Craig and Cindys 2024 Pacific Northwest Adventure

Hello again friends and fam!  It's Friday, June 21st, and we are heading to Lookout Pass, Idaho to ride the Route of the Hiawatha, what is hailed as the premier “rails to trails” bike path in the country.       We arose at 5:30 am in order to be on the road by 7:00.   We had previously made reservations for the ride today, which included bike rentals, lights, shuttle back after completing the route, and delivery of our bikes to the beginning of the trail (yes, this vacation is really getting cushy!). Start of the Route The route opens at 8:30am, and we arrived at 9:00am - or so we thought.   The route itself is in the Mountain Timezone, but the outfitter that operates the route is on Pacific Time.   Since this area straddles two timezones, we learned the route abides by Pacific Time even though it's in Mountain Time.  Does that sound confusing?  It sure was to us!   We got ourselves ready and started off on our r...

Lake Couer d'Alene just around sunset Hello again, Fam and Friends, from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho!  I have an unusual relationship with Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, rooted in a day of tragedy for our country.   On September 10, 2001 I left Chicago O’Hare on a (very delayed) redeye business trip flight to Vancouver, Canada with three other colleagues from Motorola.   We arrived early on the morning of September 11th (around 2 am) and checked into our hotel.    I remember quite vividly being woken up by my cell phone, with Cindy frantically describing to me the tragedy that was unfolding at the World Trade Center in NYC and Washington DC that day. As you all might remember, air travel was halted for a few days, and after it was resumed it was very difficult to get on a flight.  So my colleagues and I made the decision to drive our rental car from Vancouver back to Chicago.    On our way, one of the places we passed through was Coeur d’Alene.  I thought it...

Every once in a while you have a day that is more frustrating than fantastic - for Cindy, that usually means it's time for a swig of Dulce Vida or a large Margarita.   Let's call Monday, June 24th a Large Margarita Day...  We left Coeur d'Alene on Monday to head to our next destination, the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area .   We didn't really know much about the Columbia River Gorge, except that it is fairly close to Portland and contains over 50 waterfalls.   Cindy loves waterfalls, so this was a must-stop are on our trip. We'd read that Historic Highway 30 was the route to take you to the waterfalls on the Oregon side of the Columbia River (the river divides Oregon and Washington), and the bulk of the waterfalls are on the Oregon side.   Our plan for this first day was to find Route 30 and visit a few waterfalls in the afternoon. This proved easier said than done.   One thing we didn't realize is that Route 30 is not a ...

One of our favorite things about this trip is the opportunity to spend time with friends and family around the country.   Our friends Johnel and Christine Sova purchased a second home in Oceanside Oregon twelve years ago and this was our first time visiting them since they've moved there.      We arrived in Oceanside on Tuesday evening.  Johnel and Chris have a beautiful house with an amazing view of the Pacific Ocean, and a short walk down to the beach.  We were excited for the adventures ahead! Wednesday morning was overcast and raining, uncharacteristic for Oceanside at this time of the year.   We took a hike on the beach, it was amazing to see so many sea creatures! We saw starfish of all colors - orange, purple, and red, sea urchins and mussels in the tide pools and rocks when the tide was out.   Even the rocks were spectacular - jasper and other interesting stones were everywhere.    Because the tides are so dramati...