A Short Road Trip to Lake Chelan

 We had marked off a week in July to go somewhere. One of the places that had been on our bucket list was Lake Chelan in eastern Washington. We had planned to go there last year but we cancelled when forest fires inundated the valley with smoke. This year the weather is clear and hot. Its a bit too far to go in one day, so we took the "scenic route" through John Day, then north on 395. We arrived in Pasco about 5:00 after 380 miles.

Dinner at McGill's, which was quite good.

 BTW, today is our 53rd anniversary!

(Note about photos: the pictures are not in order because they come from two places - the camera and the phone. I have noticed that the phone's pictures are much better than the camera. However, the camera is much more versatile with its 40x zoom and the fact that you can operate it with one hand!)

Wednesday July 13 Pasco to Chelan

 Its only about 180 miles to Chelan so we could take our time and explore as needed. An amazing variety of landscapes today. From Pasco on Rt 240 you go past the Hanford Nuclear Waste dump and miles and miles of NOTHING. Then we meet up with the Mighty Columbia, cross it, and continue north on Rt 243.

Now we're in coming into orchard/vinyard country, following the Columbia with great views of the gorge. We pass through Wenatchee, past acres and acres of apple orchards, then more fruits and vegetables - corn, beets, cherries, you name it.

Halfway between Wenatchee and Chelan we came across the Rocky Reach Dam and its wonderful "Discovery Center". It has great display of salmon climbing the fish ladders on their way back upstream. (It seems the Columbia salmon are in much better shape that the Snake River salmon).

We arrived in Chelan around 4:00 and found our little vrbo unit. Its a delightful little apartment in the lower level of a home. All the modern features. Nice patio with a view of the lake. Its on a dead-end road with some fabulous properties, about ten minutes from "downtown".

For dinner went into town and had Mexican at a place called Marcela's. Meh. After dinner we walked a ways on the Chelan Riverwalk.

Tomorrow we head back into town by 7:30 to get the boat up to Stehekan. They say we'll be back by 3:00.

The weather today was beautiful. Not quite as hot as yesterday but still 90.

Wild Horse art near George, WA

Fish ladder at Discovery Center

Our vrba unit

Lake Chelan near our apartment

Our apartment on the lower floor

View from our porch

Kid's art contest

Our living room

Morning coffee on the patio!

July 14 Boat Ride to Stehekin

After a light breakfast from the cooler, we left at 7:30 for the short ride to the dock to board the Lady Liberty, a sleek double hulled fast boat up the lake to Stehekin. It only took about 1.25 hrs; we arrived a little after 9:00. There are three passenger boats that ply the lake on a regular schedule. We'll return on the much slower "Lady Express". The ride up the lake is very scenic, indeed. The farther "up" you go, the bigger the mountains get. Still some snow on the high spots. The lake is said to be the deepest in North America. The water is unbelievably clear. The lake is 51.5 miles long.

The weather today continues to be spectacular. Not a cloud all day and not too hot.

We didn't know what to expect at Stehekin. We had heard about the famous "bakery". Our boat was to return to Chelan at 2:30 so we had about 3 hours to "kill". So, we signed up for 2 hour guided bus tour of the valley called "Glimpses of Stehekin". It was awesome! You can also rent bikes, e-bikes and even 4 wheelers.

Our tour guide was great! We learned all about the history of the area, dating back to the late 1800s, when there was mining activity in the area. We saw Rainbow Falls, the still active Buckner apple orchard. historic irrigation ditches, the old (and the new) one room schoolhouse. There are about 70 people who live here year-round, it "swells" to over 200 during the busy summer season. Our guide made sure that our trip began and ended at the "bakery". It deserves its accolades. We enjoyed coffee and pastry at the start and picked up a sandwich to eat on the boat on our way back.

The Pacific Crest Trail passes through here, too. So there are many heavily laden hikers here.

There are no roads to Stehekin, so everything you see comes by the once-a-week barge.

We returned to our room about 3:30.  After a brief rest, we drove around to the east/north side of the lake up to an area called "Manson". We had a fine dinner at a beer joint called "Sunset". From the boat it was obvious this side of the lake was where all the money was, so after dinner we drove around the neighborhoods. Some beautiful lake view properties, lots of apple/cherry/peach (?) orchards. Some new subdivisions with very unusual architectures. Many wineries.

Listened to the Mariners on the radio late this afternoon; enjoyed their 11th win in a row!

Tomorrow we drive south to Pullman, on our way home!

Lady Express - ugly?

Lady Liberty

Our tour bus

The Bakery

Rainbow Falls

Historic Apple orchard

Return to Chelan

Lodge

Chelan City Park

Trouble Makers

July 15 Lazy Day to Pullman

Just a note about Chelan, before we leave: Chelan is a fairly large, bustling, busy tourist town! Lots of beautiful summer homes. All activities revolve around the lake. Many places to rent water craft of various styles. People seem to be swimming in the lake but it looks cold! If one is planning to visit, the boat ride up to Stehekin is highly recommended. Otherwise, I'm not sure what you'd do all day, unless you had a boat.

Our outstanding hot, dry summer weather continues as we start the trek back to Boise. We took secondary roads, crossed the Columbia at Chelan Falls, Coulee City and Moses Lake. As we came closer to Pullman on Rt 26, it was clear we had entered "The Palouse", beautiful rolling hills of wheat, barley, garbonzo beans and more.

We stopped over at Pullman for the day. Wonderful pizza at Sella's, just around the corner.

Saturday July 16 The Hot Drive Home

 We had not been through the Palouse since we went to Spokane for Mother's memorial service. Three years, four years? It is such a beautiful drive from Pullman down to Grangeville, with rolling hills of different shades of green and occasional yellow.

Its really hot today, mid 90s to 100. We ate our picnic lunch in the car in front of the A/C in a New Meadows parking lot! We listened to the Mariners on the radio this afternoon (they won their 13th in a row!)

We arrived home about 6:00 to find everything in order and Pepper asking for her dinner.

Lewiston

Lewiston

Just north of Riggins