Four-Day Getaway Completed

No photos this trip...but...

Once again, I had a most enjoyable escape to Washington state, arriving back home Thanksgiving weekend.  The weather had cooled considerably from the week before, and there were reports of snowfalls on the mountain highways...so my choice was to stay in the valley bottom.  The cool weather created sunny days, perfect for travelling.

One place I hadn't stopped at for many years was downtown Chelan.  It's only a five-mile diversion off Hwy 97 South and I made time to visit it again.  The road veers a short distance from Hwy 97 South's approach to Beebe Bridge (a rusting iron-red hulk of a very-scary looking bridge) that crosses the Columbia River up a mountain on Hwy 150.  A few miles later, the road heads downhill to beautiful downtown Chelan.  Hungry, I stopped at the first Mom-and-Pop-appearing little restaurant, the Apple Cup Cafe for the BEST breakfast I have ever had!

My home away from home was again my favourite hotel, Cedars Inn in East Wenatchee.  I booked the first night on Expedia.com, and that was a big mistake as I could have gotten the room ~$20.00 cheaper if I had called Cedars Inn directly, which I will do in future.

Shopping in Wenatchee is always fun for me, as I've learned the town so well that I no longer get lost no matter what side of the river I find myself.  The ShopKo is gone, closed forever apparently, as are the numerous Payless Shoestores, but Macy's, JC Penney, Ross, Marshall's, and Target and--yes--Wal Mart meet the needs of shoppers.  New to me this time was the Fred Meyer store at the bottom of Grant Street...had never been there before.  Thought it was a huge food store, which it is, but easily one-third of it is clothing.  And they had the BEST selection of (-20F) winter jackets I had seen on my trip thus far...so I bought my daughter a new ski jacket at an incredibly low sale price!  The comparable jacket in B.C. would've been $250 to $300...at Meyer's it was $108 on sale (reduced from $180!!)...a bargain considering the quality.

With Cedars Inn as my home base, I travelled southeast, heading to Spokane, a trip I've never before made.  I certainly didn't need my brand-spankin' new Garmin GPS because directional signs in the United States are so well-placed, efficient and effective! 

What I always enjoy on the Hwy 97 South trip is the geology...the stunning valley and mountain landscapes, the numerous and large orchards and farmlands, the myriad rivers and streams (high streambanks from the heavy Fall rains), the increasing breadth of the valleys as one drives south and east.  And the dams.  Wells Dam was the first one encountered heading south, then Rock Island Dam just half an hour southeast of Wenatchee.  A good map will show numerous dams dotting the valley drainage in several directions.

Many years ago I had the good fortune to stumble upon Dr. Murray Roed's (spelling?) website on Ice Age Floods and glaciation in the valley beginning with the story of Glacial Lake Penticton...I spent many happy hours reading of ice age history of the interior south through Washington state.  Add to that the interior's volcanic history and marvels of geology occur every few miles on the highways.

So it is with great interest I viewed what appeared to be black lava rock deposits on the left side of the Highway as I left Wenatchee, via Quincy and Ephrata, heading for Moses Lake...black rocks no larger than fist sized, for miles and miles on the left.  A large fire perhaps?  No, as the rocky black landscape was covered in healthy grasses.  Obviously exposed but eroded volcanic remnants...so very interesting!

Before Moses Lake, near Ephrata (which has its own Wal-Mart!), the highway heads southeast up off the valley floor on an excellent well-paved surface onto a wide high mesa, a plain, a prairie with large hay farms.  Everything in Washington state is large:  large orchards, huge farms, large trucks hauling large equipment, everything is supersized (compared to British Columbia).

Shopping for my grandson is such a treat; at only 5 years old, he wears whatever I buy for him...Fall and Winter clothes and shoes from the vast selection stocked by U.S. companies, and at such reasonable prices I don't quibble at the exchange rate of 25 per cent on the dollar.  America's population being 10 times that of Canada's leads to a larger selection of virtually everything one may need, and children's clothing is exceptionally diverse and well supplied in most stores.

Imagine my surprise on arriving at new-to-me Moses Lake, pulling into the first shopping centre for a leg stretch and spying three or four shops that stock children's clothing:  Marshall's, Ross, and a WalMart Supercentre.  Hours later, with numerous bags stowed in the Tacoma, I found myself amazed at how much of my grandson's wardrobe purchases were satisfied at the Moses Lake stop.  There's an airport at Moses Lake, obviously adjacent to the shopping centre, as was evidenced by the droning sound of jets as they circled low above the shopping centre on their approach to the airport.

With many more miles to Spokane still ahead of me, I wondered just how much I wanted to go to Spokane...a long drive from Moses Lake was ahead...shopping had been so fruitful in Moses Lake, to my surprise, in addition to the day I had already spent in Wenatchee...but the drive was wonderful, sunshine each day, cool evenings, and fortunately no snow.  Television reports during the evening at hotels showed massive snowfalls in North Dakota from the system that "came down from Canada", as the newscaster announced.

After four days away, it was time to head back north...a bittersweet direction for me each year as it meant my sojourn was soon over.  I chose to retrace my drive, and stayed again at Cedars Inn in Wenatchee as the drive from Spokane north on 395 through the mountains was sketchy in case snow lingered, and Hwy 2 which heads west from Spokane to rejoin Hwy 97 at Waterville (south of Chelan) might be already closed (it is generally closed from some time in October through to April each year as it is subject to severe winter snow).

I'm never lonely on these trips...husband wouldn't want to spend hours languishing in the parking lots of shops and he enjoys his quiet time after a busy season.  I like the peace and quiet that follows a busy season at the golf course.

Now we're both looking forward to six months of doing whatever we want until the golf season is again upon us.

Good-bye once again, Washington State.
Loved it, as always!