CALM DAYS AFTER THE STORM = A LITTLE CAMPING 😉

It would be cold in the high 30s and low 40s, but the sun and blue sky would make up the difference. It was such a delight to ride bikes in the sun, bundled up for the cold crisp days. We drove about an hour from home to camp at Bayview State Park for three nights. Right out from our camp site there was a nice view of Samish Bay and some mountains across the way, as we got geared up for a ride around the Skagit farmlands.

This beauty of a Palamino entertained me by doing a little dance — around in circles, back and forth across across his yard and looking at me waiting for a wave or maybe a smile. I was totally taken with this young beauty.

Continuing along our way we were getting hungry and Susan especially had a hankerin’ for burger. A burger out here in nowhere land I thought. I doubt we will find anything before getting back to camp where we can have our hotdogs as a substitute.

And what to our wandering eyes should appear but a PUB!! Burgers and all.

Not wanting to go inside to eat, we had no place to sit and have our midday lunch. On we went until the church appeared with open steps for a nice place to sit and eat. Susan takes me to the best places!

We had two good days of riding and enjoyed two similar but different routes. The photos are a compilation from both days as we were so happy to have that sun and blue sky to give us fresh crisp and dry weather.

We think this is Mount Shuksan…

There were several picturesque barns along the way but I really only thought to get a couple of them.

Had to slow down and investigate this little Farm Stand out in nowhere.

Nothing for us to buy, but interesting to look at. The only thing in the little refrigerator was a bag of red potatoes.



The interesting part of this stop was gobbling behind us…

Tom Turkey was struttin’ and gobblin’ his way toward us inch by inch. there was a deep water filled culvert between us, so we were safe. I think he was determined to NOT make it to the TDay dinner table and was shooing us away.

Our other “wild life” included alpaca, horses and cows lolling in the open sun filled fields.

The Cheese Curd place was open this time — recall that I did a similar ride with four friends and we found this place closed at the time, but took advantage of the little picnic table available on their grounds. We purchased some curds as well as a hunk of cheese to have back at camp.

Closing out our ride and thus ending the two glorious days of riding through the countryside, we came across one of Susan’s favorites — a  Little Free Library, The cutest one I have seen.

Cute painted rocks at the entry way. 

Empty handed, but fun to peruse some books and enjoy the little hut.



Our four day camping outing seemed to fly by, and soon it was time to pack up and head home. We had a most enjoyable, and well needed time away and in the outdoors.

STORMY WEATHER TO BEGIN NOVEMBER

Our morning newspaper brought this headline….

Thrashing winds leave more than 200,000 customers without power in Western Washington

And we were part of that 200.000!

Most, usually all, of our SOTF outings come with trinkets of some kind. At one in Montana we made lamp lights; at one in Washington we “won” a set of battery operated candles. We used both for this full night and early morning without electrical power.

Our vast winds and rain lasted for a few days before I could finally feel safe on a bike ride. On my first ride I meandered around my neighborhood and there was a “Road Closed” sign at one of my regular roads. Surely that could not mean closed to me! So I rode on and found the reason for the closure.

After a couple more days I could ride a little farther afield and took a trip into Everett. The first downed tree I saw I was sure was the ‘big one’ that had made it into the newspapers.

But no — that one came later. Fortunately this tree missed the nearby house, but it did pull up the sidewalk and berm. 

The root width is big, but the roots do not go far into the ground, so no wonder the trees can be blown over!

It seems, except for the vibrant autumn color in the trees, that skipped fall and went directly from summer to winter! Temps that had been in the 70s and sometimes low 80s went to the 30s and low 40s like THAT! Lucky for me, the right after our storm the weather turned dry even if cold. Good enough for me to bundle in my warm gear for some bike riding ;’-). I have posted my teaneuring riding which had taken me on most of my rides so far for the month. 

I will add my monthly “Stump” photo that got a new look for the holiday ;’-).

COFFEE/TEANEURING 2022

Read all about it here: https://chasingmailboxes.com/2022/09/24/coffeeneuring-challenge-year-12/. This is my 9th season to participate. 

OCTOBER 2022 TEANEURING #1: 10/8/2022

PEET’S coffee in Elk Grove CA. During our visit with Sarah and family there were several sport games to attend for the Grands. Soccer and Flag Football throughout the day with breaks in between. I found some time in between games to find my first tea entry for this season. No other photos for this one — just the actual tea & “crumpet”.

OCTOBER 2022 TEANEURING #2: 10/15/2022

I have been bike-ride deprived with only two rides in the past two weeks due to our traveling. And though I had hoped for another tea ride in California, I had no opportunity for that because of family time, too hot (100), or much driving!

Arriving home earlier than we had thought, I was hung-ho for my regular riding time. Now there is the wildfire smoke 😩 with air quality in the “moderate” range at 89 in our area — meaning not too good for outdoor activities. Susan had purchased these masks over a year ago and they arrived just a couple of months ago. Never in a thousand years did I think I would wear one of these, but missing one more day on the saddle was not acceptable. I guess I will do most anything that will help me not miss a ride.

I was happy to not have missed the Autumn color (there is none in California!) around our neighborhood and I took full advantage of it as I cycled to the local high school for my tea stop. What better reason could there be to take an unscheduled bike ride but to have my tea. Knowing I would not want to be maskless for too long, I brought only tea with no “crumpet”.😏

OCTOBER 2022 TEANEURING #3: 10/22/2022

In addition to the rain, our unseasonably warm temps dropped and I had to search out my colder weather riding gear. I took time to figure that out while the morning temp climbed to 49, and saddled up for Tea #3. A few days ago it was 80+ degrees — of course that enhanced the smoke hanging low over us.

Imagine my surprise to end with some patches of blue and a few sun breaks 🤗. One would think with a title like “Village Center” we would have a little coffee shop or tea house for our enjoyment. But no, only a Thai restaurant, and Asian Grill, a barber and some business offices in the quaint setting. I rode to the nearby Whidbey Coffee stand which has no place to sit. I purchased a hot chocolate (for a change) and a raspberry scone (being the scone fanatic that I am) and brought those back to the Village to sit in the courtyard to enjoy my treat and the sun and blue sky. 

Though the hot chocolate and scone were not much to my liking, it turned out to be a much better day than I had expected. 

OCTOBER 2022 TEANEURING #4: 10/23

Just like everyone else here, I am thrilled to have the rain! It will be a lot better riding in the (much needed) rain than in the wildfire smoke. That said, I am not totally sure if I will get out on another tea ride this week, so am going for #4 on this second day of “my” week.

Sunday is the best day for a bike ride. People are in church, lounging at home reading the Sunday paper, or preparing to watch a football game. That leaves light traffic for most of the day. I went a little further on this dry and cloudy day to visit a place I have not been to. It was in the first third of my ride as I did add more riding in the face of a week of rain upon us (and to ogle a few more Halloween things).

The good and the bad about the bakery:

Good things: they did not blink an eye when I brought my bike in next to my table; there was nice art on wall, the tea was a reasonable $1.50 compared to many places that charge mostly more than $3.00.

“Bad” thinks (or not so good things): The tea, even though made with water from the espresso maker, was tepid at best — I really really do not like tepid tea; I chose an apple filled something expecting at least a couple of pieces of apple (French Bakery and all), but it had only apple sauce as the filling — and the pastry was very dry, maybe if they had heated it slightly it would have been better; They served EVERYTHING in paper (note the oversized paper box my pastry came in) — no actual plates, a plastic spoon as they apparently do not carry forks, and paper coffee cups. I had fortunately  brought my “ecoffee cup” and used that, then set up my own place setting for my pastry; the place has no real ambiance as it is like an open space “hall” with only three small tables against the wall. I suppose they rather be a take out bakery.

This is a place I have had on my list to try for a while now and thanks to Teaneuring I am glad to have finally done that. I will most likely not be returning here (see above), so will continue my hunt for a cozy tea cafe with warm ambiance. ;’-). I had a great ride today. 😊

OCTOBER 2022 TEANEURING #5: 10/29

For the challenge we can choose what makes up our week, and can do up to two rides in that week. My week starts on Saturday and since I had gotten my allowed second ride for last week, I would hope that my new week would bring better riding weather than the rain and wind we have been having.

My wishes came true. Weeks ago Kim & Meri and I had put this weekend on our calendars as a possible riding day. Such a gorgeous day greeted us that friends Lucie and Terri joined us as we met up to take advantage of this dry and potentially sunny day for our ride. This is a ‘favorite’ trail ride as we also get in some riding on quiet roads as we make our way to the lunch stop in Lake Stevens. 

Yes, we’ve had wind and we’ve had rain, and we thought that sunny days would never come again (“we are impatient). But lo! A good ride day, a great day all around with friends in some country side lifted our spirits for the remainder of the month (2 more days). I was able to rope in a few friends to ride with me along the Centennial Trail to tea time at the beach park in Lake Stevens. We made our stop at Biscuit & Bean to purchase our fare (I brought my own tea so not to be disappointed) and took it over to the beach. The Egg & Cheese biscuit was scrumptious. Our route took us off of the trail a few time for some quiet country roads and a stop at the old cemetery (Happy Halloween). The Mother and Father gravesite is interesting in that they were each born in 1828 and each died in 1928.

NOVEMBER 2022 TEANEURING #6: RED CUP CAFE, MUKILTEO

After that gorgeous riding day on Saturday, though I knew better, I was hoping for a good Sunday ride. Not meant to be though as the rain and gusty winds took over the day. I am just not ready to tackle those conditions yet. I will work at raising my tolerance level about weather, and try hard to get out in the less than ideal times ;’-). Tuesday turned out to be sunny and perfect for riding.

It has been a very long time since my friend Vickie and I had any time together. Red Cup was a regular stop for us when be biked together in the past. Vickie’s health has forced her to stop riding, so we don’t see each other nearly as much. This day she agreed to take the ferry over (she lives on Whidbey Island) to meet me for lunch and tea. It was such a nice time, nice day and nice ride for this teaneuring outing.

NOVEMBER 2022 TEANEURING #7: 11/9 Ann’s house, Everett WA

Seems like yesterday that I was just beginning the challenge and stopping for tea #1! Time, as they say, does fly when you are having fun ;’-). Now they tell us that snow is upon us as early as this week! Seems like yesterday that I was cycling in shorts and light jacket 🤨. 

This past week!! The biggest storm here in recent history (say the newspapers) came with hight winds and knocked out power for 200,000 residents and caused damage with fallen tree limbs and downed electrical wires. We didn’t know we were among the fortunate to get our power restored in 18 hours as some homes would not get power returned for days.

I had ridden and posted one of my challenges early for just such a happening with our weather. Though I had hoped to join a friend for challenge #7, that was not to be and I now hope to meet for C+1 or ABC cuppa later on. This week has us in sunshine and no rain!! Cold but no rain for at least an entire week ;’-). I took advantage of today for a bit of tea time at my friend Ann’s. I think this is the third time I have included this in my 7 stops for the challenge. It is a delightful visit with Ann whom I do not see very often. This time she apologized for having mugs and not ‘tea cups’ for us!!!! Not a problem Ann, I drink my tea from a mug all the time. 😊.

On my ride to home I came through our small airport and took that photo to show how blue the sky is today.

Rule of the challenge is to get 7 rides over the allotted time of 6+ weeks. The dates for this 2022 challenge are October 7th to November 20th. Once many people meet this criteria, they often continue on for some ABC rides (Always Be Coffeeneuring) and some post those on the fb site throughout the year. I do so appreciate this challenge as it helps get me motivated to ride in not so great weather and I find myself out there more often. That and the camaraderie that builds on the fb site add some smiles and interesting stories/photos at this time of year. It is open to all, so maybe some of you who are reading this may want to join in ;’-) next year. It has been a time, as our leader Mary writes, “… a time to mellow out and make the most of a delicious time of year lingering over a cup of your favorite fall beverage.” I have done that and enjoyed each one.

ENDING OCTOBER

Historically November is our wettest month of the year. This year it began near the end of October and we welcomed it. It helped clear out the wild fire smoke that had our air quality at not a good level. 

That is not fog nor mist, it is heavy smoke that had kept most of us indoors for nearly a full week! I did however venture out for a bike ride when AQI was considered ‘moderate’. But I had that mask that Susan had purchased for us over a year ago and would get its first use.

Never in a million years did I think I would EVER wear this thing! But it helped me get in a ride.

After that, the air quality continually deteriorated and there was no healthy way to get riding. So — we were all so happy to have the rain. Though there are challenges to riding in the rain, it is much more doable than in unhealthy smoke filled air.

Rain and wind filled many days following the week of smoke filled air. Most of my riding for the second half of October through the first half of November was done in conjunction with Coffee/teaneuring challenge. I have made a separate post for a summary of those rides and tea stops, so will not include those here.

I got out for at least some rides to enjoy some of the season’s decorations.

My stump never disappoints …

The “train station” had a nice display for Fall.

Random neighborhoods have gone all out with Halloween displays.

I found this band especially interesting — so creative and detailed! Dancing couple and all.

The rain and wind have brought our beautiful autumn color towards its end. Many trees have relinquished their leaves to fall, but some have gripped tenaciously to retain those until the bitter end. On the last day of October (Halloween!) I rode in some rain, and possibly the last 50 degree day of this year, and was rewarded with some of those holding on.

There was still a nice one in our own front yard.

Further along on my ride…

I could have kept taking leaf photos, but this is repetitive enough for the blog. I drank in as much of all of them as I could and know they will soon be all gone with our impending rain and wind days upon us.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Now — bring on November ;’-).