I would like to start this blog post the same way that I started my last post, but that seems quite redundant. Even though they are separated by three month's time, they are only centimeters apart on your monitor, which makes it too close for me. Regardless, Hello! I've missed you, whomever you are!
Clint and I just returned from a wonderful vacation in Kellogg, ID where we biked all over! We were one of four couples staying at a family friends' house. Other couples included my parents, my cousin-once-removed John and his wife Ginny, and family friends Mark and Anne. We had a great time!
We arrived on Friday evening and set the plan to ride the Trail of the Hiawatha Route on Saturday. This is a 15-mile historical train track that has been converted into a bicycle trail down the pass. The neat thing about this trail is that it takes riders through 10 tunnels and 7 high tressels, just as a train would have in decades past. The first, and most impressive tunnel, starts about 20 meters into the ride, and continues in complete blackness for 1.66 miles! The temperature inside the tunnel is a chilling 36 degrees year-round. The tunnel begins in Montana, and part way through crosses the state line into Idaho. From there, riders continue along an educational and breathtakingly beautiful ride through the Bitterroot Mountainside.
On Sunday, Clint and I went downhill mountain biking on Silver Mountain. Let me tell you, this is not for the faint of heart, or soft of rear! The gondola, the world's longest, takes you 3.4 miles up the mountain, with your bikes following you in the next car. When you reach the top, an extensive 8 mile downhill adventure awaits. Being a beginner, I opted for the easy route down for our first run. Well, after about 15 minutes, the easiest route (green) dumps you off into a blue run, the next level of difficulty. Having no other options, we (cautiously) proceed.
Skip to the chase: Our first run down the mountain took us about two hours to make the 8 mile descent. Our second; an hour and twenty minutes. Our third and final run; forty minutes. Let's just say that this whole downhill mountain biking thing kind of grew on me as the day went on. It was amazing!
By Monday morning, Clint and I were the only folks left in the house. Feeling utterly wrecked from the previous day's battle, we took it easy and headed to Wallace, ID for the Sierra Silver Mine tour. What a neat thing to do! We had a tour of an underground silver mine, our guide demonstrated some of the equipment used in silver mining, and we got to hear all about the mines! It really was a neat tour.
We then went to the Old Bordello Museum and learned about the working girls in employ until 1988. What an eye-opening and shocking experience that was!
By Tuesday we were feeling OK and we headed to Harrison, about an hour away and at the South end of Lake Coeur d'Alene, to bike the 15 miles to Plummer. This was beautiful! The paved trail crossed over a part of the lake, and the view from the bridge was spectacular. Then the trail climbed up for 6 miles along the hillside. We saw a fawn and about 3 million grasshoppers. Plummer was a nothing destination, so we turned right around and headed back to Harrison for milkshakes.
