i love EW

for easter weekend we went on the eastern washington tour.
we started at home. then we drove to wenatchee to get my bike fit. we were late. we had a little misscommunication on how long it takes to get to wenatchee and when we actually needed to get there, so we were about 40 minutes late. but luckily, we were still able to get in. after discovering again that i have some flexibility challenges (although i do have good shoulder flexibility these days!) i was hooked up to some stuff and started pedaling. after a bit of chit chat, a bit of pedaling and a lot of fitting, it was time to head out.
we drove to ephrata. i really like ephrata. we stayed at the best western and i saw something i am not sure i have ever seen before - eric was totally flirting with the girl at the front desk! he turned on the charm and got us a discount on our room even! and i was standing RIGHT THERE! the girl was super nice but it was pretty cute to see eric's charming side come out. very funny. once in the room i totally passed out while eric and the kids chilled out until it was time for dinner. after dinner we went swimming! the pool was super warm so it was really really nice to hang out in and play with the kids. so warm. after a while we did get in the hot tub and knowing that sirus can be extra sensitive, we warned him to be careful getting in. he got in only to about mid-thigh, but was funny because he stood there protecting his tiny family jewels! i asked him what he was doing and he said he didn't want them to get too hot in the water. we've never talked about this before so it must just be instinct or something. it was funny.
THEN when we were back at the room we decorated easter eggs! eric claims that the only reason he picked up the Hanna Montana egg dye was because it was the only one left, it was a good thing he did, because those eggs were practically glow in the dark they were so bright!
next morning we woke up, had waffles! and then headed to coulee city. we were meeting grandma and grandpa there for a kids fishing derby. i haven't ever been to one before and now i have been to one. the kids have been to a few. despite there being 1700 fish planted in this 50yd netted off area, the kids didn't catch any fish. they got their lines tangled with almost every other kid out there. some of the kids out there were catching 4 and 5 fish, huge ones even!
after the horn sounded and adults were allowed to start fishing, eric and i headed out on a bike ride. when we were out riding though, grandpa and sirus caught a fish.
but the bike ride was AMAZING. we headed out of Coulee City. it was super sunny out, it wasn't really warm, but it was warm enough. we headed south on pinto ridge road, there were some climbs and one super steep ass climb. then lots of rolling through a canyon. we then headed east on hwy 28 until we hit wilson creek. wilson creek is a tiny little town that is super cute. we road through the town, saw a few people out and about and then headed out of town and bam, road closed! we road up to the sign and saw that the road was dirt, gravel, and bumpy. so we turned around and found an old lady with curlers in her hair out on her driveway talking to some older dude on a motor cycle. while eric talked to them, i played fetch with their super friendly rolly polly dog. they talked roads and road closures and how far the road was torn up and alternate route options. i swear the lady hugged eric, the guy asked him if we had water. eric showed him his water bottle and the dude was like "whoa! you are going to need more water than that for where you are going?" the lady said if we went the one direction we would be out in the middle of nowhere. then she went on to say that well, actually we were really out in the middle of no where. no cell reception, because we were in the middle of NOWHERE! so we headed out on the closed road because it was the only one we KNEW would take us to where we wanted to go. never mind that we saw several cars and trucks (and a motorcycle) on that road and not one wanted to give us a lift. ok we didn't ask. but let me tell you, 5 miles, uphill on a road that was dirt, gravel, rocks, bumps and crap, all on a brand new fancy tri bike wasn't the most fun. the best part was when we were riding and eric was just like "yeah, this road is way worse than any of the roads we were on in the grand fondo." i was just like WTF, how does that help me now? we were going sllllowwww. we discussed how it would be nice if we could swap bikes since eric was on his cross bike with cross tires but no pedal match up. after a while we came up on some dude back hoeing. eric stopped to ask him how much longer, 2 miles. he was dead on. then eric got a flat tire. but he kept riding. then i gave him my pump and then kept going. FINALLY we got to pavement. who cares that once we got to it, it went straight up, but whatever, it was pavement.
we got over the the hump and could see for MILES AND MILES down R ave, or R Rd or whatever. it was all down hill too for miles. we could see the town that was like 10 miles away. but then, even though the final destimation was net downhill, there was actually a lot of uphill, too. but it was fast moving and so amazingly beautiful! i love eastern washington. the old lady said that we would know we were at out turn when we got to the big red barn on the left. so apparently the lady hadn't been that direction in a while becuase the barn didn't have a spec of paint left on it and it looked as though it was going to fall at any second. but yay! we turned onto 36th and we headed downhill all the way into coulee city. we estimated we needed to go from R to J-K. We did the count down in reverse alphabetical order, until we got to J.5 and had a chuckle then chuckled some more until we got to I.8.
and then we were back at the car. 48 miles later. this ride was awesome because there were no stop signs, barely any cars, amazing views and sun! we locked the bikes and then went for a run, topping out at a 6:57 pace. yahoo!
then we got into the car and drove to yakima!!