Loon Lake Loop

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Another great day of riding. Today capped a great weekend of riding and hanging out. Joe and I enjoyed the perfect weather today and took a spin out to Loon Lake. We stuck mostly to the back roads. We enjoyed some nice dirt roads. And I got bit by a dog -- on my bum.

This is a typical road that we traveled today. Nice rural roads with low traffic.

This is a tick I found on my ankle as we sat and drank a cup of coffee in Deer Park. Pretty gross, eh? Nasty little parasitic bastard. When I got home later in the day, I took a shower and two more fell off me. Yuck! I expect these little bastards hitched a ride when Alex and I rode through the waist-high grass a couple days ago. I don't know how they survived one shower on Saturday, but not today's? Whatever. I hope I got them all.

Joe's sister-in-law has a cabin on Loon Lake. After lunching at the famed Dinner Bell, we drug out the kayaks and took a quick spin around the west side of the lake. I've not really done any kayaking. I tipped it over instantly and got soaked. Otherwise, I found it to be a perfect complement to cycling. Your legs just lay there while the upper body does all the work. Fun.

This is a typical phone-cam shot: cruddy. The clouds were amazing today. I'd never thought of our clouds until the discussion on MetroSpokane about our amazing Spokane clouds last week. Yeah, we do have pretty sweet clouds.

The area we rode through was really neat in its ruralness. Unlike the south/palouse area, which seems to attract the McMansion crowd, much of the north west area is still more traditional rural. There's a McMansion or McWanky Northwestern Log Cabin here and there, but overall, the region is really charming and still has a lot of original, small churches and lots of grange halls. All of these buildings were in operation.

When I got back to Spokane, I showered quickly and pedaled up to my parents' house for a Father's Day feast (Liza and Maddie are out of town this week). Look at that dinner: corn on the cob; grill roasted asparagus salad; grilled portobello with tomato, sweet onion, basil, and mozzarella; and a grilled pepper stuffed with herbed rice. WORD!

My mom is such a great cook.

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My mom's cooking company website: Apple Charlotte Cooking Company.

And, P2P dinner-fundraiser with Apple Charlotte

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