The temperature rose quickly yesterday. I went for ride on my mountain bike a little after 11am and it was already quite warm.

We planned to shoot a video review for Camping World in the morning, but the landscape crew was mowing outside our coach and creating too much noise. Later in the day, with both air conditioners running, we would have had too much background noise. So we put it off until today.

I rode my bike west on Sandy Boulevard, then turned north, toward the Columbia River at 185th. From there I followed Marine Drive, the same route I rode on the scooter the day before. I left Marine Drive on a paved bike path that brought me to Blue Lake Regional Park.

I rode my bike into the park to have a look at the lake. The park covers 101 acres. The lake itself is 61 acres. The lake has no natural inlet or outlet. It’s a basin that’s filled with rainwater, ground water runoff and seepage. In the dry season (late summer), water is pumped from municipal wells to maintain the lake level.

The park encompasses the north shore of the lake. The south shore has private residences. Boat rentals are available in the park. There are swimming areas and a fishing dock as well. I rode my bike to the end of the fishing dock.

View of Blue Lake to the west from the fishing dock

East end of the lake

Maintaining the water quality in the closed system of the lake is a difficult task. They’ve had issues with invasive, non-native plants such as Eurasian watermilfoil and curly leaf pond weed. The water looked clean to me. The aquatic plants I saw in the lake were mostly giant water lilies. They were blooming with white and purple flowers.

Giant water lily

I was on the bike for a little over an hour. By the time I returned, it was getting hot out. We spent most of the afternoon indoors to escape the 90+ degree heat.

We went for a walk in the RV park before dinner. The park is large with more than 400 sites. We saw an old slammed VW Type II crew cab truck parked in front of a fifth wheel trailer. I took a gag photo that made it look like the trailer was hooked up to the VW!

Heavy load

Donna prepared garlic shrimp over pasta with grilled zucchini for dinner. As usual, it was an excellent meal.

Shrimp with zucchini over pasta

This morning, we’ll work on the video shoot. Later, Donna’s friend and professional organizing colleague, Susan Lannis, is coming over. She lives across the gorge on the Washington side of the Columbia River. They plan to drive up highway 30 to view waterfalls and have a picnic lunch. The greatest concentration of waterfalls in the USA is found along the vertical basalt walls on the south side of the Columbia Gorge.

I never made it to Fastenal yesterday. Maybe I’ll find the store today and get the hardware I’ve been looking for.