First Week

So far, so good! Our flight and shuttle went right on schedule, and Rosie picked us up at 3pm in Mt Vernon. We headed for our campsite at Washington Park in Anacortes, and the day cleared beautifuly. We made dinner by the water and watched the sun set over the Pacific.
The next day, we caught an early ferry to Lopez Island in the San Juans. My bike gears were not working well, which was a pain on the hills. But otherwise we had a good ride, covering pretty much the whole island. Lots of farmland and views of the ocean in the distance. We biked 45 miles in total.
The next day we did the "wheel dipping" ceremony with Rosie and Michael to cheer us on and take pictures. We didn't get far- just a few miles down the road to the bike shop, to get my gears adjusted. Finally we started off, thru Anacortes and then on to a nice bike path. We had a bad stretch of heavy traffic on rte 20, but thankfully soon got off on quieter roads. We ended on South Skagit Rdwy, and found a campsite on Skagit Land Trust property, recommended by Michael. It was a mile down a grassy (and slug-infested) track. It was a quiet and peaceful place to camp.
We left camp slug and hit the road by 9am, and then it was only 30 miles to Rosie's place in Marblemount. The day turned warm and sunny - a great afternoon to check out the gardens and have a nice dinner outside. So far, it hasn't rained on us and we're excited for the first pass, coming up next.