Catch Up

I've been pretty lazy on the posting, and tonight I saw that all sorts of you have updated your blogs lately (except Heather, who is terrible and hasn't told us how the buffalo grass implants are doing) so I figured it was time.

Fortunately I can post strong, and brag about hitting another summer goal. Once I turned over 500 miles on the bike earlier than expected, I decided to shoot for 1000. Saturday morning I hit it on the way to breakfast!

What better way to celebrate, than by going on another long ride? My weekend hiking trip was canceled due to Erin's war with the genus Dolichovespula, so I decided to take Monday off and make the ride to from Seattle to Vashon to Tacoma and back that Charlie and I have been talking about for a couple months.
We met downtown for some coffee and a crumpet (anyone who comes to visit in Seattle should swing by the Crumpet Shop in Pike Place) before riding out to the Fauntleroy ferry in West Seattle. We took the ferry out to Vashon Island, where we promptly stopped for more coffee and a delicious raspberry oat bar. How can you not stop at a charming place called the Monkey Tree, particularly when it has such cute staff (as does the crumpet shop, FYI) But don't think its all coffee and treats, we earned that little respite climbing up the hill from the ferry landing. I think that the department of transportation derives some sick pleasure from putting the ferry terminals at the bottom of the steepest hill on any island, and making sure that the roads are placed on the longest, steepest routes possible.


just look at those sexy knickers! they are made of bamboo fiber, which wicks away the sweat.

Of course charlie doesn't do fancy knickers, it's all about cutoffs and tank tops Mr. Fixie. (and he kicks my ass on the hills)

After biking across Vashon we caught another ferry to Tacoma, rode around more hills looking for an elusive "old town" had some lunch, then rode back to Seattle on an inland bike trail and roads. At this point I stopped taking pictures, because the ride from Tacoma to Seattle was about 60 miles, and it was time to get down to business. The final round trip pedaling distance was 93 miles in about 6.5 hours.

It was a beautiful day, and the ride was wonderful. I started fading hard at about 60 miles, but all in all it was a great time. Now it's time to start planning a ride up to Vancouver BC.

Wedding Reading

This will be the last post about the wedding...

I thought I would share the passage I was asked to read. It has been ages since I read Catcher in the Rye, so I was a little surprised that they would include a passage from a book known mainly for being banned in schools around the country.

This is an edited version, and I can't find my copy so you'll have to search yourself if you are interested in the context and the omitted cursing.

"I held hands with her all the time, for instance.
That doesn't sound like much, I realize, but she was terrific to hold hands with.
Most girls if you hold hands with them, their hand dies on you,
or else they think they have to keep moving their hand all the time,
as if they were afraid they'd bore you or something.

Jane was different.

We'd get into a movie or something,
and right away we'd start holding hands,
and we wouldn't quit till the movie was over.
And without changing position or making a big deal out of it.

You never even worried with Jane,
whether your hand was sweaty or not.
All you knew was, you were happy.
You really were."

Scenes From a Bathroom

Being a winery, of course they had to go with a wine barrel theme for the bathroom...

Wedding Weekend

This weekend we ventured out to Cave B winery at the Columbia River Gorge. If you have ever been to a show at the Gorge Amphitheater, then you were right next door to the winery.

The grounds were beautiful, and the cottages were nicely arranged with the topography, nestled into the hillside. There were some architectural detailing issues that I won't bore you with, but on the whole I thought the design was very well thought out.


We stayed in the Cavern Lofts, since we didn't want to kick down the bucks for one of the cottage units. The room interiors were not worth comment, but the placement into the hill and the bitchin view made it worth every penny (divided by the five who split the room.)

The wedding was really charming and unique. It was held in the middle of a circle of chairs, under a huppa held by the couple's parents. It incorporated a variety of Jewish and Quaker traditions that I had never heard of, like guests signing a certificate (this one was done by an Israeli artist) that is hung in the couples house. I was honored to read an (edited) excerpt from Catcher in the Rye. I was also honored to have my hand play host to a couple of copulating dragonflys during a reading from the Berakhot.

(note the first public viewing of the seersucker suit)

The food and wine were plentiful, followed by naptime, and then a pool party. After last call we laid on the grass and watched the remnants of the Perseids meteor shower. They weren't as plentiful as we had hoped, possibly we were on the wrong side of the building, but I was happy snuggling under the blanket where I was, and wouldn't have traded for any amount of meteors.

Biking fun, and biking WRONG!

This weekend Seattle played host to the Fat Tire "Tour de Fat" We arrived just in time to get swept up into the front of the ride. Lucky for us that is where one of the two or three bike stereos were. Nothing goes better with a group ride as a wide ranging mix of good tunes.
It was also a good place to check out a couple interesting rides...
The shoe bike was part of a funky bike area where you could test out all sorts of bike concoctions.
The ride ended around noon, which was too early for the beer and bands to really seem worth while, so we ditched out on the rest of the event.

I headed down to the library in Ballard, and when I came out I discovered that some jackass managed to lock my bike up to his. I stood around for about ten minutes, then walked around for about half an hour, and my bike was still held hostage. What to do? Retire to a bar for some Gumbo and a beer of course. I gave it an hour or so and fortunately the jackass had left and my bike was free.