my summer vacation, by anavolena, aged 35 and 99/100ths
since it was easy to turn into a four-day weekend, b. and i decided to take a roadtrip around north-central washington, an area neither of us had really visited. definitely worth the time for anybody in the area.
we headed out late sunday morning at a leisurely pace. we decided we should eat before we headed over stevens pass, and stopped at a roadside deli/general store that b. had remembered seeing before. it's about here it occurred to us that travelling with the dogs was going to be a bit more of a challenge than we'd realized. well posted were admonishments against pets on the nice grassy, shady area next to the store, and there was no shade to be parked in at all. so we rolled down windows, left them some water, and went inside. we ordered, only to find out there was only one cook, in a tiny little kitchen, and we'd arrived just after a party of six. we'd maybe have our food in half an hour. we decided it just wasn't worth it, especially with the dogs out in the car, so we headed on towards stevens pass.
we had forgotten, however, that skykomish still stood between us and the pass. we found a little hotel cafe. once again, there was no shaded parking anywhere, but there was a shady place right next to the cafe that we could tie them to, and the waiter seemed to think this was perfectly fine. we went inside, and found a table with a reasonable eyeshot of them, and ordered. b.'s split pea soup was bland, and my grilled cheese came on wheat bread. hey, if i'm ordering grilled cheese, i'm not in it for health, gimme white! the chocolate shake was made with hershey's syrup, we decided. but we were a bit hot from the car, so not all that hungry, anyway.
back into the car for the climb over stevens pass, which took us out of the rainy pacific northwest part of washington into the dry, rain shadow side of the cascades. the change in climate was quite striking, suddenly the lush greenness we're so used to was gone. and so we wended our way into leavenworth.
leavenworth's schtick is that it's a "bavarian village." sure. bavaria on a high desert plateau. we were there mid-afternoon, and the sun was pretty unrelenting. and there's just something so...wrong about a "quaint little mountain town" that's so damn hot. we wandered the main tourist drag, then decided to check out the riverwalk. while the marketing department for the city did a fine job of enforcing tacky black forest font for all signage, they sure didn't look for any reference fotos for a bavarian riverwalk. it was mostly a lot of concrete paths around a rather unappealing riverbank.
we decided we'd definitely earned a sit in a bierhalle, so we headed back towards the car. we were happy to discover one shop that had a pail of water outside explicitly labelled for dogs. it was even full with clean water. the dogs had some refreshment, but we discovered that even the places with outdoor patios wouldn't accept the dogs, so we ran the ac in the car for a bit to cool it down, and treated ourselves to a beer. i normally don't care much for lagers, but on a day like that, i certainly appreciated the bitburger. b.'s pilsener was way too hoppy. then back into the car. we saw signs for the icicle ridge winery, so stopped in there for a tasting. none of the wines were particularly interesting, although i did buy a bottle of their pear wine, because it'll be something fun to have as a desert treat for a dinner party. but their house was worth the stop. it's a log home they built well before they decided to open a winery, and it's really beautiful.
as we drove into wenatchee, we realized that the winery explosion is quite insane in that region. vineyards tucked away everywhere. i'm always amused when i see those retirement commercials when people say their dream is to open a winery. have they no clue how much work that is? that's more insane than wanting to start your own horse breeding operation!
we just skirted wenatchee, so maybe it's not the hell of major box stores that it seemed, but we had decided to stay in waterville for the night. b. had found the waterville hotel, built at the turn of the century and currently being lovingly restored by david, the current owner. we actually ended up staying in a suite he's added downstairs, not in the original hotel itself, but aside from the two double beds, it was perfect for having the dogs. right across the street was a park where david assured us it was perfectly okay to have the dogs unleashed, which they enjoyed immensely.
for dinner, there was basically nothing open in waterville, but david recommended jack's resort -- just go 22 miles east, then six miles north, to jameson lake. the 22 miles were across plateau, then we turned into this rather stunning basalt canyon. we arrived at the glorified rv park at closing time...and i mean closing. they were serving breakfast the next morning, then closing for the season. apparently fishing on the lake is restricted over the summer, and that's the major activity, although the owners told us they were starting to do private parties during the summer for people who were happy to just boat.
we walked into the small shack that served as kitchen, small store, and office, and asked if we could still get dinner. sure they said, except they had already turned off the grill, but we could order anything that wasn't grilled. which mostly meant anything fried. this meant our choices were fried prawns, chicken fingers, and a couple salads. they were actually quite apologetic about it; we were just grateful they were willing to feed us. i went for the prawns, which were actually pretty tasty. b. went for a chicken salad, which was also pretty good. entertainment included some kids bringing in a very newly shed rattlesnake skin they had just found under the bathrooms.
suitably full, we headed back to waterville, caught deadwood, and hit the hay. what is is about sitting in a car all day that makes you so bloody tired?