As you can see, we made it to Minnesota! We really blasted through North Dakota, but I am a little sorry for it. Fargo was a really nice town, with a lot of cyclists and a cute downtown. We spent about 5 hours total at the bike store, talking the patrons into bike touring, hitting on the bike mechanics, and of course, buying lots of stuff. We have all now replaced our rear tires and Sarah and I have purchased matching tops, but I bought it first back in Minot and green is better.
Yesterday leaving Fargo was an exhausting day. We had headwinds, a climb, unpaved road, and hills. Suddenly 50 miles in, we were out of the prarie! We camped in the Tamarac Wildlife Refuge by a lake and were really exciting to go swimming.
Today we went through Itasca State Park, which is the location of the headwaters of the Mississippi river. It is just a tiny little stream when it comes out of Lake Itasca. On the way to the headwaters, we got to go on the coolest bike path. It was like a narrow roller coaster through the woods. Actually, it was kind of like Super Mario Cart + jungle safari + roller coaster. We tried not to terrorize the amateurs we passed at 20 miles per hour. When we passed the woman pushing a stroller we slowed down to at least 14 mph, so don't worry. When we were at the headwaters, we saw a touring bike but never identified the owner. We hung out for a while looking for him, not least because he had these toys strapped to the back of his bike. You know the one where the 2 plastic robots punch each other? Those. Totally weird and mysterious. I left him a note with my phone number. If he calls I will definitely debate packing priorities for the trip with him. Round One: Robots versus Frying Pan.
Now I am alone at the library working on route planning while my sisters are at the campground. I hope there will be dinner left for me when I get back. I think they are making stir fry, yummy.
Tommorrow, 89 miles to Grand Rapids, a long day!
-Liz
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Hitterdal, Minnesota
On the way out of Fargo we made a terrible mistake and took the unpaved road for 6 miles instead of a long detour. There was a lot of mud on everything. The bikes were very happy to get a bath and a chain cleaning at lunch that day.Friday, June 27, 2008
Arthur, North Dakota
Liz is super excited to be putting up Big A in lower winds than the night before, when the tent got blown away.June 26-27th in Binford, ND
David & Pam Adrian, who rescued us from the storm on the night of June 26th. You can see Big A, our tent, still trying to dry out in the background.
June 26th, Spirit Lake
Finally something new and different! A lake! Unfortunately this is a moment before the downpour began.
June 25 on our way to Minnewaukan
We really dig tailwinds! As you can see, North Dakota is like Montana but with hills.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Rugby, ND: the geographical center of North America
Here, we were in the middle of everything. Everything in North America, that is. Which really doesn't mean much at all....Day 1 of Week 5 from Rugby, North Dakota
We made a dramatic recovery at Lund's Landing on Sunday. Not moving for pretty much an entire day except to eat a ridiculous amount of food really works!
The next day, Monday, we decided to veer off the Northern Tier route for just 100 miles to avoid a headwind going south and some tough hills and an Indian reservation. Instead we ventured through plains that were covered in oil wells, with their distinctive structures. We also saw a lot of Haliburton insignia, which made us think about how much stuff is going on in this country that none of us ever know about, because it may happen in North Dakota. That makes me think of UFOs, which are also exciting. Then we went through the pathetic town of Stanley, North Dakota for lunch. We arrived 82 miles on at Berthold, just outside Minot, having barely broken a sweat, the tailwind was so strong. As we have for most of the past couple of weeks and will for the rest of North Dakota at least, we stayed over in a city park. These are just the designated greens where the playground is, and near the baseball field. There is usually a lot of action from the younger set, who come out to play after dinner and stay out really late because it doesn't get dark until after 10. It seems like life is really different up here in the summer, when it can be so hot and it is so light. In the winter it has gotten down to -60 F, and in the summer up to 121 F, a huge difference!
On Tuesday morning we rode 25 miles into Minot, where we spent 6 hours catching up on bike repair, laundry, library, and grocery shopping. We also met 2 other cyclists from Boston heading west who were very jealous of our winds! They were very nice, we love meeting other cyclists. We got back on the road at around 4, planning to go 35 miles to a campsite in the Denbigh Experimental Forest, which sounded exciting and potentially dangerous, especially since a lot of buildings in Minot had nuclear fallout shelter symbols on them, but it turned out to be nothing special. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the campsite, so we had to go 12 more miles on to Towner, where we did not arrive until 7:30 p.m. Fortunately, we had delicious dinner to make! Pizza with pineapple, ham, mushrooms and onions, Chef Chaos's specialty.
This morning we reached Rugby, North Dakota, the geographic center of North America. Who knew!? We are very excited to be in such an important place. Mom and Dad were nice enough to send us a new bike pump, Cate's watch, and Cate's bathing suit, which we just picked up at the post office. Our goal for the day is Minnewaukan on Devil's Lake, but our secondary goal is that Minnewaukan will have a cinema because we are desperate for that silky darkness and the salty popcorn. We would see anything, anything, even Kung Fu Panda, or Indiana Jones for the second time!
- The Pandas
The next day, Monday, we decided to veer off the Northern Tier route for just 100 miles to avoid a headwind going south and some tough hills and an Indian reservation. Instead we ventured through plains that were covered in oil wells, with their distinctive structures. We also saw a lot of Haliburton insignia, which made us think about how much stuff is going on in this country that none of us ever know about, because it may happen in North Dakota. That makes me think of UFOs, which are also exciting. Then we went through the pathetic town of Stanley, North Dakota for lunch. We arrived 82 miles on at Berthold, just outside Minot, having barely broken a sweat, the tailwind was so strong. As we have for most of the past couple of weeks and will for the rest of North Dakota at least, we stayed over in a city park. These are just the designated greens where the playground is, and near the baseball field. There is usually a lot of action from the younger set, who come out to play after dinner and stay out really late because it doesn't get dark until after 10. It seems like life is really different up here in the summer, when it can be so hot and it is so light. In the winter it has gotten down to -60 F, and in the summer up to 121 F, a huge difference!
On Tuesday morning we rode 25 miles into Minot, where we spent 6 hours catching up on bike repair, laundry, library, and grocery shopping. We also met 2 other cyclists from Boston heading west who were very jealous of our winds! They were very nice, we love meeting other cyclists. We got back on the road at around 4, planning to go 35 miles to a campsite in the Denbigh Experimental Forest, which sounded exciting and potentially dangerous, especially since a lot of buildings in Minot had nuclear fallout shelter symbols on them, but it turned out to be nothing special. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the campsite, so we had to go 12 more miles on to Towner, where we did not arrive until 7:30 p.m. Fortunately, we had delicious dinner to make! Pizza with pineapple, ham, mushrooms and onions, Chef Chaos's specialty.
This morning we reached Rugby, North Dakota, the geographic center of North America. Who knew!? We are very excited to be in such an important place. Mom and Dad were nice enough to send us a new bike pump, Cate's watch, and Cate's bathing suit, which we just picked up at the post office. Our goal for the day is Minnewaukan on Devil's Lake, but our secondary goal is that Minnewaukan will have a cinema because we are desperate for that silky darkness and the salty popcorn. We would see anything, anything, even Kung Fu Panda, or Indiana Jones for the second time!
- The Pandas
Lund's Landing, North Dakota
Sarah cooking pizzas below our lodging for the night, a teepee
The teepee, up close and personal
Century Day!
This picture was taken on our 100 mile day! If you look closely, the Missouri River is in the background.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
North Dakota... like Montana, but more hills
Since our last posting we made our first century ride and crossed the border (and another time zone) into North Dakota. The hundred mile day was inspired by residents of the small towns we've passed through warning us not to spend the night in the Indian Reservation. However, we are not sure how founded these warnings were. We stopped for lunch in Poplar (on the reservation). It was kids day, and Frostees (the sandwich and ice cream place that we stopped at) was giving away free cones. It was really exciting around town- we unfortunately missed the bike parade though. We were warned against an alternate route off of route 2 to get to Culbertson (because it was out of the way), but it turned out to be really pretty. It had a view of the Missouri River and about 10 miles of cool cement/rock hills that are hard to describe. We had a tailwind all day and were efficient about stopping, so it ended up being a really nice day!
We took a picture at the border when entering North Dakota, happy to leave eastern Montana. Despite warnings otherwise from other bikers, we chose to take the scenic alternate route. The headwind was against us and the hills were redoncadonk. We collapsed in Lund's Landing and could not leave. Lund's Landing had a marina but no water! Lake Sakakawea has receded so that the water was nowhere in sight. They didn't have tent camping, so we stayed in a teepee. We took over a nice table overlooking the hills (again, there was no lake in sight) and made delicious ham and portobello mushroom pizza. The next morning after a night of s'mores and card playing, we could simply not move. Not at all. The winds were also blowing strongly from the east. So we chose to stay another day at Lund's Landing, trying to find the lake, playing cards and sleeping. Without any cell phone coverage, internet or laundry we were able to have the ultimate rest day. In the middle of napping we were awoken by voices. Upon searching we discovered other touring cyclists. I call them touring cyclists, but they had road bikes and only one other outfit, so not much stuff with them at all. We ate juneberry pie with them.
Luckily the day before the impromptu rest day we bought lots of food, which we sought to reduce as much as possible. MMM food.
We took a picture at the border when entering North Dakota, happy to leave eastern Montana. Despite warnings otherwise from other bikers, we chose to take the scenic alternate route. The headwind was against us and the hills were redoncadonk. We collapsed in Lund's Landing and could not leave. Lund's Landing had a marina but no water! Lake Sakakawea has receded so that the water was nowhere in sight. They didn't have tent camping, so we stayed in a teepee. We took over a nice table overlooking the hills (again, there was no lake in sight) and made delicious ham and portobello mushroom pizza. The next morning after a night of s'mores and card playing, we could simply not move. Not at all. The winds were also blowing strongly from the east. So we chose to stay another day at Lund's Landing, trying to find the lake, playing cards and sleeping. Without any cell phone coverage, internet or laundry we were able to have the ultimate rest day. In the middle of napping we were awoken by voices. Upon searching we discovered other touring cyclists. I call them touring cyclists, but they had road bikes and only one other outfit, so not much stuff with them at all. We ate juneberry pie with them.
Luckily the day before the impromptu rest day we bought lots of food, which we sought to reduce as much as possible. MMM food.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Saco, Montana on Thursday, June 19
Sarah carried tuna in her pannier for over 1000 miles, through the Northern Cascades and the Rockies, just to bring sustenance and happiness to this one adorable friend. Lucky dog.
Some Words of Advice from Chaos Panda
After having received much advice over my nineteen years of life (some good, some bad), such as "you should put Neosporin on that" or "I think you should visit a Shaman," I realized that one of the best things about travelling across the country is the privilege of imparting some advice myself:
1) Don't pee your pants. I like to call this piece of advice, "Rule Number One." Peeing your pants can be uncomfortable and time-wasting, as generally this results in an extra trip to the laundromat. Peeing your pants, if done in public, can also result in fines of up to $250 in some parts of the country, such as Princeton, NJ. Rule Number One is followed by Rule Number Two, Don't ride off the road because you have fallen asleep on the long straight flats of eastern Montana, and Rule Number Three: don't run over any prairie dogs or into any cows, for different reasons.
2) Don't buy tuna. If you have bought tuna, on accident or even on purpose, immediately seek out the next stray dog you can find and feed it your tuna. This will avoid the unfortunate situation of buying tuna, carrying it around for three weeks, and then feeding the nearest stray dog your tuna.
3) Cows don't like you. Cows don't like you when you run after them, camera in hand, and they don't like you even when you are on your bike, mooing softly. Dogs don't like you either. Correction: dogs will like you for only exactly the duration of time between the point you give it tuna and the point you get back on your bike, at which time it will cease to like you again.
4) Hot springs. These babies, when encountered in Eastern Montana, should not be trusted. Generally, they end up closely resembling so as to be indistinguishable from third-world Communist pools. Note: a Communist pool is like a Community pool, but without the chlorine.
5) Flat tires closely resemble contagious diseases. Unlike childhood illnesses, where the sufferer suffers only once before gaining some treasured immunity, flat tires are actually contagious in the sense of once you have it once, you keep catching it again and again, possibly until you die. The first warning signs include:
1) increased effort when pedaling
2) decreased ability to steer effectively
3) a flat tire.
The disease then moves into the next stage. Symptoms include: increased irritability, a sense of loss of purpose, and excessive amount of arduous pumping, and finally, the tell-tale sign, bike grease on hands and the rest of your body. The really special part about the flat tire disease is that these symptoms can be exhibited by the person who got the flat tire or any of her cohorts/companions/sisters.
I hope these pieces of advice find you safe from most of the dangers listed above. The Pandas hope to be out of Montana soon, and hopefully without any tuna.
1) Don't pee your pants. I like to call this piece of advice, "Rule Number One." Peeing your pants can be uncomfortable and time-wasting, as generally this results in an extra trip to the laundromat. Peeing your pants, if done in public, can also result in fines of up to $250 in some parts of the country, such as Princeton, NJ. Rule Number One is followed by Rule Number Two, Don't ride off the road because you have fallen asleep on the long straight flats of eastern Montana, and Rule Number Three: don't run over any prairie dogs or into any cows, for different reasons.
2) Don't buy tuna. If you have bought tuna, on accident or even on purpose, immediately seek out the next stray dog you can find and feed it your tuna. This will avoid the unfortunate situation of buying tuna, carrying it around for three weeks, and then feeding the nearest stray dog your tuna.
3) Cows don't like you. Cows don't like you when you run after them, camera in hand, and they don't like you even when you are on your bike, mooing softly. Dogs don't like you either. Correction: dogs will like you for only exactly the duration of time between the point you give it tuna and the point you get back on your bike, at which time it will cease to like you again.
4) Hot springs. These babies, when encountered in Eastern Montana, should not be trusted. Generally, they end up closely resembling so as to be indistinguishable from third-world Communist pools. Note: a Communist pool is like a Community pool, but without the chlorine.
5) Flat tires closely resemble contagious diseases. Unlike childhood illnesses, where the sufferer suffers only once before gaining some treasured immunity, flat tires are actually contagious in the sense of once you have it once, you keep catching it again and again, possibly until you die. The first warning signs include:
1) increased effort when pedaling
2) decreased ability to steer effectively
3) a flat tire.
The disease then moves into the next stage. Symptoms include: increased irritability, a sense of loss of purpose, and excessive amount of arduous pumping, and finally, the tell-tale sign, bike grease on hands and the rest of your body. The really special part about the flat tire disease is that these symptoms can be exhibited by the person who got the flat tire or any of her cohorts/companions/sisters.
I hope these pieces of advice find you safe from most of the dangers listed above. The Pandas hope to be out of Montana soon, and hopefully without any tuna.
Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs, MT on Wednesday, June 18
The outdoor pool had been closed down by the health department. Undetered by possible health hazards and swarms of mosquitos, we still used the indoor pool. We had come too far not to attempt to enjoy the hot springs! At the very least, it got some of the bike grease off our legs and dirt from under our finger nails. All in all, it was a totally creepy place.Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs, Montana on Wednesday, June 18
Cattle and dirt roads delayed our arrival to the hot springs.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
RV Park, Cutbank, MT
Immediately upon arriving at this really awesome campsite, we decided to leave and watch The Incredible Hulk for two hours. It was a good decision.June 18 from Malta, Montana
The night of our last posting, we stayed in Joplin, Montana. These towns along Route 2 are spread out about 8-15 miles from each other along the Burlington Northern Railroad, which parallels Route 2. Each town has a sign, a grain elevator, a school, some dilapidated buildings, and a quiet, aging population that remains mostly invisible. The roads are mostly dirt, and they are numbered avenues in one direction and numbered streets in the other. We got lucky with Joplin. It has a manicured park at its center with trees and a gazebo and bathrooms and we were allowed to pitch tent right in the middle of it. A woman from the town walked over in the evening just to comb the park for litter because there had been an antique car show there the day before, not because she had to. She sat down and spoke to us for quite awhile, and like many of the other women we've met along the way, was pretty impressed that we "gals" were doing something like this. Then she started talking about Hilary. I guess we are fortunate enough to think nothing of doing this as women.
Yesterday was our first day over 80 miles! We actually did 85. We were not in a rush to reach our final destination, an old park in Zurich that we had heard was swarming with bugs. Was it ever! We hid in the tent as soon as dinner was over with the intention of reading/ writing in our journals, but I think we just fell asleep.... This far north that means we fell asleep while the sun was still high in the sky.
Today we had a strong tailwind, and good thing because Chaos Panda is now up to 7 flat tires, which means long stops in the hot sun. Some other cyclists stopped to help and actually had gotten a flat themselves. The road is full of hazards, glass, car parts, roadkill, rocks. This morning we all screamed when the debris started to slither! Our second snake.
We are now on our way to the Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs, which had better be awesome, because Liz has been using it as the ultimate carrot for days. We started counting down mileage to the hot springs two days ago! The only bad part will be actually having to look at our tan lines, which are pretty unbelievable. We try not even to look at our hands, which have the weirdest looking glove tan lines.
In case you're wondering, Liz has made a top three list of things she misses.
1. Bath towels
2. Sponges for doing the dishes
3. Sushi
Cate and Sarah to share their lists in a future posting.
- The Pandas
Yesterday was our first day over 80 miles! We actually did 85. We were not in a rush to reach our final destination, an old park in Zurich that we had heard was swarming with bugs. Was it ever! We hid in the tent as soon as dinner was over with the intention of reading/ writing in our journals, but I think we just fell asleep.... This far north that means we fell asleep while the sun was still high in the sky.
Today we had a strong tailwind, and good thing because Chaos Panda is now up to 7 flat tires, which means long stops in the hot sun. Some other cyclists stopped to help and actually had gotten a flat themselves. The road is full of hazards, glass, car parts, roadkill, rocks. This morning we all screamed when the debris started to slither! Our second snake.
We are now on our way to the Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs, which had better be awesome, because Liz has been using it as the ultimate carrot for days. We started counting down mileage to the hot springs two days ago! The only bad part will be actually having to look at our tan lines, which are pretty unbelievable. We try not even to look at our hands, which have the weirdest looking glove tan lines.
In case you're wondering, Liz has made a top three list of things she misses.
1. Bath towels
2. Sponges for doing the dishes
3. Sushi
Cate and Sarah to share their lists in a future posting.
- The Pandas
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
6/16/08 from Chester, Montana
The Pandas are very excited because they suddenly began to encounter some other species of cross-country cyclists yesterday afternoon!
At first, there were only signs.... Two left a mysterious note in Chaos's helmet while we were in the cinema. As an aside, going to the cinema is our favorite activity second only to eating mint chocolate chip ice cream. Why? We get to sit in a dark room, not getting either sunburned or rained/snowed/hailed on, we get to eat popcorn (salty and absolutely the best food ever, except beer and of course ice cream), and we get to relax and forget the difficult ride to come. Anyway, I digress. First we got this note from the mysterious cylists who were still on the road at 5 p.m. while we pandas were enjoying "The Incredible Hulk," starring Edward Norton and Liv Tyler. Then today, when we were seeking shade from the scorching midday prarie sun, we came to a seemingly abandoned motel, The Galata Inn by the Lake. Ha. Lake. Where did they come up with that one? Anyway, we found about a foot of shade on one side of the motel, so while Cate and Sarah were making sandwiches, Liz went around back to, uh, enjoy the view. And there was a touring bike and a tent with lots of stuff inside it! But no cyclist was to be found.... How mysterious. We hope she was not abducted.
Finally, we met some other real life cyclists! First we encountered a pack of seven fully sun-baked, minimally clothed, dread-locked hitchiker/bikers, who as it turns out had mostly run out of money and were trying to make it to Seattle primarily by dumpster-diving. Our favorite outfit was, from the bottom up, bike shoes (no socks), rainbow spandex, dreadlocks. I looked over at Sarah whose sunscreen was not fully rubbed in, and then at Cate and myself with our matching bike vests, and I think we got a little intimidated. We did not linger long enough to ask them the questions we really wanted, such as, are we likely to fall asleep while cycling on Route 2 through Montana or will it actually get interesting again someday? And, after a while, do shirts become optional and when will we know we've reached that point? When that time comes, where can we find rainbow spandex?
The second group of cyclists we met were much easier to talk to. Also very brown, but this time a group of young friends cycling from Wisconsin to Anacortes on the Northern tier. They assured us that North Dakota will be fun, and that the camping from here on is decent and mostly free.
We will be on Route 2 until further notice, applying and reapplying sunscreen and hunting for mint chocolate chip ice cream cones.
Check out the new pictures and the map links!
- The Pandas
At first, there were only signs.... Two left a mysterious note in Chaos's helmet while we were in the cinema. As an aside, going to the cinema is our favorite activity second only to eating mint chocolate chip ice cream. Why? We get to sit in a dark room, not getting either sunburned or rained/snowed/hailed on, we get to eat popcorn (salty and absolutely the best food ever, except beer and of course ice cream), and we get to relax and forget the difficult ride to come. Anyway, I digress. First we got this note from the mysterious cylists who were still on the road at 5 p.m. while we pandas were enjoying "The Incredible Hulk," starring Edward Norton and Liv Tyler. Then today, when we were seeking shade from the scorching midday prarie sun, we came to a seemingly abandoned motel, The Galata Inn by the Lake. Ha. Lake. Where did they come up with that one? Anyway, we found about a foot of shade on one side of the motel, so while Cate and Sarah were making sandwiches, Liz went around back to, uh, enjoy the view. And there was a touring bike and a tent with lots of stuff inside it! But no cyclist was to be found.... How mysterious. We hope she was not abducted.
Finally, we met some other real life cyclists! First we encountered a pack of seven fully sun-baked, minimally clothed, dread-locked hitchiker/bikers, who as it turns out had mostly run out of money and were trying to make it to Seattle primarily by dumpster-diving. Our favorite outfit was, from the bottom up, bike shoes (no socks), rainbow spandex, dreadlocks. I looked over at Sarah whose sunscreen was not fully rubbed in, and then at Cate and myself with our matching bike vests, and I think we got a little intimidated. We did not linger long enough to ask them the questions we really wanted, such as, are we likely to fall asleep while cycling on Route 2 through Montana or will it actually get interesting again someday? And, after a while, do shirts become optional and when will we know we've reached that point? When that time comes, where can we find rainbow spandex?
The second group of cyclists we met were much easier to talk to. Also very brown, but this time a group of young friends cycling from Wisconsin to Anacortes on the Northern tier. They assured us that North Dakota will be fun, and that the camping from here on is decent and mostly free.
We will be on Route 2 until further notice, applying and reapplying sunscreen and hunting for mint chocolate chip ice cream cones.
Check out the new pictures and the map links!
- The Pandas
Glacier National Park pictures
We have to wait on Mom and Dad for most of the pictures from Glacier, as they took most of the pictures in Glacier.
A view of the park, from outside the park
A view of the park, from outside the park
Liz and Sarah in Waterton, the Canadian part of Glacier Park
A mother deer and one of her three fawns. The fawn was hiding, the doe was scary. the deer were everywhere.
Bears! You can only just see them. The are the two blotches, on either side of the shrubby thing in the center of the picture. They were much easier to see in real life.The first couple days in Montana
Welcome to Montana! Is it extremely obvious that this picture was taken in front of a real estate office? It was the first sign we found that indicated we had entered Montana.
Riding through Montana along the Kootenai River
Liz and Cate by the Kootenai Falls, Montana
Us on top of Libby Dam
Camping by Lake Koocanusa, Montana (I don't know why it's black and white)
Fixing Sarah's fourth flat tire in the rain: this time, it's personalBighorn Lodge, Montana
Our entry into Montana was less than stellar, as it poured rain all day. Somewhat deflated (literally, I had a flat tire), we arrived at the Bighorn Lodge, which saved our lives. The jacuzzi was amazing.
Some Idaho photos!
Chaos Panda was feeling really strong crossing the Columbia river
Welcome to Idaho!
Crossing the "pedestrian bridge" into Sandpoint
When it finally cleared up (for a disgustingly short period of time), there was a rainbow!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Alberta, Canada on Sunday, June 15
Sorry to leave the mountains, we posed for a photo as they disappeared into the background. We also caused a stampede taking this photo because we disturbed the cows in the next field.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Since we last posted, the Pandas met Mom and Dad in Whitefish, Montana, just outside of the beautiful Glacier National Park. We took this opportunity to take a few days off from bicycling and camping, instead we hiked around the park and stayed in different lodges every night. While it snowed the entire day of our last post, and rained all of the next day, the past three days have been bright and sunny! And the park was even more beautiful for having had snow. Glacier National Park consists of the most beautiful crags and mountain spires I've seen in the American northwest. After it cleared up, all we could see were lakes surrounded by snowy peaks, everywhere we looked. It was stunning.
Hiking around Glacier park enabled us all to get a closer look at some wildlife. Driving up to Many Glacier Lodge, we saw 10 or so female Bighorn sheep and their lambs. Apparently the lodge had been built on a migration route for these wild sheep, and so every June saw the lodge's grass and flowers thoroughly munched on by hungry sheep. Even more remarkable, these sheep seem completely acclimatized to humans and cars. Driving back out of the lodge, we ran into another pack of ewes and lambs, who came up to the car without the slightest trace of fear and stuck their heads in our windows, no doubt sniffing out our delicious sandwiches that we were not about to give away.
Yesterday the family piled back into the car to drive up to the Prince of Wales hotel in Alberta, Canada. Walking through the nearby town of Waterton, we saw that the deer there function much like squirrels back home: they are everywhere! They hung out on everyone's front lawns, and even tried to get into our restaurant last night. Unlike squirrels, however, these deer were known to attack and injure dogs (I always thought it would be the other way around?)
Even more exciting was this morning, as Liz, Cate, and Sarah got back on their bikes and left their parents behind, we saw two grizzlies not too far from the hotel! These grizzlies were only about two years old, and it looked like they had left their mother but were still hanging out together. They were across a small river from the road, and we were able to see them pretty close up. Since we couldn't see their teeth or claws from where we were, we wanted to take them biking with us and cuddle with them, maybe rename them "Grizzly Panda" and "Other Grizzly Panda."
We had a short ride this morning (only about 35 miles) from Waterton to Cardston, where we are staying tonight. Unfortunately, no library we've been to recently has let us upload pictures, but hopefully pictures will be soon in coming. Thanks for reading!
-Chaos, Disco, and Fatorexic Pandas
Hiking around Glacier park enabled us all to get a closer look at some wildlife. Driving up to Many Glacier Lodge, we saw 10 or so female Bighorn sheep and their lambs. Apparently the lodge had been built on a migration route for these wild sheep, and so every June saw the lodge's grass and flowers thoroughly munched on by hungry sheep. Even more remarkable, these sheep seem completely acclimatized to humans and cars. Driving back out of the lodge, we ran into another pack of ewes and lambs, who came up to the car without the slightest trace of fear and stuck their heads in our windows, no doubt sniffing out our delicious sandwiches that we were not about to give away.
Yesterday the family piled back into the car to drive up to the Prince of Wales hotel in Alberta, Canada. Walking through the nearby town of Waterton, we saw that the deer there function much like squirrels back home: they are everywhere! They hung out on everyone's front lawns, and even tried to get into our restaurant last night. Unlike squirrels, however, these deer were known to attack and injure dogs (I always thought it would be the other way around?)
Even more exciting was this morning, as Liz, Cate, and Sarah got back on their bikes and left their parents behind, we saw two grizzlies not too far from the hotel! These grizzlies were only about two years old, and it looked like they had left their mother but were still hanging out together. They were across a small river from the road, and we were able to see them pretty close up. Since we couldn't see their teeth or claws from where we were, we wanted to take them biking with us and cuddle with them, maybe rename them "Grizzly Panda" and "Other Grizzly Panda."
We had a short ride this morning (only about 35 miles) from Waterton to Cardston, where we are staying tonight. Unfortunately, no library we've been to recently has let us upload pictures, but hopefully pictures will be soon in coming. Thanks for reading!
-Chaos, Disco, and Fatorexic Pandas
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
June 10 from Whitefish, Montana
Since our last posting from Clark Fork, we entered Montana, advented only by a change in road condition; no sign unfortunately. Instead we found a real estate office with a "Welcome to Montana" sign, which we posed in front of in the pouring rain after just realizing that Sarah had her 3rd flat tire of the trip. Needless to say, we did not make it to the campground at Bull Lake that day, and instead stopped at the Bighorn Lodge, where the owner Dave Nye had been abandoned by all his other visitors due to the weather, so we had the run of the whole lodge. We even got to use the kitchen to make dinner with the food we had packed!
On Sunday we had a beautiful and fast ride up Route 56 and down Route 2. We passed the Kootenai Falls and rode through Libby up to the Libby Dam. 7 miles further up Lake Koocanusa, we reached another lovely US Forest Service campground, which we had completely to ourselves as usual. That night Disco Panda and Chaos Panda made excellent fish in lemon & caper sauce while Liz worked on a fire, an easier task than on previous nights because the rain held off until bed time.
Monday was really tough because the terrain was rolling aimlessly along the very unpleasant, creepy Lake Koocanusa, which is actually a dammed reservoir. It was cold and wet and Sarah got her 4th flat tire. Mid-afternoon we stopped in Eureka, a very nice town. We had to continue on from there even though we were all exhausted. The ride to Dickey Lake was beautiful, we especially liked cycling past an elk farm near Fortine, but it was a real challenge with a strong headwind. Yesterday's riding time was almost 6 hours! Then to top it all off, we spent the evening hiding from rain inside the tent. No s'mores on rainy nights either.
Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse... this morning we had SNOW. Well, when we woke up at 6 a.m. there was some clear sky, then there were clouds, then it started hailing and raining, and then along came a bona fide snow storm. We already had the tent down, so we figured we would try to cycle a bit. We made it 5 miles before taking refuge in the tiny Stryker post office where Heather made us tea and made some calls to figure out who in town was next taking his truck down to Whitefish, where we need to meet Mom and Dad this afternoon. It turned out that her cousin Larry and his dog Nugget were happy to take us on their way down, so we strapped the bikes on the back of the pickup and climbed in the cab and made our best mileage ever down to Whitefish!!! Next stop, the laundromat, so that maybe we can conceal our dirtiness from Mom and Dad when they get here. Our last shower was on Saturday, so it is probably hopeless.
Wish us luck with the weather! We miss you all and send you our best.
-The Pandas
On Sunday we had a beautiful and fast ride up Route 56 and down Route 2. We passed the Kootenai Falls and rode through Libby up to the Libby Dam. 7 miles further up Lake Koocanusa, we reached another lovely US Forest Service campground, which we had completely to ourselves as usual. That night Disco Panda and Chaos Panda made excellent fish in lemon & caper sauce while Liz worked on a fire, an easier task than on previous nights because the rain held off until bed time.
Monday was really tough because the terrain was rolling aimlessly along the very unpleasant, creepy Lake Koocanusa, which is actually a dammed reservoir. It was cold and wet and Sarah got her 4th flat tire. Mid-afternoon we stopped in Eureka, a very nice town. We had to continue on from there even though we were all exhausted. The ride to Dickey Lake was beautiful, we especially liked cycling past an elk farm near Fortine, but it was a real challenge with a strong headwind. Yesterday's riding time was almost 6 hours! Then to top it all off, we spent the evening hiding from rain inside the tent. No s'mores on rainy nights either.
Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse... this morning we had SNOW. Well, when we woke up at 6 a.m. there was some clear sky, then there were clouds, then it started hailing and raining, and then along came a bona fide snow storm. We already had the tent down, so we figured we would try to cycle a bit. We made it 5 miles before taking refuge in the tiny Stryker post office where Heather made us tea and made some calls to figure out who in town was next taking his truck down to Whitefish, where we need to meet Mom and Dad this afternoon. It turned out that her cousin Larry and his dog Nugget were happy to take us on their way down, so we strapped the bikes on the back of the pickup and climbed in the cab and made our best mileage ever down to Whitefish!!! Next stop, the laundromat, so that maybe we can conceal our dirtiness from Mom and Dad when they get here. Our last shower was on Saturday, so it is probably hopeless.
Wish us luck with the weather! We miss you all and send you our best.
-The Pandas
Saturday, June 7, 2008
June 7 from Clark Fork, Idaho
Since yesterday's posting, we have had really bad weather. Yesterday afternoon we were hailed on and ever since we have been riding in downpour conditions. So we finally caved and stayed at a hotel last night in Sandpoint, Idaho.
As we rolled into Sandpoint, Sarah got a flat tire, which waylaid her long enough for the members of the local Sandpoint bike club to come over and tell her and Cate about bike week. In honor of bike week, they were holding a film screening at the movie theatre in town and we were invited. After a trip to the laundromat and some long showers and dinner, we made our way over to the bike club film screening, and when we walked into the packed theatre, they interrupted the giving-away of prizes to get the 3 of us onstage for a thunderous round of applause. It was pretty cool. So our 15 minutes were in Sandpoint, Idaho, and there you have it.
We are on our way to a campsite at Bull Lake in Montana now, but we are lingering longer than we should in Clark Fork because we are freezing cold and wet. I hope we will have a happier posting next time!
As we rolled into Sandpoint, Sarah got a flat tire, which waylaid her long enough for the members of the local Sandpoint bike club to come over and tell her and Cate about bike week. In honor of bike week, they were holding a film screening at the movie theatre in town and we were invited. After a trip to the laundromat and some long showers and dinner, we made our way over to the bike club film screening, and when we walked into the packed theatre, they interrupted the giving-away of prizes to get the 3 of us onstage for a thunderous round of applause. It was pretty cool. So our 15 minutes were in Sandpoint, Idaho, and there you have it.
We are on our way to a campsite at Bull Lake in Montana now, but we are lingering longer than we should in Clark Fork because we are freezing cold and wet. I hope we will have a happier posting next time!
Friday, June 6, 2008
June 6 from Newport, WA
Greetings from the Washington-Idaho border!
Some in our party complain that we were not suitably "mentally prepared" for the transition into Idaho, but it has been over a week in Washington! Still, we expect to miss Washington and the Northern Cascade Range very much when we are on the long open flats in Montana and North Dakota.
Liz had a lovely birthday on the road, even though the weather has been dismal. We have not had a night without rain since the night we had frost in Wauconda. Birthday dinner was delicious chilli and s'mores by the Pend Oreille River. Liz got a back massage from her sisters as a birthday present.
We saw our first moose today! No photo unfortunately. It was a gangly teenager that stood and stared at us for a while before running off.
Camping is still going well. We are eating a lot and we still haven't had to stay in a motel yet!
We are really looking forward to meeting up with Mom & Dad at Glacier National Park on Tuesday.
Best to you all! Thanks for reading!
Some in our party complain that we were not suitably "mentally prepared" for the transition into Idaho, but it has been over a week in Washington! Still, we expect to miss Washington and the Northern Cascade Range very much when we are on the long open flats in Montana and North Dakota.
Liz had a lovely birthday on the road, even though the weather has been dismal. We have not had a night without rain since the night we had frost in Wauconda. Birthday dinner was delicious chilli and s'mores by the Pend Oreille River. Liz got a back massage from her sisters as a birthday present.
We saw our first moose today! No photo unfortunately. It was a gangly teenager that stood and stared at us for a while before running off.
Camping is still going well. We are eating a lot and we still haven't had to stay in a motel yet!
We are really looking forward to meeting up with Mom & Dad at Glacier National Park on Tuesday.
Best to you all! Thanks for reading!
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