(This is a sponsored post on behalf of Sconza Chocolates and as always the opinions in this post and on this blog are my own. We love riding through the Snoqualmie Tunnel)
Around the same time the Snoqualmie Tunnel in Washington near where where we spend our weekends was in its planning stages, a boy named Vincenzo Sconza was born in Italy (a place we visited for the first time last year!) and eventually he made his way to America via Ellis Island in 1922 with $20 in his pocket. Apparently he first started out as a pasta maker, but his dream was to make candy. And the best part is, this dream came true! Nearly 80 years after Vincenzo Sconza first created Sconza Candy in California I get an email in my inbox asking me if I’d like to try this candy which I’ve been seeing a lot lately at Costco and at my local Bartell Drugs. Sconza Chocolates is celebrating their 80th birthday this year and I love when the things we see in stores nowadays have histories that start long before our time.
Since my family loves chocolate and we love bringing treats when we go for adventures outdoors, of course Sconza Chocolates was something we would try. We decided to bring a few along on an epic bike ride in Snoqualmie Pass that has been part of our summer bucket list for the past few years. The packaging on this product is so colorful and I had a tough time choosing from all the flavors which ones I would bring in my backpack. If you’ve been following along on our Summer Bucket List, I’m surprised at how many of our Bucket list items we’ve now completed so far this summer too!
Bike Snoqualmie Tunnel (and then adding about 20 more miles.)
The Snoqualmie Tunnel ride should be on every Seattle family’s bucket list. The Snoqualmie Tunnel that was built in the early 1900’s used to be part of a railway system that connected Chicago to Seattle. Now it’s a two and a half mile abandoned dark and exciting adventure for people who love to get outside and there is always a steady stream of bikers, joggers and people walking with dogs and kids passing through. The best place to access it is from parking in the Hyak Parking Lot at the Iron Horse trailhead. You need a Discover Pass or it costs 10 dollars to park for the day. Sometimes we just ride the tunnel back and forth for about a five mile ride. It gets really cold in the tunnel (like in the low 40’s even in the summer!) so we wear jackets and warm layers and it is almost pitch black in the heart of it, so we always bring headlamps, bikelights and extra batteries. When they were smaller this ride used to take a lot longer with the kids, but now we can do bike Snoqualmie Tunnel back and forth and stop for snack in about an hour. Do you know of any other tunnels people can ride through on bikes?
For a day long bike riding adventure that includes the Snoqualmie Tunnel we start the day by driving two cars to Rattlesnake Lake and parking a car there that can hold all of our bikes. Then we drive back to Snoqualmie Pass stopping for breakfast along the way in a car carrying the bikes we are going to ride. This car gets parked in the Hyak parking lot and a 20+ mile bike ride begins. When we get to Rattlesnake lake the other car is waiting there and then we don’t have to go back and do the uphill version of the ride.
And of course on a big bike ride with kids snacks, water and maybe even lunch is so important. We usually stop around 10 miles in and anywhere there are pretty flowers or fun things to photograph. I really love this ride because it is so scenic-there are a few abandoned rail bridges and it is exhilarating to cross them and imagine how it would feel to ride a train across them so long ago.
At snack stops (and at outhouse stops-there are a few along the way) it’s a fun excuse to goof around with the kids, nibble on a few treats, grab a drink of water and get biking again. This ride is mostly downhill so it’s easy enough that the guys have been able to ride it since they were smaller-I think this was at least their third year riding it.
The kids really enjoyed the Sconza treats on the bike ride this time and decided that the Sconza Chocolate Mint Cookie Bites were their favorite Sconza chocolates and mine of course were the Limoncello ones. Do you love chocolate too? And do you think your kids would like to ride through a two and a half mile dark tunnel? And can you imagine eating a treat that will still be eaten by people 80 years from now? Thank you so much Sconza Chocolates and happy 80th birthday- I’m so glad we got to learn a little more about your story!
(PS. I was terrified the first time, but it ended up being a lot of fun and for me, having treats and water and flashlights is probably the more important part of this adventure. )
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)