Saturday, Sept 29, 2012 Bremerton to Elma, WA 69 miles

Yesterday was a rest day and we stayed at the Hampton in Bremerton two nights.  Some of us took the ferry to Seattle to walk through the shops near the ferry landing while others met friends there.  The rest of us took it easy at the Hampton, taking walks in the area, cleaning bikes or reading.  It was a challenging two days, and it was great to just relax.  I cleaned my bike, did laundry, walked over to an Indian restaurant across the street for dinner, and caught up on this blog.

Today our route went back over the roads we used entering Bremerton, including those very steep hills.  None of us even tried to ride up...everyone walked!  The rest of the ride was much easier in comparison.  Although there were hills, the day also had stretches of (almost) flat roads.  After Wednesday and Thursday's 7,800 feet of climb, those stretches felt like they were down hill!  The predicted showers appeared to have fallen ahead of us, and although the road was wet for a while, we escaped the rain.

Our group decided to stop at a cute coffee shop in Shelton at mile 45/69, getting coffee, tea, and in my case, hot chocolate made with soy milk.  The temps started at 55 degrees today and never rose above 60 degrees, so the warm drinks were great!  It made for terrific biking weather!

Dinner was in the parking lot, which is a lot of fun.  We get to see everyone together, and have a wonderful dinner!  (Thank you Patty!!)

Thursday, Sept 27, 2012 Port Townsend to Bremerton, WA 57 miles

After a hearty breakfast, we left Port Townsend in the mid-50's for Bremerton.  The route was 20 miles shorter than yesterday, but still filled with many long hills.  Of course the reward for those hills is the beautiful vistas (which we could see today with less fog), and the fun downhills!  Well, most of them were fun.

Our route took us along tree-lined areas and towns such as Port Hadlock, Port Ludlow, Silverdale and Chico, WA.  It was a second challenging day, and we were all tired by the time we arrived.  Because of the parking situation at the Hampton Inn, the guides were unable to cook as usual out of the trailer, so pizza was ordered and big salads were made.  They even ordered a pizza with no cheese for the vegans!

Before the ride began, we were wondering why we had a 'rest day' after only two days of riding.  Obviously they knew we were all going to need it!

If you want to see photos of any of your family/friends in particular, write a comment at the bottom and I will try to do that.  Also, if you click on any of the photos, it will enlarge.