Week 101 - North Central Washington - 07-20-2008

Weekly Words from Washington,

Leaving from Sidney, Vancouver Island, we hopped on the Washington State Ferry and enjoyed the two hour ride to Anacortes. Unlike the Port Angeles to Victoria ferry, this one passes by many islands and you see lots of sailboats along the way.

1) We followed the motorhome below into the ferry. It might look small and tight but this ferry is huge and fun. It had lots of booths with tables where we had a nice clam chowder lunch and watched the scenery. 2) Anacortes is an old but very clean little town. We camped just south of town at the Fidalgo Bay RV Resort that we rated 3.5 out of 5.

1) This is our view from the motorhome when we parked at our site overlooking Fidalgo Bay. 2) We did not realize the tide was in until the next morning. The water had receded over a quarter mile leaving us staring at the mud!

This park had a 3 mile bike trail which included a 1/2 mile causeway crossing the bay; and going north it took you into Anacortes. We biked the entire trail up and back and got this great photo of Mt. Baker.

1) The 1/2 mile bicycle causeway is covered with TimberTech. 2) We cruised through La Conner, WA on our way to the Northern Cascade mountains. All the buildings in the section of La Conner that we went through were as cute as the seed store pictured below.

1) Our site at Newhalem in the North Cascades National Park. It was in the 90's, so the very secluded and shaded resting stop was welcome. 2) Ellen stands along the Skagit River in the early morning during our hike along the River Walk. (Yes, Pete got up a dawn for this hike!).

We spent most the week on Hwy 20 through the cascades. If you can, take this road. It is a couple hundred miles of gorgeous scenery. 1) This is Diablo Lake, taken from the overlook. 2) The views are great along the entire road which is closed during the winter.

We spent three days at Riverbend RV Park, just north of Twisp. We highly recommend it. Our site sat about 75 feet from the Methow River. The river and the mountain views are great. The park was fairly empty perhaps due to the fuel scare. We really enjoyed the serenity of our stay.

Eight miles north of Riverbend is the old west town of Winthrop. It has dozens of restored buildings giving you a real taste of what the old west would look like (if they had asphalt streets and motorcycles). We had an excellent fresh-caught trout dinner at the Arrowleaf Bistro.

We had a chance to try out our new kayaks on the Methow River. We met Clarence at the RV park and coaxed him with a gas bribe to haul us to Winthrop for an 8-mile float back to the RV park. These are "sit in" inflatable kayaks that we store in our underside compartments.

1) These fowl were photo-shy and ducking for cover. 2) Ellen takes time out of her busy float trip to wish "sister" Susie Happy Birthday. We had excellent Verizon coverage at the RV park and on the river. And the RV park had excellent, free WiFi. Not bad for being 60 miles from any populated town.

1) Two bridges on Hwy 153 were being worked on between Twisp and Pateros and were reduced to a 10-foot width. This left us with 9 inches to spare on each side. We navigated past the bunkers at 5 mph and escaped any scrapes. 2) This is Beebe Bridge Park on the Columbia River just 4 miles east of Chelan, WA.

1) Our site at Beebe Bridge Park. You may think the park is empty, again because of fuel prices. But surprise, the park was full when we got the last space. This Chelan County park has larger sites than any of the 250+ parks we have been at. And the grass here rivals any nice golf course. At $25/night, this park is fabulous, a rating of 4. Having only 30 amp electrical service kept it from being rated 5. With only 30 amps, we can run only one of our two air conditioners. RV's get warm easily and are hard to cool. With 90 degrees outside we must run our A/C from dawn to nightfall to keep the interior below 85 degrees in the evenings. Fortunately, we love hot weather far more than cold weather and the warm evenings are heaven!

Our long time friends, Wally and Colly and in-laws Bill and Karen live in Chelan. We will spend more time here next week with them and enjoying this incredibly beautiful place.

This week we are bringing back our travel map. As most of this year we wandered around Southern California, the map did not have much meaning. But now that we are moving again, the map again will give you an idea of where we are headed.

Thanks for traveling with us, be blessed this week.

Love, Pete and Ellen

Photos from Jul 2008