Hi-A-Wa-Tha

One of the days on our vacay we rode the Hiawatha Bike Trail. For anyone that has ever been to Coeur d'Alene this is the attraction they tell most people about. You ride downhill the whole way over trestles and bridges, through tunnels (one of which is over a mile long) and all the while get to see amazing scenery. Once you arrive at the bottom of the trail you can either hitch a ride back up on a bus or if you are super crazy you can ride back up. We had played with the idea of riding back up, but I am glad we took the bus instead. So, so glad. 

This is right when we were getting ready to depart. Everyone was equipped with flashlights or headlamps for the tunnels, the first of which is the mile long one and it is pitch black in there. 

Sawyer rode in our bike trailer and carried two flashlights with him. You would think he might be scared to be in such a long, dark tunnel, but he loved every minute of it. You could hear him making choo-choo noises that echoed off the tunnels walls the whole way through. 

Getting Eden ready to embark on the bike journey was a three person job. One to hold her up, and two to buckle the helmet under her lovely chinny chin chin chins. 

Ready, set, GO! 

In the tunnel you could hear dripping water and the tires splashing through puddles. I say 'hear' because you most definitely couldn't see it! We followed each other in a straight line and thankfully Ben had a super bright headlamp that lit up enough of the way that I could follow behind him. Finally we could start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Literally speaking, not metaphorically.

A mile later we were through it and entered the bright daylight once again. Turns out my bike tires were the only ones that splashed up just enough mud onto my backside to make it look, shall we say, awkward. 

This spot we stopped at to take a family photo and right afterwards discovered these tiny friendly squirrels that would come out of the bushes and almost right up to you to see if you had any food. They were so cute how could I possibly say no to those beady little eyes, so I fed them part of my Lara Bar. Then as we were leaving I heard the lady to the right of us in this photo tell her group not to feed the animals because it makes them become dependent on people. Oops. I probably ruined those two little squirrels for life. 

Look at all those trees!! It was awesome views the whole way down. 

Later that night when we were going through the pictures I discovered a few more photos had been taken of my badunkadunk. Apparently it's not just the little boys who think poop is funny. Okay, who am I kidding I think poop is hilarious. Probably having a boy child brought that out of me. Pretty sure my rear end mud splatter is what sparked the little tune that Ben and I sang the rest of the way down the trail that goes something like this "when you are climbing up a ladder and you feel something splatter..." You know the one I am referring to that you most likely learned in third grade? Well, the game of the day became coming up with better and funnier versions of that song. Yep, we are classy like that. Even Matt participated and let's just say we got quite creative with our lyrics. 

Matt wore our ginormous camera around his neck and somehow managed to snap photos all while riding his bicycle. 

That takes talent.  

He even managed to throw the camera over his shoulder and take photos of the people in our group riding behind him. While riding. Talented I tell you. 

 

Three quarters of the way down we stopped and had some lunch. 

And then once we reached the bottom all of us were tired and ready to be done. I was so relieved we had changed our minds about riding back up. It would have taken me days to get back to the top. Matt probably would have gotten there in a few hours and would have had to send a search and rescue team back for me. Thankfully we rode the bus back up instead. 

You would think the tunnels or the long trestles would have been the little boys favorite part of the day. Nope, they weren't. Riding on a stinky, sweaty, un-air conditioned bus was their absolute, most favorite part. They were giddy over the fact they got to ride on a REAL school bus. And seeing the photo below, I'm thinking that perhaps Ben was pretty excited about it too.