Adventures Ahoy!

'Ello Poppets,

Arrgh. This eve finds me lost in my own room, waves of clothing, biking gear and school supplies surrounding me. So I decided to procrastinate and share my adventures with all of you. Tomorrow in the wee hours of the day, except not too wee compared to the alarms we've set, I will be flying a plane to our family reunion in Clarkston on the Snake River, where the famous explorers Lewis and Clark crossed into Washington. Yes, I will be the pilot. My grandpa owns a little 3 seater Cessna 116 and he gave me flying lessons this summer! So forget the 3 hour car ride through wheat field after wheat field...I'll be navigating the open sky. And the cool thing about steering a plane is that there are no buoys to hit. If the whole pre-med stuff doesn't work out, I've decided I want to become an astronaut, and not just dress up as one for Halloween. Flying is the coolest feeling ever, as long as I take my anti-nausea pills beforehand cuz it can be pretty turbulenty up there. I have my own radio system and have resisted the urge to shout "Mayday" just for the fun of it.

We come back Monday to repack and leave for Hawaii the next day!! We have a family friend in a high place (he's the officer of naval submarine intelligence at Pearl Harbor...super secret shtuff) and their family invited us to stay with them for a week vacation on Oahu! So yessss I get to see our very own island beauties Claire and Mahal, and Claire said she'd teach me the artful ways of paddling and surfing. I promised I'd be her very bestest student ever. I'm quite excited to run on the beach, go wave bobbing, build a beautiful sand castle, see some pretty fishies, eat some yummy fishies and pineapple and maybe even order a SnObama (supposedly it's our President's fav cherry and pina colada shaved ice thing and I'm hoping it's pretty chill).

After I get my tan on for the week, we fly back to Seattle the 3rd of August and my sister and I depart that very day for our bike ride. Seattle to San Francisco and Butts of Steel here we come. We start out with reenacting the Titanic scene ("I'm flying, Jack!") at the front of a ferry on its way to Bremerton. From there we'll take approx 6 days to ride along the Washington coast, 7 days through Oregon, and 9 days down to SF, averaging 52 miles a day. I've officially dubbed my bike Sir Charles when he's gallant, Charlie when he's friendly, and Ouch Charleyyy when I fall off of him. Britta's bike is called Buffie. We bought this super nifty book called Bicycling the Pacific Coast Route and it's pretty much the bible of biking. It gives explicit directions for each day, starting at one campsite and rolling into the next one, showing attractions, bike shops and grocery stores along the way. We're carrying everything we need (including tent, sleeping bags, 2 changes of clothes with bike shorts that make your butt sing but feel like you're wearing a diaper, really cool glueless tube patches, pepper spray to keep away annoying dogs and men, and lotsa other menial stuff) in paniers that fit over our rear wheels. We've had to get used to how imbalanced and heavy you feel with them fully loaded! It only took us about 3 hrs and 47 mins to ride 52 miles, so we're planning on taking our time and sightseeing!! I'm particularly looking forward to the lighthouses, sand dunes, ice cream shops, Redwoods, and pygmy forests. We'll be hitting all the major towns along the coast, but lemme know if you want a more detailed itinerary. Our last campsite will be in the Marin Headlands overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. We'll roll into SF, bike across the bridge, and do a kartwheel on the other side to complete our journey. Taking a 2 day bus trip back to T-Town to arrive the 27th just in time to move in and start Junior year and sleep in a real bed! Phew.

Now that I've probably surpassed my word limit, I'll bid you all adieu. Back to the sea of my bedroom. I absolutely cannot wait to see all of you!!!

Love to all my mateys,

Annika