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Monday, October 10, 2016

It’s been awhile | Family Adventures 10-8-16

 

Fort Stevens Biking Adventure

I haven’t blogged.  In a long time.  I made a deal, it broke my routine and I just couldn't seem to find a consistent time to do it!  But once in awhile, I feel I have something More to say than the small details I might post with a picture on FB.  Something more …that maybe I would want to write in my journal but I can type so much faster than writing so putting it in the blog seems to make so much more sense. But then I don’t blog anymore so then it gets lost. The feelings, the descriptions, and often the details of the story are gone. 

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I didn’t want to lose the details of this story so I broke routine…maybe I’ll start a new one.  But for today here is the story.  Here are the details.  Today I jot down some feelings.

We aren’t huge adventurous people. Yeah sure we love adventures, I love taking the kids places and trying new things and finding new places.  But I keep it pretty safe.  I don’t go farther than I know I can usually handle or that my kids can handle.  That means our hikes are like 30 minutes long and more like walks in the wilderness. That means crabbing is catching small crabs that we throw back because then I don’t have to worry about what to do with them after.  Every so often it means going on a bike ride but only where I know it’s level because that means I know that I and my small children can complete it without complaint or utter exhaustion.  But not on Friday.  No, Friday I decided to push the limits.  We decided. 

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Duck had planned out a great camping trip in a new location. New things to see, new beaches to explore and in fact his plans didn’t even include playing at the beach. Say what!?  Us not play at the beach? In the rain and wind and all things Oregon coast!? Heaven forbid.

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But his plan did include some fun exploring and a bike ride. Something we all enjoy.  As we perused the maps of activities and drove around one morning we thought it would be fun to bike to one of our venues.  Then we thought…what if we biked to both activities that were on the agenda that day?  So, we talked to the park ranger and discovered that the bike trail goes kinda in a loop to three different sight seeing locations and the full loop was about 7 miles.  Whew…7 miles. We could do that right?  Could Savannah do that with her little tiny training wheel bike?

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We got back to camp, bundled up what we needed and headed out!  We found a map on the way that showed the trail system and it actually wasn’t JUST a loop, but many other trails in-between. Like….we could see our two initial planned stops and get back in just about 3.5 miles.  That was safe.  Duck looked at me and asked what I thought.  I wanted to say…let’s keep it safe. We’ve got Savannah on her training wheels, Austin will need a nap, (I’m totally out of shape although I didn’t mention that part), and well rain is a very real possibility.  Then I stopped.  I shared my first impression and said…let’s do it. Let’s do the full loop.  He looked at me like I was crazy and then we headed. 

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Stop One: Peter Iredale Shipwreck | 1 mile

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I wish I took a picture of our bikes parked in the sandy parking area…lol pretty much every where we went we were a spectacle.

Stop 2: Fort Stevens Battery Russel | 2 miles (3 total)

They had it easy

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There is beauty all around

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Seriously.  So.  Cool.

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Watch out….they released the baby!

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Stop 3: Fort Stevens Museum, West Batteries, Battery rat and Battery 245 | 2 miles (5 total)

Quote of the day

Me: (As we are noisily riding past a couple whom I’m sure were out for what they thought would be a peaceful walk in the woods) So much for peace and quiet.

Savannah: (without missing a beat and just loudly pedaling away with her training wheels)                     I’ll be peace! (cause she sure as heck wasn’t going to be quiet!)

Me: Then I’ll be quiet….(giggling almost too hard to get it out!)

(What about Bob reference in case ya missed it Winking smile )

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This Girl.

This girl was amazing.  She is tough.  Like I’m still baffled at how well she handled this ride.  Rarely a complaint (which is a big deal for her!).  She crashed twice, and both times was back on her bike within minutes.  She kept wanting to go farther…never finishing because this was an adventure.  To her it was epic and she did not want it to end!

 

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The museum area (and gate back to the bike bath) closed at 4pm so we didn’t have a lot of time to spend at this Museum and Battery.  We ended up coming back the next morning because there was just so much to see!

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I cannot perfectly describe the scenery of our ride.  Like…every minute I wanted to stop to capture another picture…and half the time I had my phone out taking pictures and video as we were riding!  let’s just say I know where I want to go for our next family pictures Winking smile

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Final destination: Camp (or as the kids called it, Home) | 2.8/3 miles (bringing the total to close to 8 miles)

 

I’ll admit that last stretch was brutal on my butt.  No lie.  If it weren’t for the amazing scenery I might have asked Duck to go get the car! We stopped occasionally for pictures or because we found something exciting to stop for….like an orange belly lizard?

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Maliyah says she felt like we were in the Amazon Rain Forest. I assured her it was DEFINITELY a rain forest! Winking smile

 

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Austin LOVES rides in the stroller so the trailer is no different….he enjoyed every second of the ride!

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We did it.  And guess what? We survived.  My legs and feet and butt might not have agreed with that comment….but it was totally worth it.  (both Duck and I just wished we had brought some Advil on the trip!) 

I am so glad that we allowed ourselves to be a tiny bit brave. For some people an 8 mile bike ride is cake.  But for us,…who don’t ride bikes regularly, with six kids and out in the rain…that was a safe walk.  But look at the memory now created for our family.  So grateful.

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