Thursday, May 18, 2006

Paradise

Thursday, 18 May

Some places are aptly named, and today I visited one: Paradise. Coincidentally, it involved visiting a volcano on the anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.

Really, all I need to say is that I rode from Elbe to Paradise and back, on a tandem, in absolutely glorious weather, on roads almost totally devoid of cars. It was too perfect for (very many) words.



We saw a thousand shades of green and wildflowers just beginning to blossom. We rode within eight feet of two deer standing by the side of the road; they didn't freeze, and they didn't bolt. We saw zillions of waterfalls because there were still 8? 10? feet of snow in the parking lot at Paradise and lots of run-off everywhere. We visited (by going the wrong way on a one-way road) a viewpoint that neither of us had ever been to and had our picture taken by a visitor whose husband "rides all over Europe."


Adjectives fail me. It was, well, paradise.

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