European Phantom Trek- Amsterdam!

Did someone say STROOPWAFEL?!?!Amsterdam is where its at if you are a biker! We found this out atour arrival on the 17th and spent the next few days exploring a crazycity, rich in commerce, bikers, lots of rain, and rockin' good times.(Beware - the bikers don't stop!) Our first full day in Amsterdam wasspent with a somber and truly touching morning in the Anne Frankhouse, a bike tour of the city, a visit to a local market, and lotsand lots of shopping. Our hostel was located about 2 minutes from thelargest shopping street in the city, so we had many opportunities tohit the stores. After some dinner and a trip to the Rijk Museum tosee some famous Rembrandt, Vermeer, Jan Steen, and other Dutchpainters, Jenny took the group out for a night of dancing at Escape, ahighly renowned and very trendy European club.

The next day in Amsterdam we took a walking tour in the pouring rain,but learned quite a bit about the city and its rich history andcultural life. We also freed an indian. Warm and dry a bit later, wecooked pancakes for dinner on the steps of the hostel and had a familygame night before heading to bed early. We left the following morningfor Haarlem, where we found a beautiful park to phantom in overnight,ate quite a bit of Stroopwafels (the most delicious thing EVER) andplayed quite a bit of frisbee. The next day it rained (surpriiiise!)so our day in Den Haag, the political capital of the Netherlands, wasspent mostly online and trying to decipher Dutch comic books in thegargantuan library before going to see a movie that evening. Wephantomed once again near a cowfield, and were awakened early the nextmorning by a giant herd of curious (and very noisy!) cows. Needlessto say, those cows may have gotten a couple HEY PEOPLE! points on us.The weather being much better, we were actually able to see Den Haagthis time and we spent our morning in the Mauritshuis chillin with theGirl With the Pearl Earring and Dr. Tulp before exploring the M.C.Escher museum. We rode to the beautiful city of Delft for lunch andsome pottery shopping before biking the final distance to Hoek VanHolland, our last glimpse of Holland before heading back over theChannel to revisit England for the final stretch!

European Phantom Trek- Amsterdam!

Did someone say STROOPWAFEL?!?!Amsterdam is where its at if you are a biker! We found this out atour arrival on the 17th and spent the next few days exploring a crazycity, rich in commerce, bikers, lots of rain, and rockin' good times.(Beware - the bikers don't stop!) Our first full day in Amsterdam wasspent with a somber and truly touching morning in the Anne Frankhouse, a bike tour of the city, a visit to a local market, and lotsand lots of shopping. Our hostel was located about 2 minutes from thelargest shopping street in the city, so we had many opportunities tohit the stores. After some dinner and a trip to the Rijk Museum tosee some famous Rembrandt, Vermeer, Jan Steen, and other Dutchpainters, Jenny took the group out for a night of dancing at Escape, ahighly renowned and very trendy European club.

The next day in Amsterdam we took a walking tour in the pouring rain,but learned quite a bit about the city and its rich history andcultural life. We also freed an indian. Warm and dry a bit later, wecooked pancakes for dinner on the steps of the hostel and had a familygame night before heading to bed early. We left the following morningfor Haarlem, where we found a beautiful park to phantom in overnight,ate quite a bit of Stroopwafels (the most delicious thing EVER) andplayed quite a bit of frisbee. The next day it rained (surpriiiise!)so our day in Den Haag, the political capital of the Netherlands, wasspent mostly online and trying to decipher Dutch comic books in thegargantuan library before going to see a movie that evening. Wephantomed once again near a cowfield, and were awakened early the nextmorning by a giant herd of curious (and very noisy!) cows. Needlessto say, those cows may have gotten a couple HEY PEOPLE! points on us.The weather being much better, we were actually able to see Den Haagthis time and we spent our morning in the Mauritshuis chillin with theGirl With the Pearl Earring and Dr. Tulp before exploring the M.C.Escher museum. We rode to the beautiful city of Delft for lunch andsome pottery shopping before biking the final distance to Hoek VanHolland, our last glimpse of Holland before heading back over theChannel to revisit England for the final stretch!

EP-J2 The Land of Waffles!

Greetings from Belgium, the land of waffles, chocolate, shoes, and people that are able to speak English!

It was nice to be able to use our native tongue again as we made our way to Ghent and Bruges, two beautiful, quaint towns in Belgium. Spoiled by the beautiful weather we had during our stay in Paris, we found it overcast in Ghent, but explored nonetheless. Our hostel was near a medieval castle in the center of town and Abby, Coleman, and Lori cooked a delicious dinner for us by the canal. By the time we finished and had our first taste of Belgian waffles, the shops were mostly closed. We explored the architecture and squares of the town, got a good nights' sleep, and awoke early to do our shopping. The weather cleared up and we biked a gorgeous 35 miles (plus a little off-roading) along the canal to the city of Bruges. The sun was out, as well as the farm animals - our HEY COW! count is currently 117, our HEY SHEEP! count is off the charts, and we were constantly braking for goose-crossing. We spent the evening enjoying another delicious dinner cooked by Adina, Cal, and Mike, and hung out around the hostel playing frisbee.

The morning we were to leave Belgium, Jenny took the trippers into town while Cliff bought train tickets to Amsterdam, and the morning was spent shopping (mostly chocolate) and climbing the belfry. We've had our fill of chocolate and waffles, and are excited for the new food, people, and customs that our next adventure brings – onto Amsterdam!

EP-J2 Paris at Last!

La vie de Paris! We hit Paris on Saturday afternoon and began our whirlwind of sightseeing, museums, delicious food, and ridiculous Parisienne-style fun. Our first full day, we split to explore the Pompidou for some modern art and the Musee d'Orsay for some impressionist action. After lunch near some street performances and a rather humorous portrait of our own Michael Asch, we headed to the Latin quarter for some shopping, and later the Cathedrale de Notre Dame. Dinner that night was AMAZING – we experienced some of the best that French cuisine has to offer at our table out on the street, tried some escargot, and got a free show as well (heh - ask us about it). Needless to say, Paris on the eve of Bastille Day is quite an exciting experience. We biked to the Eiffel Tower, and as we rounded the bend we were greeted by the beautiful sound of French opera and the Eiffel tower lit up in a vibrant blue with white stars. It was breathtaking.

Monday was Bastille Day – the equivalent to our 4th of July - and we witnessed a French military parade (quite lame actually) and took a New Paris tour with an experienced tour guide with an off-beat sense of humor who took us around the city on a 3-hour walking tour to all of the sights and explained the deep and complicated history behind everything. After shopping, exploring and some dinner, we headed to the Eiffel Tower for the Bastille Day fireworks, which were (thankfully) better than the French parade. We stopped on our 40 minute trek home for some dancing in a local square to top off the nights' festivities.

The next morning we awoke early, rode to the train station, and (as France-Belgium train line policies go) scrambled frantically to disassemble our bikes and pack them into small garbage bags in time to catch our train to the Belgian city of Ghent. Belgium here we come!!

C&O J-8: We're Alive!

That's right, we're alive. I understand that there may be some doubts about our well-being after having gone almost our entire trip without a single post, but we are well. We have pictures as proof, though we haven't got the hardware necessary to post them. We're in Harper's Ferry, WV, or thereabouts, and are now back on schedule after falling a day behind early in the trip. After camping tonight, we'll ride tomorrow into Washington, DC.

Everybody was happy to stay in the Harper's Ferry hostel after camping every night since we left Pittsburgh on the 9th. A few of us missed camping out, but for many of us the combination of taking a hot shower and sleeping in a soft bed was long overdue!

We're all enjoying the riding and the sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing our long days, even when those days are over the bumpiest, dirtiest sections of the trail or when we're climbing up long, steep Appalachian hills to get to the nearest grocery store.

We've been rafting, seen Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater house, crossed the Eastern Continental Divide, pushed our bikes up ridiculous hills, tended wounds, fixed almost everything that can go wrong with our bikes, swam in the Potomac and the Yough, eaten lots of PB&J's, seen lots of wildlife, and have all grown incredibly close. It's hard to believe it, but our trip is winding down and we've only a few days left. It is only now, so close to Washington, that we're talking about the end of the trip. One of our trekkers, Nathan, has an especially appropriate quote: we're not counting the days, we're making the days count.

Home-Pac Northwest

Well, we're all home safely, but here are some cool group pics from our trip. Thanks again to everyone for being such a great group!

Across America- Day 24, Oh the Plains!

(If you would like to view these photos enlarged, visit www.teentreksamerica.blogspot.com.)

Hello friends! We are 7 strong, itchy, dirty, and still quite slow in the morning bike tourists, proud to be over 1,000 miles into our trip. Yay! We are currently in Havre, Montana, the most populous place we've been since Anacortes (day 3), with almost 10,000. Here's a wrap up by numbers:

Flat tires:Matt (way to be a leader in the lead)-6, plus new tire and fork

Kelley-3, plus new rear wheel

Annalisa-3

Mike-3, plus 2 new tires (one in use, one for fun)
Kate-1

Alex-1

Amos-0!!!!

Mountain Passes:6-Rainy, Washington, Loup Loup, Wauconda, Sherman, Marias

Accomodations:

Hotel-1, Sandpoint
Condo-1, Sandpoint

Hostel-2, Seattle, East Glacier

RV Parks-9

Campgrounds/Parks-10

F00d:PB&J-a lot!

Nutella-2

Pizza (delivered to campground)-3

Ice cream- every other day

Watermellon-3

Miles per Day:

Highest-75

Lowest-20

Rest Days:3-Sandpoint (Fourth of July), Glacier NP (2)

Wildlife:

Mountain goats-2

Bears-1

Deer-lots

Cattle crossing the road-1

Moose-1

Rabbits-4

Activities:

Campfires-8

Frisbee across the Continental Divide-2

Snowmen-2

Movies-2

Libraries-4

Walkie Talkies locked in the bathroom-1

Eating out-7

Pacific Northwest- back safely

We made it back to Seattle safe and sound! I know we all feel excited and sad at the same time. Super excited with what we experienced and saw, but a little sad that the end is near :( We definitely can't complain about the weather, it has been absolutely amazing over the course of the 16 days, or the wonderful people we met along the way!!

From Victoria, we made our way back to the U.S to the Olympic Peninsula and camped for 4 nights at the National Park, Sequim Bay and then Kitsap. To get there we had to do an insane 5mile straight climb up the mountain, which was probably the hardest climb during the entire trip. At the National Park we did another uphill hike to a beautiful, but freezing lake where we relaxed and had lunch. One of our trekkers, Lee Kuhn, swam all the way in the glacier water to an island, which we have now deemed Kuhn Isle. On our beautiful ride to Kitsap we stopped at a private farm, picked our own vegetables and had a wonderful lunch on their lawn with their dog Ringo :) We were pretty stinky after 4 nights of camping, so we headed to Vashon Island where we had the luxury of a shower and staying in authentic teepee tents. Now, back in Seattle, we will wrap up our trip and treat ourselves to restaurants, movies and more fun!

NYM-J1 - Almost There!!!

We are in Burlington, Vermont, more than halfway through the trip and Montreal is right around the corner...or something like that... So far two things are clear: our trippers love ice cream and hate the rain (especially when all of their equipment gets completely soaked; but, nothing a few donuts cant fix). In general, the weather has been great and spirits have been high. Everyone has been pedalling strong across some pretty hilly terrain but we have also biked on some great trails over the past couple of days. Our progress has come a long way, as the trippers are really improving on their bicycles and working together as a team. Everybody is looking forward to arriving in Canada tomorrow and in preparation, we have all become fluent in French.
So far, our activities have included a tour of Hyde Park (home to FDR), an overnight/tour of the Aerodrome in Old Rhinebeck (home of the oldest flying airplane in America), a ride to the top of the observation tower and a mosey through the museum in Albany, mini-golf in Lake George Village, a tour of the Rokeby House for some good Vermont history and a visit to Dakin Farms for a taste of Vermont, and lots of swimming along the way.

European Phantom Trek- Giverney, FR

The Europe group is developing webbed feet as we have biked through England and now the Normandy region of France. We celebrated Adina's birthday with a nice dinner out in Portsmouth. We visited the Cathedral in Rouen that Monet made famous and today we were in Giverney to see Monet's home and lilly gardens. We're heading into some exciting days with Versailles tonight and Paris on Sunday- Tuesday.

European Phantom Trek- Stonehenge, UK

The European Phantom Trek started at London's Heathrow Airport a little before 7 a.m as a small group of Trekkers arrived from Boston on an overnight flight. By 11 we had the entire group assembled and we built 10 bicycles in the corner of a very busy airport terminal. We were biking by lunchtime and heading for Windsor Castle and beautiful but touristy town. (No sign of the Queen). The group later gathered bike supplies and dinner before heading the a very nice Travelodge hotel. The next day we did some serious biking completing 40+ miles on the first half of our Trek to Salisbury.

Across America- Day 18

It's hard to believe 18 days have past! As most tours would be wrapping up, we are just getting started! I'm pleased to say we have made it to Whitefish, Montana, after a heat wave in Washinton, a cracked fork, a busted spoke, and 12 flat tires between Idaho and today. We are 800 miles, three states and four mountain passes in, and getting pumped for our ride over Logan Pass in Glacier National Park in the very near future. The scenery has been amazing as we've biked often riverside, with big blue skies, fluffy white clouds, mountains and lakes in abundance. We've been lucky to find showers and even laundry at many of the campsites, as well as furry friends to visit with for those of us in withdrawal from our pets at home. We also celebrated Matt's birthday on the 5th with brownies and ice cream, and yesterday Amos blew out 16 candles on his cheesecake to ring in his birthday. More pics and details to come soon!

Mass Transit

Above: Adrian, Jesse and Dan sport their super-hero powers on the way back from Six Flags Great Adventure in Springfield, MA.

Above: Julie, Nicole and Abby enjoy clean sheets, soft pillows and The Office.

Above: Adrian scores a 8.5 in the leaping contest at Greenwater Pond at the top on Jacob's Ladder Pass.

The trip's going really, really well. The first few days were pretty tough for everyone. The Taconic and Berkshire mountain ranges didn't cut the group any breaks, but we all shifted down (way, waaay down) and sucked it up. Before long, everyone was climbing like Tour de France champs. To break the monotony, we took breaks at mountain lakes and enjoyed the sounds of Berlioz's "Les Troyens" opera at the Tanglewood venue in Lenox. By the time we crested the last mountains in western Mass., we all enjoyed several miles of downhill riding.

That downhill broght us in to the towns of Holyoke and Springfield, MA. The traffic conditions stressed the leaders out a bit, but the teens impressed us with their marked improvement. Everyone obeyed traffic laws, stayed single-file, and handled themselves very well. The temperature rose into the mid-90s and the humidity was making us look forward to a shower and pool, both of which we found at the beautiful Marriot Inn in Springfield. Yesterday we rode (without luggage, thank goodness!) to Six Flags New England for a day of roller coasters and fried food. We braved a brief but heavy downpour in the afternoon, but managed to ride enough rides to satisfy even the most iron-stomached of the group. Needless to say, the beds felt even better after a day on our feet.

But it's time to move on. Today (Thursday) we're pushing farther east to the town of Sturbridge, MA, known for its historical recreation activities. Hopefully we'll find things to keep everyone from going stir-crazy (shouldn't be too hard, we'll get there after a apx 35 mile ride; one of our longest yet).

We're all doing well, staying healthy and having a great time. It's easy to keep going when each pedal stroke brings us closer to the beach!

Pacific Northwest

Everything has been great! We are healthy, happy, and tan...We are having a great time and seeing the beautiful Pacific Northwest. For being 9 totally different individuals we are getting along wonderfully and having so much fun :) We arrived in Seattle and had our first dinner together at a Thai restaurant. Our group is composed of 2 vegans, a gluten free, 2 vegetarians and 4 meat eaters, so eating together is an adventure and challenge at the same time. Our first day out in Seattle we had some bike issues (7 flats) but Tony took care of our bike troubles. He's our bike hero. We visited the original Starbucks and hit up the Experience Music Project.

From Seattle we avoided the scheduled train and biked 50+ miles our second day out!! This group is amazing!! We arrived in Whidbey Island a little wet and tired, but nevertheless proud and accomplished. From there we biked and camped at Deception Pass and then made our way to Larabee. We were able to have some pretty amazing fires and s'mores at our campsites...Three nights of camping and we made our way to Birch Bay hostel where we had movie night with popcorn...Canada here we come, our first stop was Vancouver where we swam at Stanley Park and biked the perimeter of the island. Canada's weather has been gorgeous and we have taken the best bike trails. Now we are in beautiful and quaint Victoria. We walked around downtown and experienced authentic Carribean food. Tomorrow we have some fun activities planned in Victoria...more to come...stay tuned!!

Across America- Day 7

After spending most of the first day in Seattle in an alley building our bikes, we left town for Bainbridge on a ferry. The view off the back of the boat is the city shrinking in the distance and the view to the front is the peaks of the Olympic mountains. We rode over the island to the Kitsap penninsula and up over Whidbey Island to Anacortes. We dipped our bikes in the harbor in Anacortes before setting out on the Adventure Cycling Northern Tier route with the expectation of dipping them again in the Atlantic in New York. Two days out from Anacortes we hit our first two mountain passes up to 5500 feet. The scenery was amazing and there was still snow on the ground. We spent the night near the top and rode down into the old west town of Winthrop today. Tomorrow we will be topping Loup Loup pass and then down into the Okanogan valley. The ride has been beautiful so far and there is plenty more to come.tailwinds and toeclips!

New York to Montreal- adventures with Jesse and Jenny

July 1, 2008

We are just now settling in for the night at HI New York and resting up for the upcoming trek. Even though we haven't yet started for Montreal, we have already seen and done a lot in New York City alone. Today, after the morning meet-up at the hostel, we headed into Central Park where we rode a complete loop and practiced some bike safety skills. Afterwards, we rode along the Hudson on the west bike path, stopping for lunch along the way, then continued onward to Battery Park where we had a great view of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty (and yes, we got a nice group photo there!). From Battery, we rode through Ground Zero and then to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge...and then back down. We hit the path along the East River for several miles and finally, visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After dinner, we were pretty tired after a long first day so we stayed local and explored the area around the hostel (and of course, got some ice cream)...and that about brings us up to date.
Flat Tire Count: 1 (Kyle, who forgot his spare...it's ok, we improvised)

NYM-JN24-Day 6

We have been having quite an adventure! To give a quick look at highlights of the past few days--The FDR homesite was beautiful, full of friendly people, and has sparked some great discussions. We seem to have a group of very politically and socially aware trekkers, and the presentation of FDR's upbringing and home has led to some thought-provoking discussions. I feel as though we're getting so much out of this trip. It's great to see historic sites like these, but our conversations are going beyond appreciation of Eleanor's roses, and into American history, politics, and the need for change! Today our hotel stay has put us in Albany, and tonight we took the city bus down to look around Capital and the dowtown neighborhood, which is full of beautiful historic brownstones. We had a feast at a local Indian restaurant (the Gandhi cafe, no less), and caught the bus back up to our hotel. Albany is a beautiful city, but a few blocks down from the pristine park behind the Capital building, the character changes, and between beautiful homes are out-of-business signs and broken windows. People are friendly and the kids are safe (rest assured, moms and dads!) but the exposure to the realities of life in different parts of America is sparking a lot of interesting discussions among the kids. And as Curtis mentions above, change is being mentioned around every corner.

Stay tuned!

--Lisa