A Tour Through the Foothills of Mt. Rainier

On Saturday, Jeff and I went riding with some friends on "The Big-O Poker Run", a 75-mile route through the foothills, beginning and ending in Orting. We left Orting at 10am, and the first stop was just up the road at the Kapowsin Ale House. That's Jeff, Leann, Larry, and Anthony.

I do not enjoy seeing signs like this when I'm riding.




Next stop, Eatonville Eagles. Here's a good picture of Kristi and Larry.

As you can see, the weather didn't look too promising. I was the only one wearing chaps, and the only one who was still warm. (The fur-lined leather gloves and wool scarf didn't hurt, either!)

Anthony and Kristi.

Apparently, Anthony doesn't find whatever Kristi's saying very amusing!




Here's where we decided to add some mileage and scenery to the route. Instead of heading towards Buckley for the next stop, we continued on to Elbe. You can't go to Elbe without visiting the Little White Church.

Kristi's sister Leann mentioned the fact that she was surprised that Kristi didn't spontaneously combust when she got too close, and I had to tell the story about when The Large Child was about 7, (God, was he THAT old? This story is even more embarassing than I thought!), we had been sledding at Paradise on Mt. Rainier with my mom, sister, nephew, and The Tall Ones, when we stopped in Elbe on the way home. We'd only been there for a few minutes when I look over, and there is TLC, PEEING ON THE SIDE OF THE LITTLE WHITE CHURCH! I almost died right then and there. I figured if God wasn't going to strike him dead on the spot for peeing on the Little White Church, then he was sure going to strike me dead for what was about to come out of my mouth!

Here's a shot of Alder Lake at 60mph. Notice the lovely blue sky?

At Lake Kapowsin, we decide to stop by the side of the road at a sunny spot to try and warm up a bit.

Instead of going to Buckley, we decide to stop in Wilkeson, where they were holding the National Hand Car Races. Wilkeson is an old coal town, and the races were held at Coke Oven Park, where the mined coal was brought in on rail cars, then loaded into the brick ovens on the side of the hill, then"coked", or cooked, until all the impurities were burned out. Then, it was loaded back on rail cars, and shipped to Tacoma and beyond. You can still see remnants of the the ovens. Too bad people have decided to trash them.

Here's looking up into one of the ovens, toward the vent.

We stopped by a Civil War reenactment camp. Pretty cool.

We decided to have lunch while we were there. Not one of the best decisions of the day. We waited an hour for our food, (burgers), and then they only brought 5 of the 6 orders, and 4 of those were messed up. Larry's burger was raw. While waiting, we tried our luck at launching a dollar bill at the ceiling. Step one, sign the bill. Step two, Gorilla Glue. Step three, lay it glue-side-up on a bill-sized "launcher" and palm it straight up, sticking it on the ceiling. Great entertainment for only a buck!


Here's Kristi's attempt.

And Jeff's. (He's so cool, he doesn't even get off his bar stool!)

And, did you notice that he wore his best shirt?!



After 4 failed attempts, we need more Gorilla Glue!





And, here it is! I'm the one who finally got it to stick, but because I am the photographer, once again there is no picture of me! Oh, well.

Can you see it? Right there in the middle.



Between Wilkeson and Buckley.

Kristi is gesturing that my shirt is flying up. I'm not sure why Larry has such a big smile on his face. He's probably laughing. I see that Leann and Anthony are smart enough not too look. One glance at my fat roll hanging over my jeans and Anthony may crash.


Well, the food took so long that by the time we left, we had little time left to complete the course. We got to the Buckley Eagles, and they had already left. Ditto at the Wagon Wheel in South Prairie. So, we headed back to Orting to get our last three cards.

Nobody won anything, but we did have a great ride.
For a look at all of my pics of the day, click here.