ahead of us that we crawled up, and lost the other quad along the way. The triple managed to stay within site of us though. The ride into Hood River was desparate as we struggled to make it to our Lunch stop by 2pm. Thankfully we finally hit a massive downhill in to town which I used to the fullest to gain some time, and we pulled into the Columbia Gorge Hotel at 2:01pm for a terrific lunch buffet. Not one person elected to make the ride back Skamania mostly due to heat and the fact that the route was almost completely on highway 84. So all the bikes were re-loaded on the truck, and we got back on the bus.
As soon as we got back to the lodge, Bill the ride leader took all the kids with him for a secret surprise. All the parents had been warned already about what this was on the first day. It turns out, on Friday and Saturday the lodge does a raptor show featuring the operators and the Raptor House which runs a rehabilitation center for wild animals. The kids were training with the birds so they could participate in the raptor show. The boys stood in the back of the crowd, and Ellen and Phoebe stood front and center, and they got to send and receive BlackJack the Harris Hawk. They traded the gloves between them. They were having a blast. I got my head buzzed several times since I was sitting front and center. We also got to see an eagle devour a quail right in front of us. After the show, we went back to their yurts where they keep their birds and sleep while they’re at the lodge so the kids could have their pictures taken holding a barn owl and a burrowing owl. We finally had dinner around 8:30pm. We put the kids at a table by themselves while the adults sat a table together. Ellen and Phoebe didn’t eat anything - too distracted and too late for food.
July 7th was our last day on the ride. We rode down to Beacon Rock about 10 miles away down SR-14. There were signs for a sock hop in North Bonneville so we saw lots of classic cars. Ellen mentioned that they look cooler than modern cars. At Beacon Rock, we met up with a guide to lead us all up to the top and give talks along the way. It didn’t really turn out that way too much. There are just too many of us to do it. I was a little nervous with the steep sides, but both girls were at the front of the group right behind the guide as always. The views were very nice all the way up, and the climb wasn’t too bad. I’m glad we brought our shoes with us instead of wearing cycling shoes like several others. We stopped at the top for some pictures, and then it was back down again. The ride back to the lodge was fast and furious. We had the tail wind, and we were sitting at 30+ mph for long stretches until we hit the climb just after the dam. We made the lodge climb one last time, and I rode straight to the car to put the bike away while the girls went to the room to shower. We got all packed up and checked out on the way to the brunch that the tour put on. The food there was excellent with an omelet and Belgian waffle station. Then Bill gave us the sales pitch for the upcoming rides. Some of them sounded like we might like to do next year, but we’ll have to see how the dates work out. The captain of the other quad invited us to hang out for the afternoon at the pool since they weren’t checking out yet. We accepted after I checked with Jada if we needed to get back home for any particular reason. We hung out at the pool all afternoon. The kids had about 3 hours of playtime. We realized it was almost dinner time, so while the kids did showers, I went to help the other quad dad take his quad apart and get it packed in his boxes. It’s always fun to take it apart and learn someone else’s tricks for packing. We finally went to eat at a diner in Stevenson called Big T’s. The burgers were pretty good. The kids all had fun sitting together again. We finally said goodbye to our new friends and drove home.
July 12
Phoebe started her Biodiversity camp on Monday, and she enjoyed it the whole week. She dissected a mushroom on Wednesday and even a worm on Thursday which she said she liked doing. I got to have a massage on Tuesday after Jada had hers on Sunday. My birthday was on Wednesday. I was able to ride to work, but I didn’t do much else. I had a meeting come up at noon, so I had to cancel my lunch with my friend. We also found out our refrigerator is leaking water. We noticed a wet spot on our carpet when we returned from our trip. I thought it was just a spill, but it kept coming back. We finally figured out it was coming from the fridge. I thought I had scheduled an appointment for today, but it turns out, I had scheduled it for next week. So I re-scheduled for tomorrow morning. I hope it doesn’t damage our floor too much. I can’t get the fridge out to turn off the water.
July 17
On July 13, we had our toilet in the hall bathroom replaced which is nice. Hopefully no more clogs to plunge. The refrigerator was a whole other mess altogether. The repairman found the run-off tray full to the top of water and our coils full of dust. He thought cleaning those out would be enough, and he suggested that we pull the fridge out and mop up which we did. Unfortunately, once we did mop up the mess (and it was a lot of water), we found water still leaking. However, at that point, when I tried to call to get him back to fix it, I wasn’t even able to create a new appointment, let alone get the repairman back to the house. At least I was able to complain in my satisfaction survey. In the afternoon, we drove down to Corvallis, OR for the start of Cycle Oregon Weekend. Traffic was horrible on I-5 as expected for a Friday afternoon, but we eventually made it down to the Oregon State University campus around 5pm. We set up our tent on the intramural field next to the parking lot, got checked in, and finished unpacking the car. We left the girls’ bikes in the car, and we went to dinner in the dorm cafeteria. The food was pretty good followed by riding the quad up to the main school quad (that might get confusing) for evening announcements. We caused quite the stir. I parked behind a tree near the main stage, but it caught the attention of the bigwigs for the tour. After they did their announcements, Jay from the Bike Gallery asked if they could get a picture on it with the four principles for the CO board. It was really windy all afternoon, and it didn’t die down by the time we went back to the tent. It was sunny so we didn’t bother putting on the rain fly. It was after 9pm by the time the girls went down, but it was loud out in the field with other kids running around and adults clinking wine glasses and beer bottles. We all did manage to fall asleep eventually, and the wind was a natural white noise generator so that was helpful.
Day 2 of the weekend was on Bastille Day (July 14th for those who don’t know). We had breakfast in the dorm café which was pretty standard café fare. Then we lolly-gagged our way about until around 8:30am since the plan for the day was to ride to Philomath to watch their Grand Frolic Parade and then ride the medium route of about 36 miles. At the announcements the night before, they had said the parade would start around 10am. So we arrived around 9am after the 5 mile ride and helped out the volunteers guiding the riders across the street while we waited for the parade to start. And waited. And waited. Finally a little after 10:30am, the cub scouts marched down the street. It was a typical small town, summer parade. No bands, but lots of trucks, hot rods, and rodeo queens on horseback. It was sunny and hot while we watched, and it was after noon by the time it ended. We decided it’d be too late to start the medium route, so we went to the rest stop on the short route-a park a little less than a mile from where we watched the parade. They had lots of yummy berries. The girls played on the playground. The ride back to the campus was on a nice bike path. Lunch for the short route was at one of the dorm cafeterias. The rest of the afternoon was free. I pulled the girls’ bikes out, and they did laps around the closed down streets next to the field we were camped on. Ellen ended up having 10 miles on her odometer by the end of the day. I went off to find the showers. They were very old and institutional. The water came out fast and hard, scouring my skin. It wasn’t exactly relaxing. We waited until 5pm to have dinner in the dorms hoping to get over to the quad so the girls could decorate their bikes for the bike parade. Jada and I rode the quad while the girls followed (well, Ellen rode way ahead). However, when we got over there they had changed the time to 7:15pm, so we had a lot of time to waste. I asked Kelly at the Bike Gallery trucks to help me adjust Phoebe’s rear derailleur which wasn’t shifting well. Then we found two youth jerseys for the weekend ride that the girls could wear. Finally, the Kid’s Club folks got back to their area so Jada helped the kids with decorating. Sadly, the parade was too short, and it didn’t really go past where we were sitting. The girls complained that it was too slow, and they fell over at the slow speeds. We were back at camp around 9pm again. It was windy again and a little cooler than the previous night. We heard that Seattle to Portland had rain and thunderstorms, so I threw the rain fly on just to be safe. With all the wind, it was difficult to get the rain fly attached, but Jada helped while the girls went to brush their teeth.
Thankfully, the rain fly wasn’t needed. The night passed without any moisture falling from the sky. We planned to ride the long route of 68 miles, so we wanted an early start. We were at breakfast by 6:15am and on the road by a little after 7am. The wind had died down again, but it was still there in the form of a light tailwind we were able to take advantage of as we put Corvallis to stern and sped toward Peoria Road. Peoria Road was where we spent most of our first half of the ride. The wind was coming at us more as a crosswind now, so it was a more difficult fight. We were able to pull someone with us to almost the first rest stop, but there was a small rise before then where we lost our momentum. We started feeling some sprinkles, but it was more like there was so much humidity in the air the moisture was forced to stay in liquid form. I think I was sweating more than I was getting wet from that mist. The second rest stop was where we left Peoria road and headed toward I-5. We were zigzagging along the country roads so we would have a side wind followed by stretches heading north with a nice tailwind. We also had one of our only climbs that day as we crossed over the I-5. A pack of riders was just catching us as we were about to make the northern turn with the tailwind, so we stepped on the pedals as the first half of the group came by and took advantage of their draft a bit as the rest of their group struggled to overtake us. Phoebe genuinely asked why they weren’t able to come around us, but it came out as more of a taunt which we all found hilarious. We then were able to sling-shot around the group and took off at 28mph with the tailwind leaving them all way behind. We managed to stay ahead of them for a few more zigzags until they caught us on the way into Brownsville for a water stop as we fought against the wind again. From Brownsville, we made our way back toward I-5, so now we were fighting the wind no matter which way we turned. On the second climb up another I-5 overpass, the sign team had placed one of the “beware, long, winding descent ahead” signs which we thought was funny. However, the road into the lunch stop was a fun and winding road. The lunch was at the Thompson’s Mill which is an Oregon state heritage site because it is the oldest water powered grain mill in the state. Inside, the girls got to grind grain between millstones in the display area. We spent a little too long at lunch, and my legs were the ones yelling at me about it as we rolled out of the park. At least the sun was starting to come out as we battled the wind the rest of the way back to the campus for a hero’s welcome. We hung around the finish line answering some more questions before going back to pack up the tent and hit the road.
The funny thing about the drive home was the traffic backup caused by one of those traffic alert road signs up over the road. The highway was backed up for miles because people were reading the sign about something that had no impact on the actual highway. After getting past the sign, everything moved along just fine again. We stopped at Red Robin for dinner on the way back to get my free birthday burger.
July 21
Last Monday, Phoebe started her super cool class at OMSI on bridges. It was a day class where we dropped her off in the morning, and picked her up at 4pm. In the interim, she got to go all over the city looking at different types of structures and fountains to learn how they are made and work culminating getting to build and test their own Popsicle stick bridges. Phoebe’s held 40lbs and the bridge itself only weighed 8oz. Jada got to spend the day with them on Thursday riding the jet boats and the tram. After the first day, the instructor of the course (and writer of the Portland Bridge Book) told Jada that Phoebe was a “natural engineer.”
On Tuesday, Jada dropped Ellen off at Camp Kiwanilong which is out near the coast just north of Gearhart. It was a 4hr round trip plus the 1.5 hours it took to get her checked in once there because the director chats with each kid to get to know them a little more. Ellen was placed in a cabin with 5/6th grade girls most of whom hadn’t been at camp before either. There are about 8 to a cabin plus a counselor. The cabin she got just happened to be the only one with electricity. I picked her up from camp on Saturday morning. I got to hear all about the beads she earned for being a good sleeper, clean cabin, and “hopper” for setting up tables and bussing them when done. She got to do her archery (she just missed earning her bead for hitting a bulls-eye by inches), go on a canoe around one of the lakes, swim in the lake out to the deep end where the floating deck was, arts and crafts, and sing songs around the fire circle. Ellen said she didn’t get rained on, just the usual coastal mist we get here. There wasn’t anyone at the camp she already knew, but she makes friends easily. She had stayed up past midnight the night before she came home, though, so she was a bit on the surly side as soon as she got home and interacted with Phoebe. Siblings.
Friday, Jada and I went to see the Dark Night Rises at Cinetopia. We enjoyed it.
Saturday morning, while I was off picking up Ellen, we finally got our refrigerator fixed. We’d been trying to get them back all week. It turned out to be the connector where the water comes into the fridge. Saturday evening, we had Jada’s dad over for a BBQ since it was his birthday. He came over with his wife and her grandson. Jada’s niece also came over for dinner.
July 22
Today’s my friend Matt’s bday. Say Happy Birthday everybody!
We made arrangements to ride bikes with our friends Paul and Becky to the South Store Café for breakfast. It was cloudy and cool, but breakfast was yummy. The choices for breakfast include quiches, tortas, a variety of pastries, as well as oatmeal with nuts and berries. Everyone was fully satisfied with their choices. The restaurant was busy during our hour-long stay after which we headed home the long way. We ended up riding about 26 miles.
August 1
On July 26th, we drove down to California to visit our friend Pete. It took us about 11.5 hours which included our lunch stop in Ashland at a place called Munchies where we had brunch. We arrived in Mountain View, CA a little after 5pm and walked into downtown for dinner at our traditional Mexican place followed by a walk through one of the 2 bookstores we always visit. They had the street closed down again this year with a band playing in the road and classic cars parked up and down the street. We were there last year for the same event. In the morning, Pete had to work, so we went on a hunt to find a present for one of our friend’s children. We were hunting for either San Jose Sharks or Earthquakes gear. I figured it’d be like home where you can find Timbers gear pretty much wherever you go. No such luck. We struck out at 4 stores before driving into San Jose to a mega mall to find a Sharks hoodie. The afternoon was spent poolside while the girls swam for a few hours. Then we met Pete again for dinner downtown for Chinese followed by a trip to the other bookstore. We finished off the night watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Saturday morning, Pete came over to make us waffles ( I helped with the eggs and bacon while watching the Olympic road cycling race.) The coverage wasn’t up to par with the Tour or really any of the cycling races NBC Sports has been covering. (I didn’t even know Vino was in the break until he jumped with Uran.) We then drove to Santa Cruz to go to the Boardwalk. The road around the parking area is a mess with slow going to get into the lot. It was only $12 to park which wasn’t too bad. It was cloudy and cool just like the beach in Oregon, but the crowds didn’t stay away. As usual, I chose the wrong ticket line. There are options to buy bracelets good for all day or individual tickets (each $1) or the choice we made to buy 2x 50 ticket strips for $42 each so we could just split them all up. Needless to say after standing in line for 10 minutes behind someone trying to figure out what to do, we were done in 10 seconds. Jada’s first stop was the Double Shot and she somehow talked Phoebe into joining her. It shoots straight up a column 125feet, and then drops back down and up and down until it finally comes to rest again at the bottom. Phoebe survived. Pete, Ellen, and I stayed down on the ground. Next was the Pirate Boat which is one of those rocking pendulum deals. Pete and I declined that one as well. I did go on the Hurricane which was a really fun, short roller coaster with lots of twists, turns, and drops. For some strange reason Phoebe chose not to try the roller coaster, so Pete escorted her to two different kiddie rides while they waited for the rest of us. The Carousel was next, and the sun finally started coming out on the boardwalk while the girls circled on their horses. We went back to the car to have a light parking lot picnic before heading back to try to finish off our tickets. We rode another ride that was like flying on hang gliders where you lay on your stomach. It was not a terribly comfortable ride, but I was able to handle it ok. The girls went on a little dragon roller coaster by themselves. This was the part where I managed to drop my phone under the rollercoaster while trying to get some pictures. I had to get help to retrieve it. We ended the day with the girls doing the Ferris Wheel with Jada. That took us to a single ticket left for the day which we gave to Pete in case he ever needs it. We drove back to Mountain View in the afternoon and then headed to dinner at a pizza place in Palo Alto with good deep dish pizza. It’s still not as good as true Chicago pizza, but it’s certainly better than most other west coast pizza attempts. We were up early to drive home the next day making a stop for lunch at Heaven on Earth Bakery north of Grants Pass.
On Monday, July 30, Jada and I celebrated our blissful 12th year of marriage. I ordered a Beaverton Bakery Cake. It was just as sweet as my beloved. (ahhhh) The girls also started their gymnastics camp, and boy were they sore when they woke up on Tuesday.
Journal Entry: 8/1/2012