Follow You Anywhere

"End of a Tough Day's Ride"

Last week was my wedding anniversary. Joy and I have been married 25 years. Ironically, our wedding anniversary date was also my final paid day at Intel. I was laid off and am officially unemployed for the first time in my working life. It feels good.

To celebrate, our anniversary that is, we visited Seattle where we met and were married. We also took a side trip to Whidbey Island and a tour through the San Juan Islands. No kids, just Joy and I with our bikes and the RV.

Up until this trip, Joy and I have cycled together exactly three times in twenty five years. The second time was very uneventful, however the first and the third were both quite an adventure.

As I mentioned, Joy and I met and were married in Seattle. We lived there in the early years of our marriage. We had been married less than a year when we decided to go on a small cycling day trip. At the time, neither of us were big cyclists but we were young and thought it would be a good spring afternoon activity to do. However, one minor point that I cannot fail to mention was the fact that Joy was three month's pregnant at the time.

Be that as it may, we were still newlyweds so it didn't matter. Our plan was to drive to the Edmonds - Kingston ferry, ride the ferry with our bikes, cycle to the Hood Canal Bridge, and then return to the ferry and back home. An easy, pleasant afternoon ride.

However, to make this long story a bit shorter, I insisted Joy just "follow me" to take this "shortcut" to find some friends at their condo and ultimately get a ride back to Seattle with them. I thought it was a cool, spontaneous addition to our trip. The two flaws in this plan, well, maybe three flaws, was that it was no shortcut, the route was full of undulating hills, and our friends were not home at their condo. Many, many miles, hills, and a long ride much further than we intended, we ultimately made our way back to Seattle.

Joy has never let me forgot this ride. We never cycled again until a few years ago in Salt Lake City. And I am no slow learner, I made sure the second ride was on flat ground and short.....and that Joy was not pregnant at the time!

Fast forward to last week. We were staying in a little RV park on the north tip of Whidbey Island WA, just south of Deception Pass Bridge that leads north to Anacortes WA. We took our bikes in hopes of taking short cycling trips around the towns and ferries in the San Juan Islands. I googled a short little trip from our departure point to Anacortes and pointed out to Joy it was "just" 7.2 miles via this "shortcut." Joy has learned over the years to never trust what I say. Normally Joy would follow with a brief interrogation challenging my judgement and ability to plan a simple trip but this time quickly acquiesced in agreement and said "that's great."

Off we went. And quickly we took a wrong turn making 7.2 miles into something much further through undulating hills and a Northwest misting rain. I knew I was starting to get into trouble when we were more than half way to Anacortes and Joy informed me she didn't think she would be able to make it back. I reassured her that we needed to make it to town at this point and perhaps we could find a taxi back to the RV. I would have paid anyone any sum just to make sure we would make it back.

But God was looking over us with favor that day. We finally made our way into town (but still 4+ miles from to the center of town) and stopped at a park and ride. Upon studying the bus schedules, we realized there was a bus going into the center of town as well as one that goes directly back to Whidbey Island and our RV park! All for the cost of two dollars.

But here is the total redeeming part. Joy and I took the bus into old town Anacortes. It is a quaint little town with many beautiful shops, galleries and restaurants. After wandering around a bit and feeling relieved we had a plan to get back to the RV without having to ride the entire 12+ miles back, we found this delightful cafe bakery to sit down and have a cup of coffee before going back to the bus stop.

I walked in and thought we just landed in heaven. In the bakery case were the most gigantic cinnamon rolls I had ever seen. Without looking at the menu, I just knew this place served "comfort food" and it had to be good. I asked the waitress for some coffee for Joy and I and then my eyes drooled over the most wonderful-looking Key Lime and Coconut Cream pies I had ever seen. Both of these pies happen to be favorites of ours.

I ordered one slice of each pie along with our coffee. The Key Lime and Coconut Cream pies were the best we ever tasted, they simply were to die for!

I was redeemed! A bus ride back to the RV park, a nice little visit through quaint Anacortes WA, and the best pies we ever tasted!

By the way, if you are ever in Anacortes, La Conner, or Mt. Vernon WA, you have to go have some pie at the Calico Cupboard Cafe & Bakery. Later in our trip we ate lunch at their La Conner location and it was delightful. And a big thank you to the waitresses in both locations as they are so friendly.

You can find the Calico Cupboard Cafe & Bakery on the web at www.calicocupboardcafe.com. Check them out, they are terrific!

Since this day's adventure, Joy has continued to cycle with me. But I follow her rather than vice versa!

Cheers,
Dale