Competitive Women's team

Notice the decking and hydration system and carbon fiber paddle...

Away they go!

Calm and collected

Canoe launch

The Hand-Off

I have no idea who these people are, so apologies for posting
unauthorized images, but I wanted you to see how the canoe leg starts.
The road biker hauls down his last stretch and then has to pass off
the timing chip to one canoer. That canoer runs down to the canoe
staging area, grabs his boat and awaiting teammate and they launch
their boat into the river.

The handoff is pretty tricky because no one wants to slow down for it.
The vast majority of bikers seemed to just pitch the chip at their
teammate and fly by, letting their teammate figure out where the chip
landed. 

Scouting their river entrance

Ski to Sea, May 27, 2011

This post is coming a few days late because the cross-country road
trip ended and we catapulted back into busy days preparing for two
weddings and our next cross-country trip, but here goes.

While in Seattle, Robert and I got to watch my brother, Ben, and his
roommate, Marc, compete in the Ski to Sea Race. It is an enormous
relay race with seven legs: cross-country skiing, downhill skiing,
running, road biking, canoeing, mountain biking and sea kayaking. Ben
and Marc did the canoeing portion of the race and took it very
seriously. (I wouldn't expect anything less from my two favorite
nortwestern mountain men.) I thought they were going a little crazy in
their preparations, decking the boat, rigging hydration tubes, adding
friction to their seats, padding the gunwhales, etc., but then I saw
their competition. Check out these boats!

Final Adjustments

Trim adjustments, seat positions, foot rests and straps, gunwhale
pads, decking preparations...the list goes on.

In it to win it

This is Mark's game face.

Ski to Sea Canoeing Practice, 5/27/11

We made it to Seattle and have been camping out in Ben and Mark's
living room. This weekend they are competing in the Ski to Sea relay
race, consisting of seven legs: a cross-country ski, an uphill
run/downhill ski, a road run, a road bike, a canoe and a mountain
bike. Ben and Mark are participating in the tandem canoe portion. They
rented a racing canoe from a shop in Canada and have been training on
a converted rowing machine in their living room. They are seriously
intense. The race is on Sunday in Bellingham and we will be driving up
to cheer them on.

House and boyfriend

We cooked black beans and veggie mix and rice for dinner. It was
delish, especially accompanied by some fine Tres Mujeres tequila to
ward off the chill in the drizzle-soaked air. Welcome to the Pacific
Northwest!! In our most genius move yet, we brought nothing for our
feet, save chacos and wool socks for sleeping. Never again. We ate in
the car and retreated to the tent. We slept warm and dry...enough.
There was water in the tent, but we are still miffed as to wether it
leaks or it is our moist breath condensing on the tent walls.
Annoying, but manageable so far. We might need to upgrade our gear for
drizzle camping.

I snapped this picture just before we dismantled our little tent-house
to drive to our new storage unit. The drive is nearing to a close!
Wa-hooo!

Campsite, 5/25/11

We ended up having to ask directions to a campable spot at the local
store. When the man behind the counter saw me come in, hugging a
torso-sized atlas, he said, "You're in Ashford." That much was clear,
thankfully. When I told him we were looking for Elbe Hills State
Forest Campground, he asked in a wonderfully backwoods accent, "You
goin' wheelin'?" That threw me for a loop, I assumed the answer was
no, but it took my gears a few spins before deciphering a reference to
FOUR-wheelin'. Apparently we had chosen a campsite for people on ATVs,
no wonder the road was shit for a Uhaul truck pulling a car!

The nice guy soon set me straight and recommended a few other spots in
the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. "Just go down past mile marker 4
and no one will bother you there." He tried to describe a few specific
spots that might be nice, but it really seemed like whereever would
do. We were disheartened when all the "pull-outs" he had described
were barely passable in a four-wheel drive truck. Finally though, we
located this choice spot and were able to get our rig off the road
completely.

Hoo hoo

Robert flushed this guy from a nearby tree (to another nearby tree)
while performing trailer gymnastics during our near epic search for
camping near Mt. Rainer National Park. We turned down a road that
devolved into nothingness and had to turn around in a less than
optimal situation. Robert did an amazing job and we got to see this
little guy to...hoot!

Oh shit! There are two!

Robert: "no, THIS is the COOLEST lizard I have ever seen!!!"

Snake kept chasing us, until he found his hole, which we were ingeniously blocking

Snake calmly chased us across the desert

It was really strange. The snake seemed to want to go towards us,
completely unafraid. (the snake was unafraid, Robert was beside
himself)

Second snake of the day, apples placed for scale

(keep in mind, those are crabapples. By my figuring, the snake was at
least 8ft long)

When Robert wants to catch a horny toad, bushes be damned

Then he had to arduously climb back up, on hands and knees because it was so steep.