Winthrop

A couple of weekends ago Paul and I drove over to Winthrop for a mountain bike race. I was kind of dreading the whole weekend thinking Leah would be fussy in the car and I would be incredibly bored during a weekend dedicated to mountain biking (which I don't do). I was so wrong! (I know, rare.) The drive over was beautiful and Leah was great, napping twice along the way. Leah can't sit in her seat too long so we used the opportunity to stop at some great roadside stands including one that offered 102 flavors of jerky and taffy.

When we got there we registered Paul for the race and then all three of us went for a bike ride. We got a recommendation on a nice wide and flat trail and it was perfect. I guess I like "mountain" biking after all (although I don't know if this qualifies). Afterwards we walked around the cute little downtown. They have kept all the store fronts looking like they did when the town was settled. The whole street had so much personality. We ate dinner at Duck Brand Restaurant and it was delicious. Then we headed back to the hotel where Leah went to sleep with no problem.

The next day we went to Paul's race site and he took off for his race with lots of energy. We were looking at the race map and elevation changes and it sounded really hard!! In the meantime, Leah and I took a ride at a local pond that had a trail around it. When we got back we thought we had time to see Paul pass the halfway point(the race was two laps). We waited and waited as all the riders came and went. Finally Paul came huffing up the road looking beat! I told him to just quit out of the race right there! But he was not having it. Apparently a very heavy rider had passed him and asked him if he was also in the "Clydesdale Division" for heavy riders! Paul took that personally and it gave him a burst of energy (that and three Gu packets). He was able to catch up to the group and even finish with a respectable time!

On the way home we took the North Cascades Highway which I had never been on before. It was breathtaking!! We stopped at the visitor's center there for a short hike to move around a bit. There were beautiful views everywhere. I could have driven that highway all day and it was the perfect time of year for it. Then we stopped at highly recommended hole-in-the-wall for dinner called the Eatery Drive-In next to an "RV resort" (yes you read that correctly - whatever that means). It turns out that people that live in the middle of nowhere are weird but boy can they cook!

I loved all the incredible scenery and Paul is glad that I don't hate mountain biking anymore so I guess we were both pretty happy with the trip!