The last few days have been so surreal. Hitting the coast in Seaside was so amazing. As we biked through the downtown towards the beach, we were just hollering and being so rowdy. Then when we hit the beach, James and I just took off sprinting for the water and ran and dove right in... probably one of the best feelings I've had minus the freezing cold Oregon water. We stood around for awhile, got tons of pictures with our bikes and group pictures and then stuck around to watch the other groups come in and try to be equally as wild. I eventually got a run in down the beach, which was beautiful... That night Zernyu, David and I spent too much time getting pizza for the team and after we ate at the rec center we were staying at and I got a shower, I went for a long romantic walk on the beach... with Adam.
The ride into Hillsboro was nice, but the road was pretty rough and there were a lot of hills, which I've had enough of. That night Saebin's parents took all of us out to eat to Applebees where we all gorged ourselves and I ran into Shawn Pollard, a former teammate of mine at SU that I haven't seen in 5 years- weird and random.
Yesterday we had a huge breakfast provided for us by the church before our short ride into Portland, which was led by an Iliinois Alumni from Portland. The ride was easy and great. We went through the nike campus in Beaverton and got to check out all the facilities, which was amazing to me... They had a rubber track with a wooded infield- really cool. Plus a huge statue of Prefontaine- lots of cool things to see if you're a sports fan...
After leaving the campus we rode to a really nice rose garden in Portland and chilled for awhile before biking to another park where the Portland U of I Alumni had put on a huge picnic for us. As we pulled up there were probably 50-60 people waiting and cheering for us- the best reception we have gotten anywhere by far... The food was soooo good. I ate myself retarded, of course.
Last night we did a pretty good pub crawl to celebrate the end of the trip, hitting a number of the local breweries. Portland is famous for its beer I guess.
Today we toured another cancer research facility and clinic in town. Afterwards, I kept the tradition of not resting on rest days alive and Zernyu, Clinton and I all got drove out and biked back 35 miles on the Columbia River Gorge Highway... Probably one of the coolest rides of the trip. It took us probably 2.5 hours to do the first 12 miles because there were so many awesome places to stop and check out. Probably 5 or so huge waterfalls and a couple of great scenic overlooks.
Soooo... the trips over, which is nuts to me. I fly out of Portland tomorrow night and then I'll have to return to normal life, which I guess I'm ready for, although I think I'll probably keep showering with a hose. Anyways, thanks to everyone for your support and for reading this (if there are any of you left). The trip has been such an experience- by the far the best of my life. The people we have meant, the things we have seen, the jokes and memories, and the impact we have had on people have all been amazing- and something I will never forget.
Lets go Buffalo