Adventures With Nancy: Ending July 2015 (Part 3c)

I couldn't resist two more elk shots...

On our bike ride

At our camp

The next day after exploring Mount Rainier we had a DYOT (Do Your Own Thing) morning. Susan drove to a fishing place -- and caught several (little ones) and I caught up on my blog and did some reading, as well as prepared lunch for when Susan returned. After lunch and some relaxing together -- cooling down in the heat -- we took a short (very short) bike ride.

Susan had asked at the Visitor Center for a map of the town. This turns out to be a joke as we find so few streets in the town, but we didn't know that and Susan was trying to find a bike ride for us. The guy was just closing up the visitor center and they don't really have a map -- well, he has one but the road names are so faded you can't really read them. But he suggested we ride up to the Hydroelectric Dam as a nice short jaunt. There is no fishing there, but people catch cray fish in a small trap contraption they put onto the end of a pole. We didn't do any of that, but had a good ride.

What? A tea & crumpet stop in Packwood? (They serve tea in coffee shops ... sometimes)

The wall by the Bakery was the draw for me as well as the tea

We found that this guy was not dead drunk...

...he was dead.

The mountain is clear on this day as seen through some yard art

Apparently tennis is a lost art in Packwood

We rode long enough for Taco Night to begin at the Blue Spruce Saloon. Arriving exactly at 6:00 when they started serving, we were surprised to walk in to a crowded saloon and took the only two seat stools that were available. We would never have guessed that there were this many people in Packwood! Several had to be turned away -- perhaps to return a little later.

The following morning we would pack up the tent and gear and depart Packwood. I got to do a bit longer ride while Susan got things started. The Visitor Center guy had started to tell us to take the nice ride out to the Country Club, then stopped and said no, there was now newly laid gravel that would not be good for biking. This morning I went to see how that was and lo, it was fine for biking. Not only was the gravel not new, it was now hard packed chip seal. This in itself is not great for biking -- but the gravel layers had not oiled and laid any on the wide shoulders! How ingenious. I had a great ride in the woods on smooth pavement with very little traffic and no actual hills (like we had yesterday).