North Cascades NP, Washington - June 24, 2006

Well, it took a 17-mile, two hour bike ride along the highway, but I finally made it to an internet connection. The bike ride actually wasn't too bad - there wasn't much traffic, the road had wide shoulders most of the way, and there weren't any really steep hills. Plus there was a Saturday Market on the way, where I got a bag of cookies and a loaf of banana bread to snack on (price: $2.50. Score!). Thanks, George, for loaning me your bike! The library here is nice - they've got a good movie selection, which should help keep me busy on the weekends.

Work is going well. It's set up so that we work four 10-hour days a week, but since I wasn't here on Monday, and we had an all day first-aid training class on Wednesday, I only had two full days of work. I helped them rearrange and inventory one section of their greenouse, on top of all the usual types of manual labor. The pilates (exercises) every morning are fun, even if I'm not in great shape for them. I played soccer for 2 1/2 hours on Wednesday (5-on-5), which was a lot of fun, even if I was too sore to put my shoes on, after I made the mistake of stopping running after the game, and sitting down. Between the 32-mile weekly bike rides, the soccer games, the hikes, and pilates, I should be in slightly better shape by the time I leave. The people here all seem nice. I had a housemate who I made caramel corn with, but she moved out on Wednesday, so I have the house to myself until the next people arrive.

The scenery and weather here are gorgeous. It's definitely cooler than Santa Cruz, though.

Talk to you later!