Susan Valaas & Laura Valaas

Saturday was the Apple Blossom parade! I'm posting pictures from the Wenatchee airport but now it's time to board!



Laura Valaas, Stephanie Wade, Tyler Farrar

Laura Valaas, Stephanie Wade, Tyler Farrar

Tyler Farrar, Slipstream/Chipotle Pro Cycling Team

Labels: photos, wenatchee

Looking down into the Wenatchee Valley from Horselake Rd.



My dad & I went on a mountain bike ride on the sage hills trails... back among the sagebrush and wildflowers!

Peter Valaas

Labels: photos, wenatchee

I am back in the lovely Wenatchee Valley this weekend to celebrate the Apple Blossom Festival and I must say the timing couldn't be better-- the cherry blossom trees in our front yard are pullulated with blossoms. I not only got to run in the mountains and row in the river today, I also got to attend the All Service Club Luncheon where I was honored as co-Grand Marshall of the Festival! My co-Grand Marshall is Tyler Farrar. If you follow road cycling I don't have to tell you who Tyler Farrar is. If you don't follow road cycling, Tyler races for Slipstream/Chipotle and is Certifiably Fast. We graduated from WHS together in 2002 and even were on our first and the youngest ever Ridge to River team together in fourth grade so it was good to see Tyler again.

Tyler and I are going to be on the radio stations tomorrow morning starting with 104.7 at 7:40am but other than that our only remaining official duties are to ride in the parade Saturday morning!

It is so nice to back in Wenatchee and a part of such a wonderful festival!

Labels: wenatchee

Kirsten Valaas, Kristina Owen, Tarn Heath, Laura Valaas
I've been doing a bit of what I call social training which is nominally training but really just socializing-- a lot more talking than actually working hard. Saturday I met up with Tarn and KO for a kayak on the Columbia. We ended up going a little too long and getting stuck out on the river after the sun went down. Being in Wenatchee makes me think that it's summertime and I forget that it can be cold in March. I also forget how soaked you get paddling a surfski, even in flat water and therefore forgot to bring a change of clothes. I thought I'd be fine once I got into the car but halfway home I remembered that I was supposed to stop at the grocery store to get some essentials we needed for dinner. So I ended up doing a quick trip through Safeway in my APU spandex with my entire back half drenched in river water.

On Sunday we skied at Stevens Pass and met up with a lot of the other local ski families with whom I grew up skiing. Afterwards we went to the 59er Diner for lunch and I only had spandex with me. I'm starting to think that I'm spending altogether too much time in spandex.

Labels: photos, wenatchee