The day started off with an early alarm clock… Followed by a few snoozes. I finally rolled myself out of bed to a toasting hot coffee and an egg and avacado sandwich to watch Le Tour. It was a time trial stage full of glory, tongue waging, wailing, and grown size men collapsing over their bikes at the end; it was glorious. Steven and I loaded the bikes and headed northward while Libby nursed her sore back on the sofa with a heating pad. The bike ride was momentarily delayed thanks to a mishap back home that was gracefully handled by Adrienne, my many thanks to you. We went to Skagit Valley- a small fertile agricultural haven tucked between the mountains. 
It was a gorgeous ride. We were surrounded on every side by blueberry patches, strawberry fields, wheat fields, and the occasional broken down VW vanagon. We biked for a few miles on gravel travels through the inland salt fields before heading back to the lush valley. Halfway into the ride we pulled into the oasis town of Edison for some coffee and pastries. I’m not sure if it was my hunger or if was truly the best coffee and buttery pastry I’ve ever had, but it was amazing. The rest of the ride was mellow regarding the incline and the pace. 
It was a perfect day outside with not too much sun and not too much wind. We headed back to the car after the 50 mile ride and were already running late for our dinner engagement.
Arriving back at the house we had just enough time to secure and drive a car2go, a rental you book on your phone, to meet Libby and Steven’s friends Dawn and Kozo and their two munchkins. The rental car is a smart car and Steven, suprisingly, fit into it.
We drove the mile and a half to the pedal brewery (I refused any more cycling at this point). Our dinner engagement went well beyond hipster to full on smelly hippy level. You know you have reached smelly hippy level when the restaurant has port-o-pots as their primary facilities (with a sign letting you know how much water is being conserved by using such a stinky, slightly unsanitary method of relieving oneself). The hippiness continued as the band took the stage and started encouraging crowd members to pedal their stinky bikes in order to power the pedal cycled generators for their amplifiers. I’m not sure what the band was called, but if I were naming them they would be the “Supportless Wonders.” The lack of support knew no gender divide and the googling eyes of onlookers couldn’t help but notice too. It was all very Pacific northwestish. We enjoyed spending time with Dawn, Kozo, and their kids and Steven, being the gem that he is, even ran to a nearby restaurant, to provide tater-tots to prevent a toddler meltdown. We got food from a nearby food truck- I went with the apple and brie on a potato pancake sandwich; which was greasy and all kinds of delicious. I enjoyed meeting Libby and Steven’s friends.
Steven pedaling to provide power to the amps…
After dinner we headed into Ballard for Hot Cakes. I got chocolate decidadence. A partially cooked lava cake that was oozygoozy in the middle and accompanied with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and caramel. Wow. We headed back to the home front afterward for showers and snoozing. 
Hot Cakes!