Fun Riding 
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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Walking All Over 
Yesterday we walked to Downtown Bellingham, which is about a mile there. We walked all over, were all excited to have lunch at a bagelry, when it turned out they didn't take credit cards and we had brought my wallet, not Joe's, which only had $7 in it. Ooops. So we ended up going to a french cafe instead, which was very good.
We took the bus to Whatcom Falls Park which was very pretty. We took a short nap on a rock in the creek and when we 'woke up', a minute later three river otters, across the creek from us, were running around a bit. Pretty sure it was a mother and two cubs. The one was a little bigger and pretty much stared at us the whole time. The other two didn't seem to even notice we were there. Unfortunately, Joe couldn't get the camera out fast enough.
After we got back to the RV, we ended up going out to eat at a pizza place with Rod and Sara. It was very good. We went down by the shore to see some old-style boats that came in a couple days ago. Nearby was a very small aquarium. There is a bitty touch pool and I got to help feed some crabs. There was some other neat stuff in a couple tanks and another pool. All in all, a very fun day. :)

-Miranda

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Biking Around 
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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Bellingham 
Well, we left Leader Lake and headed for a friend of Joe's place in Mazama. That is a neat area. There are mile high mountains on wither side and the tiny town is in a valley between them. Unfortunately, Rob, Joe's friend, was gone until Tuesday. We probably would have stayed, but there was no internet there (go figure) and most of the activities to do there are hiking. My ankle is still giving me problems so we decided maybe on our way back we'll head through there. Our original plan was to stay probably in the National Forest near a state park off of Winthrop. There's a lake there and Joe's really wanting to swim. But there was apparently a Blue's Festival going on so wwaaayy too many people. :)
Joe's cousin, Emma, and her mom are going on a 5 week road trip into (of all places) Montana and they're leaving Monday. So we decided to get here before they leave so we could see Emma and spend some time with them. We just stayed on a little road in National Forest off of the highway on Sat night and we were parked in front of Julie and Emma's house last night.

-Miranda


The Cascades.

A gorgeous, small water fall right off the highway. There was even a perfect area to pull of across from it.

Emma and her dog Buddy when she and I went to a nearby park.

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Leader Lake Campground 
Cool. we found a free campground about 60 miles (3 hours of us traveling) down the road. Normal people camp by the lake, we're parked at the top of the campsite-loop-road on a mountain so we have cell signal ;) Keeps us away from people also :) Nice.

On our way here we noticed a horse caught in a busted fence and stopped to inform the owner and help.. surprised none of them ran out into traffic.

This place looks great, We'll see how bad the Friday night crowd is at a free-water-hole.. . .
-Joe

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