FIRST DAY HOME

The first act of the morning was to get breakfast at Geo’s. The tattooed barista is gone, pursuing her teaching career, but the breakfast was excellent as was the coffee. Nice addition to the Marina area!

The second act of the day was stopping by a bike repair place to buy a road bike. I only know two bike mechanics, but they both have a similar vibe. Good folks, both, but live more on the edge of life than most.

I also met “Steven” (25 pounds of awesomeness).

I needed a road bike as middle age women were routinely passing me during my commute on my mountain bike. Every once in a while there would be a gal towing a kid on one of those kid trailers and I could usually pick them off. I would usually leave them laughing as I would exclaim, “finally! I’m actually faster than someone!”.

In any case, my selection narrowed between two bikes. An old Italian race bike that was really sweet, and a French Motobecane designed for, according to the bike mechanic, “a drunk Frenchman riding on cobblestones while carrying loaves of fresh bread”. Perfect I thought (and no, I don’t know why I thought that).

I did want to put fenders and a rack on the bike and it would have been aesthetically offensive to gum up the sleek Italian bike. If it is available in a few months, I may get it for a summer commute as it was a really sweet and very fast bike. But for now it’s me and the purple monster.

A late 70’s, sturdy steel framed road bike. The bike mechanic was overjoyed about my decision to purchase. He had about 3 hours to cover a check for his car insurance and he was going to get his girlfriend to drive him to the bank so he could cover a withdrawal that was about to take place. As I said, they tend to live on the edge. But I figure knowing a couple of bike mechanics is a good thing. Can’t wait for Monday’s commute.

Mt Si across the valley

We’re babysitting ‘Riggs’ for the weekend, so yy third act of the day was to take him up to Rattlesnake ledge. 4 miles and 1,200 feet of elevation gain. Which is about 1,175 feet more than anything in Columbus. I had wanted to do Mt Si, but Maren, Jodi, and time argued against it. All three were right. 

The ledge.  2 miles and 1200 feet away

Rattlesnake ledge was perfect. It’s nice to live in an area where you can wake up to salt air, hear the sea gulls crying, then a short time later be in the woods with moss and that fresh scent of wet forest. Rattlesnake lake can be a pretty pedestrian hike by NW standards, but today it was perfect. We’ve often hiked Rattlesnake at night, which is a real treat. 

While I’m sure these are hoaxes, the next time we hike at night I may think of this story or that story about bigfoot sightings around Rattlrsnake Ledge!!