Yesterday, Sean and I rode four hours to Goldmeyer Hot Springs, which are deep in the woods above North Bend, WA. We started off on the (paved) road for about two and a half hours, and just past a truck stop outside of Snoqualmie, we turned onto a gravel road, that would eventually become a dirt road, then a rocky trail, and 23 miles later we reached the hot springs. Well, actually, we reached a river (the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River) which we had to cross on foot -- luckily it was only about thigh-high and not too fast -- and then hike about 1.5 miles in to the springs. Fortunately we had reservations, as the springs were booked that day, and we saw quite a few folks turned away for lack of a "rezie."
I was amazed by a few things on the trip. First, how amazing our bike is. It is equally comfortable on highway and in extreme conditions. Second, there is nothing as cool as being naked in the woods, although being naked at the ocean is almost as cool. (Not that I'm going to be visiting any nude beaches or anything). And third, and coolest of the cool, was how skilled Sean was at riding "2-up" on a road that really shouldn't be called a road at all. More like an unmaintained extra-wide trail. There were stretches of miles where it was like the bottom of a creek bed (I believe this is because it *was* the bottom of a creek bed) with large round rocks that liked to move under the tires. On other stretches, we rode on sand or dust or through mud puddles that provided almost no traction. But through all that, Sean was a great driver, and we never even came close to going down.
Although it was a long day and we stressed our babysitter to the max, we had an amazing time. The hot springs were smaller and quieter than those at Esalen, where we used to go all the time in Big Sur. In fact the whole experience made me miss Big Sur in a way I haven't missed it before, and as I sat on a big rock overlooking a waterfall, I felt the loss of not being in Big Sur anymore, and knowing I might not even ever see it again.
So fast forward to tonight, when we got a call from some very good friends who live in San Francisco. They told us that they had finally figured out what to get us for a wedding gift. And so we're going back to Big Sur in two months. We are in shock, and so excited. I can't believe we're going back. And we get to bring Maple and show her the place where we met. We're going to a Bonny Prince Billy concert while we're there, at the Henry Miller library, where I first saw Sean. He was wearing a navy pea coat and brown Filson pants, and he was skinny and pale. But I knew from the moment I saw him that I loved him. And I didn't even know what a good driver he was!
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