We biked to the nearby Canosia Township Wildlife Sanctuary. While there, we spotted three Baltimore Orioles fly overhead. This was very neat since I don't think I've ever seen one in the wild. They're not too commonly spotted. At least where I go.
We biked along and at a spot where it's just the "road" (more like ATV/snowmobile trail) between two bodies of water, we surprised a Snapping Turtle crossing, to go into the water.
We stopped part way to take a break and eat the apples we brought with. While there, we heard a bird close by. Once I found it, it turned out to be a Chestnut-sided Warbler. We continued on our way, working our way around two muddy lakes in the trail, to come out on a dirt road. While biking on that road, I heard another Warbler close to the road, so stopped, and was able to get some better photos since it was closer.
The bike ride back to the house was tough. It was against the wind in the blazing sun. All in all, it was a 3 hour, 16 mile bike ride. Joe's pretty tired, not only because of the bike ride, but because of the sun. Definitely a fun day.
-Miranda
;)
Woke up to find a Rose-breasted Grosbeak at the suet feeder. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
;)
The Snapping Turtle. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
;)
A female Mallard landing. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
;)
Chestnut-sided Warbler. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
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We biked south down 101 to see if we could find any place to park. We explored some, but nothing looked very promising. There is one possibility, but it's right off the highway and it would be maybe just for over labor day weekend... We ended up biking 20 miles yesterday.
Today we took our bikes into Newport which is a couple miles away and biked around town.
We also moved to a new campsite today which is right across the road from a beach access trail. So only about 1/4 mile to the beach now. That's not quite as bad. We'll probably go surfing tomorrow.
-Miranda
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So today, we got some horse isle work done, then went for a bike ride downtown. Bellingham has an awesome interurban trail system, so we were sort of following that and roads and went way past downtown, then tried to work our way back. Rod and Sara (we're staying in front of their house) were nice enough to give us a map of the city, which ended up coming in handy. We had dinner at a little Russian place that sells two things. They're a type of dumpling. One has meat in it, the other kind has potatoes. Then there's a curry type sauce that goes over them. So that was a good, cheap dinner, then we went to an ice cream place downtown and had some super good ice cream.
We're really liking this work, bike, eat, relax thing.
We biked 15 miles today.-Miranda
Sunset in Bellingham
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Today we went to an outdoor, classical concert which was quite nice. The weather has been beautiful. We decided we wanted to go for swim, so we biked to Lake Padden (steep uphill a good chunk of the way) then biked around the lake (2 miles) and went swimming. Joe decided we needed more exercise, so we swam across the lake and back also. The ride down the hill after swimming was fun though.
We went to the Skylark Cafe for dinner, which was very good. Got to sit outside in a little, pretty alley under a tree. Joe had a butternut squash lasagna which he said was very good. We got big ol' desserts from a nearby place then headed back to the RV. Biked a total of about 8 miles today.
-Miranda
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Bellingham has an awesome trail system for biking/hiking/jogging and such. We rode about 20 miles today and went to a state park out of town. The trail was gorgeous. There were some huge trees just off the trail. Most of it was a really nice trail. There was a section that was a bit hairy... steep edges and roots and rocks sticking up.
Of course I forgot to bring me camera.. grrr.. We even saw a little mouse right off the path. We stopped and watched it and it was not afraid of us at all, which was really odd. I think it was a baby... its head was normal sized but its body looked like it should have been at least twice as long as it was. We had gone to a store called Quel Fromage where they sell all sorts of cheeses and we had a little picnic basically. Two kinds of cheese (4 year cheddar and Fleur D'Anis) a spread (some sort of red onion thing) a demi-baguette, an apple and a little bit of chocolate. It was super good. We had a little bit of cheddar bits left on the paper so we gave that to the mouse. It daintily ate it up... not worried about us at all. Very weird.
So, once we got back into town after going all the way to the state park, along some sections of scary trail, we were biking on a side street, I was looking up a road the crossed the one we were on and when I looked back in front of me there was a stop sign post coming at me fast... Instead of letting the handle bar hit the stop sign then grabbing for that, I locked up the brakes and did a chest plant into the sidewalk with the bike following me. No bleeding though, surprisingly. Some bruises on my legs and my hands are slightly scuffed (only about one layer of skin). One of my toes somehow hurts, not terrible, but enough to bug. The biggest issue is my right thumb... I may have sprained it. Been keeping it iced, but I can't put any weight on it or grab things. We were going to bike around downtown tomorrow, but I guess not anymore. :(
Wow, long update... Sorry..
Oh, we're at Joe's friend's place, parked outside their house.
-Miranda
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