21 July 2012

Ennis to Dillon MT 73 miles (TransAm 3,128)
Aerial Tour of Seattle 600 ft’ish

Gina cycled up another mountain pass. Given how many times she has crossed the Continental Divide over the past few weeks, this is just another typical day for her, the equivalent of that weekly meeting with one’s project manager to review all that same stuff that you talked about a week ago, except Gina’s version of another typical day is way more stimulating. Beautiful scenery aside, the true highlight of her day was having energy enough upon arrival at the day’s destination to hit the Patagonia Outlet, where everything was 40 percent off. Apparently I am to expect a package in the mail. Not one that has anything in it for me, which kind of takes the joy out of answering the door for the UPS man, but I guess her birthday does come before mine and she might as well buy things for herself as there is less to return that way. Theoretically.

My day? Well, this was a very special day for me, ticking off an item that was actually never on my bucket list but should have been for how simply spectacular it was. Thanks to Christine and Paul and that addicting little enterprise called Groupon, I was treated to a helicopter ride over Seattle. While Gina was exercising her legs of steel, I was exercising my nerves of the same. There’s something about lifting off in a helicopter the size of a tinker toy that defies good sense, but up we went and what a ride it was.  The highlight of my day? Gaining a whole new perspective on a city I thought I already knew. And landing. In one piece.