It would seem that Walla Walla keeps coming up in these blog posts. That would be because we biked through the city, of course, but also because we had such a warm welcome from the folks here. While we know that there's a lot of truth and just cause in these words, we are becoming a bit tired of comments such as: "Aren't you doing this trip late in the season?", "Don't you know its going to be winter soon?", or my personal favorite from a especially friendly fellow in Paterson, Washington, "I'm sorry to tell you, Missy, but you'll never make it." By and large, we find the curious people we meet on our way to be friendly and encouraging, but for some reason we seemed to be only running into the naysayers and doubters of the Northwest for a few days. So there was a very good reason we decided to take half a day off in Walla Walla other than that we were feeling a bit worn down, needed to catch up on some errands and personal time and that it happened to be the night of the Annual Sausage Fest. After a much needed lunch, visits to the library, bike shop and community garden, we were totally into the great vibe we were getting from this Washington college town. By the time we were done perusing the Halloween costume aisles of Goodwill and had armloads of snazzy spandex and totally (un)necessary extra clothing, we had ourselves a fine patch of lawn ready for a tent in the Austin's front yard.
Flynn had stopped by a local bike shop, Allegro Cyclery, and met the fantastic Michael Austin who offered up his home to this group of random group of three on bikes. Turns out we actually ended up on his son Paul's lawn, much to our delight. Warm showers and a safe, free place to stay was more than we could ever have expected, but Paul continued to extend his generosity with a bottle of wine (he works at one of the valley's 250 wineries) and well wishes for our evening out on the town at the Sausage Fest. A night of high school football under the lights and Italian sausages in the catholic school's gym completed this great day.
We were awoken in the morning with an offer of hot coffee and a homemade breakfast extravaganza. How could we possibly say no? Scrambled eggs, blueberries, a delicious baked pancake concoction with fresh apples and pears, amazing! We couldn't thank our gracious hosts enough, but we'll try again. Thanks Paul, Jessica and Chloe! We are so grateful to have met and received support from this wonderful family, a great bike shop, and all the friendly and positive people of Walla Walla. Check back soon for some photos of this stopover!
-Carolyn
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