Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Riding the Hiawatha

I would say the best day of our trip was Saturday.
Each day was special in its own little way, of course, but this day was just....extra best.

I've mentioned a few times, James did his research before this trip.
{Mr. Research, shall we call him}
He found this fantastic activity: Riding the Hiawatha
A bike trail that starts at the border of Idaho and Montana.

We were able to rent bikes, tag-a-longs and burley trailers.
Attached them to our rental cars and then drove a few more minutes to the trailhead.
The kids {and adults} were so excited.
We each got our own helmets....so fashion forward.
MommaLove and Me....
A little out of order {methinks this is after we reached the bottom of the trail, waiting for our shuttle back up to the top}
But she and I were able to spend some fun time together on the trail....keeping up the rear Ü.
She's my favorite.
Think we had enough bikes?
I love this picture.
Mr. Research
Jaxson was in heaven....he kept saying "Ready? GO!"
Makes me think I may have to actually get a bike this fall, so we can go riding when the weather cools down.
Papa had Bella hooked to his bike. He was a trooper....Bella hasn't quite mastered bike riding {thanks, mommy and daddy} and was a tad {a lot} wobbly.
Topher took Aube {per her request}.
Sweet little Dresden. 
To start the trail....you go thru a mile+ long tunnel.
It's dark, cold, drizzly and damp....and AWESOME.
{on the way back, the bus drops you and your bikes off on the other side of this tunnel and you have to ride the mile back to get to your car....notsoawesome}
We all had little flashlights on our bikes so we could see a few feet in front of us.
This is where watching scary movies {hello...The Descent, bah!} was not a good idea!
But all 19 made it out safely on the other side!
Look at this fantastic group of people....
All of the Kirchmann side in one place!

The trail was all downhill....so it wasn't too bad of a ride.
The "comfort" seats we rented for the bikes were not so comfortable. Ouch.

Throughout the ride, it was hard not to think about the beauty of this earth
{and have hymns such as For the Beauty of the Earth run thru your head}
This was truly a majestic place.
We even saw snow in the distance!
We crossed many bridges on the trail.
And several historical markers and places to read about the history of the trail, which once was a railroad.
And only a little mud-flinging.
Sweet Aleigh didn't want the mudflapcover thingy down....
Mother and daughter.

This sign was a welcome sight. I enjoyed every mile of the ride...but man! 15 miles is crazy-long.
Thanks to a shuttle service, we didn't have to ride the bikes UPhill.

They dropped us off on the other side of the 1.7mile tunnel...getting back on those bikes was just a tad brutal for the bum. And the tunnel seemed SO much longer the second time around.
I wasn't the last one!!
{well...until he passed me}
Mr Fix-it
Stats:
15 miles of trail
9 tunnels
7 trestle bridges
19 awesome, road-weary family members
19 muddy bums

4 comments:

Julie{isCocoandCocoa} said...

That looks AWESOME! I haven't ridden my bike much this summer. It's so hot!

Danielle said...

that is legit!! ;) seriously, i can't believe how cool that is. love the pictures too, what a fun family!

MommaLove said...

Makes my heart <3 smile.... You are my favorite ;)

Karen said...

I love this!!! I keep telling Mike that we need to become a "bike family" soon. Such a beautiful place!