We’re on San Juan Island for a few days with visiting Minnesotan friends. Today we took a scenic bike ride from Friday Harbor to Roche Harbor. When we were looking at the map with the bike rental guy, I mistook “flattest route” for “flat route.” It was a tough ride! Next time I think we’ll just drive or take the island bus, but it was a good experience (now that it’s over). Half way there we met Mona the dromedary. She is super friendly and ate apples from passersby. Baby Rijder snoozed through the whole encounter, but the other boys had a blast. And camel is the new squirrel. I can get Brandt to stop whatever he’s doing and look at the camera by saying, “Oh, there’s a camel right behind me!” Heh.

I pulled Brandt and a four-year old in the trailer behind me and they had a great time together, but were a heavy load. Dan joined the rest of us later in Roche Harbor both because he was done working and wanted to hang out and also because we ladies needed a ride home. Dan’s ex-messenger bud was happy to ride back and took the biggest kid with him so the rest of us would fit in the car. I hear Lopez Island is the flattest of the San Juans (there’s that word “flattest” again) so perhaps we’ll try that one next time.