Roastin…

Today was the sort of day we optimistically imagined when we conceived of this trip. A 45-mile ride from Winthrop, WA to Omak, WA, with the small matter of a 4,020 ft pass in the middle; a late start after a yummy breakfast; sunshine and a light cooling breeze; beautiful views, a decent road surface and minimal traffic; a clean, cheap, comfortable motel; and a tasty, healthy and reasonably priced meal just steps away from our motel. If all of our days were like this perhaps we would start to take it for granted. As it is, we are truly overjoyed and grateful to be able to experience such perfection!

But it gets better… We met some wonderful people today too. First, we bid a fond farewell to Dale, another friendly host at the Rio Vista hotel in Winthrop. Then, as we were leaving our hotel, we were visited by George, a friend of Jim & Susan (our dear friends from Fort Bragg). George and Patti are cyclists who live in the area and have been giving us lots of tips and advice, and have kindly offered accommodation as we have been travelling around the state.

A few miles into the ride, in a cute little town called Twisp, we happened upon a fabulous coffee roasters, called Blue Star. We dropped in and had the tastiest lattes and coffee cake, whipped up for us by the lovely barista, Casey, and then had a great chat with the owners, Meg and Dan. Meg told us a bit about the company and we were pleased to learn that they are hoping to expand shortly to an outlet in Brooklyn. If they’re up and running by the time we get back to New York, we might have to make the trip across the bridge, just for quality control reporting purposes you’ll understand… Thanks Meg for the great T-shirts (see photo).

Tonight, we ate at a fab little restaurant called Corner Bistro (recommended by Meg): all farm to table local produce – we love it! Hello to Jessica, our server tonight.

Lastly, a big thanks to SB… we love reading your comments, and chuckled at the thought of you digging out your US bird book!

Us x