Oregon Coast

Even before we heard of the forecasted record high temperatures for the Portland area on Friday, Heather and I decided to go to the coast and see the far western border of this new state we have moved to. We left the city and it was already baking hot, but as we drove due west an hour and a half, tems began to fall as we neared the town of Tillamook where we stopped for lunch. We had set our sights on hiking Cape Lookout, which was to provide amazing views along the rocky coastline and multiple viewpoints.

We pulled up to the trailhead in the midst of a rainforest. It was very cool (low 60's was my guess), rainy, and cloudy. There was over a 30 degree temperature change between the city and the coast, only an hour and a half drive away. So, layered up (on this record hot day for the areas back east that we left) and began the trail shivering in our jackets. We got to one of the first viewpoints, and realized we were just not going to get our way with the views today; this is what we saw from our great viewpoint of the coast below:

Anyway, we continued through the rain and clouds along the hike, but the viewpoint at the end was nothing greater than a big white/grey cloud blocking everything. So, we headed back to the car and decided to drive up the coast a little bit to see if the weather would break and make a loop before heading back to Portland.

We did find this nice viewpoint on the side of the road:

This was the beach scene at Canon Beach and Haystack Rock:

It was quite cold on the beach we found: Note heather has on jeans, a sweater, and now a blanket, in the middle of summer:

Providence Bridge Pedal

The entire city (it seemed) showed up for the annual Providence Bridge Pedal early Sunday morning, August 10. This ride has several different options in length, but we chose the toughest - with 11 bridge crossings. It totaled 37 miles, with plenty of pit stops along the way for bananas, water, bagels, fruit, and cookies. Shorter options included riders of all ages and plenty of families with kids, etc. There were some nice opportunities to ride on the floor of the interstate highway (the I-405) running around the city and some other areas that cyclists would not normally choose to ride.
The bridge crossings were fabulous, as most of them were closed to cars and allowed only bicycles to cross. Our team held together quite nice and had a great time throughout the ride, soaking in neat views from all the bridges that crossed the great Willamette River (we did cross a few bridges twice, not 11 separate bridges). It was a great experience, and a good time on the bikes, with a supposed 20,000 riders particpating in total. Ride times were staggered throughout the morning and many of those riders chose shorter options. But, regardless, there were a lot of people on bikes!

For more pictures from the bridge pedal, click here: http://www.box.net/shared/hn8dboimfq

Mt. Hood

So, I basically have not written much here in a while because I have had no time to write and/or not much to say. I have been working full time at a bike shop, so that takes much of my time. However, Heather and I did make time recently to head out to Mt. Hood. This place is spectacular.

Beautiful scenery abounds, and views of the peak are around every corner. It was an amazing place and a wonderful way to spend the day.