Springtime: A Time to Rediscover

Every spring as we head into the mountains again, it is exciting to rediscover the roads that we love. For us, each season has its particular routes. The spring rides are some of our favorites.

Heading to Index for the first time of the year is special. Index lies deep in the mountains, but its elevation is low enough that it is snow-free most of the year.

We head out on roads that we know well, but haven’t ridden in almost a year. It’s wonderful to rediscover these old friends.

After the relatively flat base miles, it’s fun to stretch our climbing legs again.

We usually have the little backroad to Index to ourselves, but on this day, we met a train on its way up Stevens Pass.

Index itself is a little town offset from the highway. It is surrounded by mountains and seems worlds away from the big city of Seattle.

On this day, we had planned to arrive in Index by noon, and we were pleased that our randonneuring skills survived the winter break intact.

When you rediscover favorite places, you always wonder what has changed. This time, things are changing for the better: The long-abandoned Bush House hotel and restaurant is being remodeled. I look forward to being one of the first guests here.

Currently, we get our lunch at a small convenience store. The beautiful setting makes up for the lack of food choices.

As we head home through sun-dappled forests, it’s hard to believe that it’s still winter. We enjoy every minute of this ride, since quite a few more rainy months are ahead before it will be summer again.

We swoop down into the valley as we head back toward Seattle. The joy of riding our favorite roads stays with us all week. These mini-vacations restore our spirits during the gray winter months. We try to take as many of them as we can fit into our schedule.