Day 2: Paradise Inn, Rainier National Park

43 miles of riding mostly uphill! The last 11 miles was consistent-- mostly switchbacks. 3-4 mph doesn't get there very fast! Hardest ride we've had! But it is beautiful here. We talked with some people who drove from Minnesota to ride here. They are going to do two day loop-- one all downhill and then all uphill. We have very poor internet so will have to wait again for pictures. We are taking an unplanned rest day to enjoy this snowy Paradise and rest.

Eatonville, WA 33 miles

We took the Amtrak to Olympia and started riding about 10:30. Our rain clothes were needed from 12 noon onward. Because of the weather we had only partial views of Mt Rainier. Tomorrow we will stay in Mount Rainier Park. It will be a Hailey climb. We are not camping this trip so we will stay at the Paradise Lodge. Thunderstorms are in the forecast for tomorrow.

I couldn't get the pictures to publish so I will try again tomorrow.

Washington State ride

Tomorrow we will start bicycling from Olympia Washington. We plan to be on the road 2 weeks or slightly more. The route goes east and loops up by Lake Chelan and back to Anacortes area.

Cologne

Our day was spent walking and sightseeing.  We also did some eating.

Bad Godesberg to Cologne, Germany

It was cool and threatening to rain when we left this morning. The ride once again had some challenges when we had to get off the river path.  There is a lot of industry in this area which prevents a riverfront ride. 

Every day we have riden there have been many places to stop for coffee and pastry. Each day we have had a thermos of coffee with us. Today of course we did not bring coffee and there were no easy places for snacks. It was almost 1 PM when we found a bakery--which was closing in five minutes.

It was difficult finding our hotel--similar to yesterday. We eventually got here and it is the nicest room we have had on the bike trip. We are spending at least two nights here and maybe a third. Our 41st anniversary is tomorrow.

Cologne's city center was 90% destroyed in WWII. The riverfront has a lot of very modern buildings.

We are now done with the bicycle portion of our vacation. We will be sightseeing for a few days and fly out of Zürich on Saturday.

Koblenz to Bad Godesberg

Today was our longest ride. On our bikes 60 km would be very easy.  These rental bikes are like tanks--Ron can hardly lift one and the turning radius is huge. It was a cool day with occasional  showers. 

The past two days we cycled almost directly next to the Rhein River. Today's route was very difficult to find. They gave us a route map which is in German. I have an English one that I brought which is not exactly the same route. The biggest problem today was when we were trying to find our hotel in this town. We had to stop and ask many times before we were successful. We arrived at our hotel about 4 PM. 

We had good food for all three meals. We have figured out how to order. We share the entrée and each have a salad. The Germans mixed salads are excellent. 

Tomorrow is our final day of riding--we end in Cologne Germany.

St Gore to Koblenz, Germany May 22

I will start with last night--excellent pizza and Ron found dark beer he enjoyed.

After a good breakfast we were back on the road.

The bike route was flat and  continues to be beautiful.

We took a mid morning stop in Boppard for pastry and a skilift up the mountain to see a view of the Rhein making almost a U-turn.

We had a pleasant  lunch before reaching our hotel in Koblenz.

This blog did not post originally.