North Cascades Trip - Day 1 & 2

Friday August 29 and Saturday August 30 -- Our next driving and camping vacation begins in "Blue" states....

Yesterday, we left our home in Portland mid-morning and drove to our first of two spots for the day, Stevenson WA.  We stopped there to visit with Brent Mahan, for two reasons -- first to see his new shed roof that he built from ten metal roof panels we had leftover from our Sisters' home new addition.  We weren't going to use them for anything as useful at the Sisters' house and since we paid for them I claimed them.  Brent did a nice job figuring out how to clamp them together (i.e,. a standing seam) and for attaching them to the substructure.  Our second reason for visiting was to see his new DJA drone.  He has been learning how to fly and having fun with it.  He is also very willing to have others try flying it.  So, after putting it in "Beginner" mode, donning a headset viewer and a one-handed controller or stick, I lifted off.  I could see what the drone saw and was able to control it, somewhat, with the "stick."  I flew for a few minutes using 1/2 of the battery charge and managed to bring it home and land it safely on his outdoor fireplace cover.  It was fun but requires a bit more practice to get comfortable.

After a very nice lunch of gazpacho with four toppings (egg, olives, bacon and onion confit), we drove further to Yakima.  We passed up and over a ridge and dropped into the valley, first passing through Toppenish, home city for the Yakama Indian Nation, and then onto the Yakima Sportsman State Park, just across the Yakima River from downtown Yakima. We set up our tent, cycled around the park (total distance 2 miles - whoopee...) and then drove into town for dinner.  There were lots of Mexican themed restaurants and we ate at El Asadero (The Grill), though it had a windmill on the roof (?).  Betsy had fish tacos, and I had tostida mixa - soap of shrimp, tomato, cucumber, red onion and "fire" served with chips.  Betsy then treated us both to ice cream cones; we watched the sunset while licking our choice cones and trying to cool down.

The overlook at the Yakima Sportsman State Park (a park with limited attractions - although set on the Yakima River, there was no river access).

We slept okay on the ground after it cooled down and fortunately we were near the restrooms.  The campground was noisy with late arriving campers and nearby highway traffic.  But we managed okay.

Saturday morning, we were up and had an efficient breakfast of fruit and granola with hot tea (boiled very quickly using the JetBoil stove).  Betsy packed up the camping stuff while I fixed the breakfast.  We were on the road north toward Chelan by 9:40 am.  We arrived in Cle Elum, (and briefly Roslyn) in search of a cafe and bike repair.  We had a nice break at the Pioneer Cafe and Bakery.  Note, I discovered I had a flat front tire on my bike this morning, hence the search for bike repair services.  We went on toward Wenatchee, but detoured into Cashmere at Betsy's request.  It was a pleasant looking town with well kept bungalows and is the home of Applets and Cotlets.  We found the headquarters, sampled the wares, and purchased a few gift boxes.  We then drove along the Columbia River up to Chelan.

We arrived in Chelan and the Riverwalk Inn (our overnight accommodation) at 2:30 pm.  There weren't any nearby bike shops, so I immediately went to work on repairing my flat tire.  I found a hole in the tube and was able to patch it without much trouble.  While I did the flat repair, Betsy spent time organizing the food for tomorrow for our ferry ride to Stehekin, at the north end of Lake Chelan.  We have to bring all of our supplies for the meals we will prepare for ourselves for the next 3+ days.

 

Our room at the Riverwalk Inn

We then wandered around town seeing the many Labor Day weekend tourists and bathers - lots of SUPs, and other inflatable floatees -getting in their final summer kicks.  We walked to the Lakeshore RV Park, then back to the lakefront completing the Chelan Riverwalk Loop (2.8 miles).  Chelan reminded us of several other inland lakeside resort towns - Okanogan BC, Lake Shasta, CA and Queenstown, New Zealand - long pools of water surrounded by dry-looking hills.  The altitude here is only 1125 feet elevation.  We retired to the Stormy Mountain Brewing where we had beer/cider and a very nice pretzel.  I wrote the most of this blog post while Betsy was watching and researching the Seattle Mariners game against Cleveland Guardians.