Moved a Few Hours North to Twisp, WA

Posted from near Concrete, WA

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Winthrop, WA
Hiking near Twisp, WA

We moved 118 miles north from Quincy to Twisp, WA on July 19th. We made reservations to stay at Riverbend RV Park back in early April. As it turns out, that was a good idea.  Since we had never been to this area before, we had no idea that a large outdoor event named the Winthrop Rhythm and Blues Festival was to be held this weekend. Our campground was only located 8 miles south of the festival and all of the surrounding camping spots were full.

Riverbend RV Park was a very nice, laid back type of place. It's located right alongside the Methow River. We had a pull thru site with FHUs and the sites are very large. We could have easily parked another towed vehicle behind our Honda Fit. The trees are large and tall in the campground and although great for providing shade, not so great for satellite reception. We were never able to use either our permanently mounted antenna atop the rig nor the portable unit we carry with us for just these types of times.  We were able to pick up a few OTA stations out of Spokane, so all was not lost. Oh well, a few days without television is really not a bad thing.

Aside from the beautiful scenery in the area, we were very much looking forward to meeting up with our very good friends Bill and Debi. They reside on the western side of the mountains and made the 5 hour drive to camp with us (actually beside us) for the week. Both Bill and Debi are our pickleball partners during the winter in Arizona and we have come to regard them as close friends. On this trip, however, we were "using them" for their knowledge of the area! (Debi is very familiar with Mt. Baker and pointed it out to us on several occasions during the week. Sorry, Debi, but I couldn't resist that one.)

On our first sightseeing trip we traveled a few miles up the road to Winthrop. Winthrop is a cute, small town with a western theme. Certainly worth a trip to visit for part of a day. Bill also discovered that Winthrop has a place to play pickleball. They convert a skating/hockey rink into 6 pickleball courts during the summer months. We played a couple of times during the week from 8-11 AM. There was usually a group of 20-30 players present with a variety of skill levels.

There was a pedestrian bridge located along a trail very near the pickleball courts and you could walk into the center of Winthrop. The Methow River flows beside the town.

I mentioned earlier that Winthrop has a western theme. I'm not sure whether these folks would qualify as "cowboys and cowgirls", but we were having fun nonetheless.

Ok, I'd better show the "other" picture, so that Bill and Debi won't think I'm making fun of them.

Bill has hunted in this area for many years and was kind enough to show us some of the "trails" in the area which our Honda Fit would never have been able to get to. The area is very green and wooded, quite a contrast to the area we just left around Quincy.

Lunch time along a Forest Service Road in the mountains.

The happy group!

Before heading back to our campground for the day, we drove up to Sun Mountain Lodge near Winthrop.

The views from this mountain top lodge were beautiful.













I'll stop at this point so as to not make this entry too long. In the next blog, we'll visit the North Cascade Smokejumpers Base and take a tour of Lake Chelan via boat.



As always, thanks for stopping by to take a look!

                

First Camping Experience (Ever) in the State of Washington

Posted from near Twisp, WA

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Crescent Bar Area
Leavenworth
Grand Coulee Dam 
Soap Lake
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Although we have camped in most of the lower 48 states, Washington State had been missed up to this point.  Well, up until now. We'll be "somewhere" in Washington State until September 5th. After our detour to Iowa, we got back on track with our 2018 planned stays and pulled into the Thousand Trails Park near Qunicy, WA. It's actually named "Crescent Bar Thousand Trails" because it's located along the Columbia River approximately 7 miles west of Quincy. We entered Washington from Idaho and had been advised that the eastern part of Washington would be hot and somewhat "desert like". To those who passed along this information you were correct. We had several days over 100 degrees, but at least the humidity was low.

The Thousand Trails campground was actually very nice. We could see the Columbia River from the windshield and we had full hookups with 50-amp service, so running multiple A/C units was not a problem.

We stayed at TT for 11 nights and used it as a base to explore the area. WA28 is the main road in the area and the campground is approximately 2 miles down the winding road toward the area known as "Crescent Bar". There are a couple of campgrounds, many vacation condos, single-family vacation homes, a marina, golf course, and several commercial stores down on the Bar. In this photo, Crescent Bar is the green area along the east side of the Columbia River.

There is a very nice paved biking/walking path which extends all of the way to the end of the peninsula. We were able to get in a walk most evenings.

At the far end of the peninsula is a public golf course and we saw several deer each evening during our walks.

On July 10th we took a trip up to Leavenworth. From the TT, Leavenworth is approximately 1 hour, or 50 miles. The entire town center is modeled after a Bavarian-styled village, including structures and restaurants. The permanent population is around 2000 persons, but the town definitely swells in "tourist" season. It was very crowded and parking is hit-and-miss.

The town was "cute" and Karen certainly enjoyed it, but keep in mind that this town was created to revitalize a dying logging town and has no real roots to people from the Bavarian area in Europe. I will certainly give the creators kudos for bringing the tourists back to this area, however.

We sat and relaxed for a bit in the Town Gazebo area while listening to a gentleman playing his accordion and singing "Bavarian inspired" songs.

For lunch we ate at the outdoor restaurant Munchen House. The brats were excellent.

On July 12th we drove about 1 3/4 hours, or 86 miles north to visit the Grand Coulee Dam. We have visited Hoover Dam before, but the power-producing ability of this dam is staggering.







Although Hoover Dam's physical dimensions are greater than Grand Coulee, this dam is the #1 hydroelectric power station in the entire United States. Up until a few years ago when the dam in China was built, the Grand Coulee was the largest producer of hydroelectric power in the world.

Due to added security measures brought about after September 11, 2001, the tours of the dam are somewhat abbreviated. Everyone must pass thru a metal detector and "empty your pockets" before getting into the dam touring van. This is a look at the pump area along the eastern side of the dam.

Part of the tour allows the van to drive on the highway which crosses the top of the dam. Normally, all vehicles are restricted from this section of highway. Here we are looking over the railing on the spillway from the dam.

The body of water captured by the dam is named Lake Roosevelt. Quite a beautiful area for water activities.

There is a very informative visitor's center on the west side of the dam. A short video does a great job of chronically the design and construction of the dam. There are many artifacts to view as well.

On our way back from the Grand Coulee Dam we took a few moments to see Soap Lake. This is actually a small town, with Soap Lake being the star attraction. The Lake is thought to have healing properties as the mineral content in the water is very high. In 2009, the local garden club dedicated a statue named "Calling the Healing Waters". RoadsideAmerica.com touts it as
"Calling the Healing Waters" features a man with bird wings and a woman with a bowl. Promoted as the "World's First Human Figure Sundial" and the "Largest Human Figure Sundial in Existence."

There is a nice public beach where folks can enter the lake. Karen and I both walked in up to our knees and the water is indeed very "slippery". This indicates a very high alkaline level. (A pH of about 10).

The lake consists of two levels of stratified water. The first 81 feet is mineral water and below is a mud-like layer of stronger mineral compositions and microscopic life forms. The most curious concept, however, is that the layers have not mixed in thousands of years. Here's possibly a "regular" getting his mud fix for the day.




After a few days of relaxing, we'll be heading further north in Washington towards the Cascade Mountains.



As always, thanks for stopping by to take a look!