Thanks for the offer but I don't think I am going to get that far south even as a deviation on the way home. I believe I will take a ride by (over) the Grand Coulee dam on the way back and that puts me directly in eastern Washington for the way home too.
Brian
Well, if you don't want to ride a couple hours south to see us, there's the 410 loop East out of Enumclaw around Mt. Rainer. That was all new pavement on the back side last fall, excellent ride. In fact, from there you can continue right on into Eastern WA and catch highway 12 (perhaps the route to take when you leave).
Also, I recommend checking out Mt. St. Helens while you're this close. The road from Castle Rock to the Observatory was all clear a few weeks ago, and is also mostly new pavement, with lots of scenery on the way up. It only goes up to about 4K feet, so no need for (real) cold weather gear.
Another great ride is the Peninsula Loop. Either go south to Olympia, then catch 101 north around the top to Port Angeles, or straight up 16 from Tacoma to 3 to 104, across the Hood Port Floating Bridge, then on to 101 and Port Angeles, around the top and back down the Pacific Coast Highway (101) to highway 12, and back inland to what ever route north back to Tacoma you choose. That run may be a bit too long for you though.
If you come up with a good excuse / ride plan for the weekend, I may even run up there to join the fun. Let us know what you have planned.
