Republic: Rest Day (May 31st)

After all those climbs in the first week, it was time for us to take a day off, and let our legs (and butts) recuperate!

However, we woke up early enough to see that it had rained in the night (thunderstorms), and to see Dale off on his way over Sherman Pass and back off towards civilization.

Afterwards we took it easy with some blogging, and enjoying coffee service at our hotel along with the fun little Svenhard danishes.  

This wasn't going to be enough though, and soon we were off to the Knotty Pine Cafe (in front of the tavern from the night before), for a nice breakfast of an omelette, and eggs & bacon & sourdough toast!

Then we walked around town, ending up at City Hall and talking to the mayor, looking for some friends I had from years past when my dad lived here.  After chatting with the honorable Elbert Koontz for a bit, we were out the door and up to the local Co-op where we bought a card for our friend Paul's birthday, and filled it out and sent it from the post office.

Then we trundled over to the StoneRose interpretive center to learn about the fossil dig that was just outside of Republic (50MM year old stuff).  It's a fascinating little place under the caretaking of Carol (at least that day) who was very nice to talk with, and offered some route advice for us.

We walked back to our hotel and microwaved some leftovers from our previous night dinner and today's breakfast (BIG portions in Republic!) and relaxed some more.

Soon it was time for Beer! and we headed up to Republic Brewing Company to sample their offerings and play some cribbage (score = 1 to 1 after 2 games).  

We sampled a few of their beers (yes, tasters mainly, with a couple pints): the Widow Maker IPA, Rusty Bucket Amber, Big Mischief Porter, Garden Gruit, Bliss Kolsch, and the Republic Pale. All pretty tasty and well crafted!

We also ran into Nick and Spencer (whom we'd first met at Colonial Creek Campground, and then on top of Rainy Pass) and chatted with them for a bit and got some recommendations on things to do and see in and around Dayton, OH.

Brigitte took off a bit before me to go have a "face time" session with her favorite granddaughter (if you only have one, it's okay to have favorites, right?) and I followed a while after having downed one last good Republic Beer (their Big Mischief Porter - yummy!).

All in all, a quite successful rest day! 

Stats: 0 miles of cycling, and exactly ZERO feet of climbing. 😀