Thursday, September 5, 2013 (Long Beach, WA)

All we kept hearing about the last couple of days was this incredible rain that we were suppose to get today, so we weren't sure what to expect when we woke up, but it was fairly nice out, overcast but warm.  Hmmm this doesn't look too bad.  So we started our morning out with a jog on the beach.  Wow - that's a pretty good way to start your day, other than three ladies we were the only ones on the beach, it was beautiful though it didn't make the jogging any easier. 

After we got cleaned up and had our breakfast we decided to take Gracie and go and check out the local boardwalk we'd read about.  It is just under a mile and cost around $400,000 to build.  We weren't sure what to expect, but it was a very nice walk out among the sand dunes.

Road leading to boardwalk and the beach

Start of Long Beach Boardwalk

Walking on the boardwalk

While we were out walking, we saw part of the Discovery Trail which is a 8.2 mile walking/biking trail from Long Beach to Ilwaco and covers part of the trail that Lewis & Clark took.  Hmmm, the weather is looking pretty good still, shall we go for a nice bike ride, what's the worst that can happen, it starts raining and we head back - yep, let's go for it.  So we went back to the 5er, got some lunch and got our bikes loaded up in the truck and headed back to the Discovery Trail.


We started at the beginning and road to Ilwaco and Baker Bay.  It started out as a nice leisurely bike ride through the dunes for the first six miles or so but those last two miles were a killer.  Once we turned away from the beach the elevation changed and we rode up to about 150' elevation.  Now that doesn't sound like much, but let me tell you it was for us semi-novice bike riders.  I made the wrong choice in footwear because I was wearing Teva open toed sandals and they were slippery on my pedals.  I was also having a few technical difficulties with shifting (i.e. my nice way of saying that I messed up shifting gears a couple of times).  I think there were two places coming and going that we ended up pushing our bikes up the steep inclines.  When we rode Paulina Lake, Little Crater campground to the Paulina Lake lodge, I was able to make it up those steep inclines, but they had a little bit more of a gradual beginning to the grade, these inclines just went straight up.  I was a little annoyed with myself to have to be pushing the bike.  There was this little voice in the back of my head saying, don't forget, you have the return trip and these couple of steep hills you have to go back up but by then it was the challenge of riding all the way to Ilwaco.  I'm glad to say we made it to Ilwaco - and it was a pretty little harbor with lots of fishing boats.  We stopped and checked out a fish market  but decided we didn't want to try and carry home any fish in our backpack.

Starting out on the Discovery Bike Trail

Where the bike trail turns away from the beach and starts heading up in elevation

Had to stop and check out this fish market - it had the same name as our grand daughter

Baker Bay Harbor - notice the clouds, but still no rain

More fishing boats

Heading back toward Long Beach on the Discovery Trail

I'm surprised I'm actually smiling in this picture, we had just pushed our bikes up this incredibly steep incline that I couldn't make it all the way up by pedal power.  After some gear shifting coaching by Rich, we finally made it through the 2 miles of steep hilly inclines and were back on the beach in the dunes, whew that was an accomplishment.  Now it was only six miles back to our starting point but now we were bucking a head wind, oh well it was much easier than pedaling uphill but I do have to admit, I was glad when we got back to the truck.  We had an awesome 16+ mile bike ride, saw some pretty country, conquered some hills and never got rained on, it was a very enjoyable day for the both of us.  These are the kinds of days I imagined for us before we were retired and still working and I'm glad to report they are much better in reality than in my imagination. 

We got back to the 5er and had only been there a little while when Rich asks me if someone just took a picture and no sooner got the words out of his mouth than kaboom, Wow now that was some loud thunder and it was very close, a little too close in my opinion.  Luckily we only got one other loud kaboom and then a few minutes of hail and then it was over, we were sure glad we were safe and sound back home and not out on the beach somewhere when that hit. 

Needless to say, the rest of the evening was spent relaxing in our recliners.  Tomorrow we move on to Lincoln City and want to get an early start since it will be a little bit of a  longer travel day than we usually like and we are also traveling on a Friday along with the weekend travelers.