Adventures of Scott & Carolina: January 2012

The whole month of December we've been dealing with dense fog, intermixed with some beautiful sunny days but no precipitation and hence, no snow! People like us get very inpatient when this happens. Finally, there's freshness in the air and the snow has come and even all the way to Corvallis!

Of course, the kids were excited and the first thing they did, was eat it!

So, we walked down to the co-op and every little while, Lucia would throw herself on the ground and just play in the snow. We came home and warmed up and then Lucia wanted to try a Skuut ride as the snow was melting.

The traction was actually excellent! The next day, there was more snow so we packed up and went to Mary's Peak and there was lots of snow there!

Lucia is doing great with her new snowshoes! Especially in the cold and wind, what a trooper. After it was all said and done, we ended up at the Interzone for hot chocolates and Oscar thought that was a cool treat.

I love this man right here.

And this year we celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. We've been together a total of 15 years and it sure feels like a lifetime of stuff has happened during that time! We were so very fortunate to be able to do something together for our anniversary that we absolutely both love to do- ride our bikes! And these are the people that made it happen....

jdfks;

As soon as Nana and Ashley arrived, we literally threw our bike touring gear into the car and left because we had a lot of miles to ride in just 3 days! Scott kind of had this loop in mind and then when we calculated the mileage the night before, we calculated 240 miles and we were like, eeek, but of course we decided to go for it. So classic for us, will we ever learn??

Day one, we started at 4 pm to try to get a couple of hours in so that we had more success actually finishing the loop! We started at McKenzie Bridge, Oregon. Loaded up our bikes and off we went.

We immediately went up McKenzie Pass, which is about 22 miles long I think. It is a BEAUTIFUL ride and in September, there is NOOO traffic. We had the whole road to ourselves so we huffed and puffed and made it nearly to the top to Scott Lake Campground. A small, primitive site but beautiful and certainly adequate.

And hey, look, it was dark when we got there. But, for those of you who know us, so typical! At least we were smart this time and we brought lights!

The next morning we ride just a couple more miles to the top of the pass, which are pretty flat and takes you to Obsidian Flow, a huge lava flow that is pretty amazing. Great views of the Sisters too.

From there, it was a very nice cruise into Sisters, where we stopped at the Sisters bakery for some very, lovely donuts! We were excited to talk to the family since we did not have phone service the night before and found that they were doing just fine without us! We sure did miss them!

From Sisters, we rode to Bend which is about 20 ? miles, flat, some traffic but wide shoulder and not too bad. We were using the Adventure Cycling maps which took us a back way into Bend for the last 5 miles or so. This was nice because it was backroads but very hilly! I was dying for some cals!

We stopped at one of my Bend faves, 'Longboard Louies' for some yummy wild salmon fish tacos and arroz y frijoles. Good thing too, cause first thing we had to do is get back on the saddle and ride up to Mt. Bachelor. That climb is a hill and actually a bit of a bitch with a strong headwind. At least it was dry and sunny and it is a lovely, beautiful downhill on the other side on the Cascade Lakes Highway. That road is a classic bike tour with tons of camping opportunities along the way.

We stopped at ???. Not remembering the campground now but maybe I will later.

We stuffed ourselves with calories once again. Next morning we rode the rest of the highway, about 40 more miles I think, which took us to the eastern side of Willamette Pass. This was a slow, easy climb and then a very, very, very long descent. We decided to stop in Oakridge for the night and go to a recommended brewpub, which was a great rec! I think it's the only one there. We happened across the "Oakridge Hostel" which was looking really appealing. No camp set up and showers and a last long, hard day ahead. Hmmm.

It was a nicely remodeled, very comfy, and yummy breakfast included. Affordable too! We were very happy to have found this place and will definitely return.

The last day we rode the AMAZING Aufderheide Memorial Drive which connects McKenzie Pass and Willamette Pass. Wow, wow and wow. It is about 60-70 miles long. Basically a paved, forest road with a couple of hard but not long climbs. This was the highlight for sure.

At the end of the road (about 10 miles from the car), we came to a decision point. We were literally riding right by 'Cougar Hot Springs'. But it was late, we had no phone service. But, our butts were killing us anyway and a nice, rejuvenating break could do us some good. So, we went for it. We ran in and soaked for about a half an hour and wow, you can only imagine how awesome that felt after a hardass bike tour. We got back on the bike and road until dark where we found our car just where we left it.

So, back home we raced to find our lovely family, doing just fine, of course.