Some of our best memories are made on dirt roads

Last week, the weather was wonderful.  Several mornings in a row, the sky was clear blue and the lake was flat calm nearly all day. Quite unusual for the wind not to come up in the afternoon.

On our day off, we drove up to Lake Chelan for breakfast and a walk about.  We ate a tasty meal at the Lakeside Hotel.  The owner was there and filled us in on the 80 year old hotel history.  He spent 2M plus just before the "bust" in renovations.  There are 12 rooms ranging in price from the standard $189 to $350 for the anniversary suite.  I was ready to book a night in January till I remembered just how far away Chelan is from Port Orchard in the winter. He and Sonny talked cars, motorcycles and Jeeps.  

On Thursday, we cleaned house. Sonny wiped the outside of the 5th wheel down with Pledge and swept the pine needles off the roof.  I washed floors and Pledged the Jeep.  In the afternoon, we took the Jeep up Merry Canyon looking for Sugarloaf Lookout. We didn't have a good map and so missed a turn.  It was fun to explore anyway.  Later, we got better directions so we'll try it again this week.

Saturday, our friends, Jody and Craig stopped by to visit on their way home from a road trip to Glacier National Park.  We heard about their recent Alaska cruise and their travels around Montana.

We will be here two more weeks. There are 6 campsites booked tonight.  The daytime temps are only to be in the low 70s and nights in the 40s.  Hope to see more color in the vine maple leaves this week.  Friends from Texas coming next week and my hiking group coming Saturday.

Looking back at the beach  

Dirty Face reflected in the lake

Perfect water for kayaking.  It's hard to see but the lead kayak has the
family dog along with his own life jacket.

Can you see the heart shape in the beach art?

Someone spent a long time searching
the beach rocks for the little white ones.

Mini teepee

This is at the group campsite where the children created a hut.

Mushrooms are popping up all over.

Beach cabin

 Beach cabin doorstep

 Beach cabin pine floor

The camp store is now closed during the week so we have been visiting
other coffee shops.  This is at the Plain Hardware Store in an 85* day.

This is an example of questionable camper behavior.  It is 1 hour till check
out time.  This guy is sound asleep while a huge log is ablaze in the fire
pit.  We took our break and when we returned, they had packed and
left.  Amazingly, the fire was out but we still had to pour 3 gallons of
water on the stump in order to pick it up and load it onto the GEM
to haul to the ash pile.

Still smoldering

There are several osprey nests nearby.  In the evening, the parents are
circling looking for a fish dinner.  That's the tiny speck.
I hope to see one dive for a fish.  On this evening, I saw the osprey lifting off
 from the water with a fish but I missed the dive.

Many evenings after dinner, I walk the beach picking up the day's litter.
This evening, I met a family of creative children who made beach
sculptures.  The children are with their mother at the water's edge.

Untitled beach art

Beach totem

This little gal was creative and she helped find litter.  

Another stunning sunset.  I am blessed to be able to see so many of them.

The changing evening colors.

Another evening sunset with calm waters.

Emerald Island 

So missing our kayaks for early morning or evening paddles.

It had been a hot day.  The children were playing in the water till  after
dark.

Rt 2 between Tumwater Canyon and the candy shop outside Leavenworth
'was closed for a week while the Department of Transportation linked up
three new bridges.

The old steel bridge over the Wenatchee River

Yesterday, it was hot and humid. A change in the weather was forecasted
and sure enough, around 5 PM, the wind roared in.  The beach
looked like the ocean with waves crashing on the shore.
 People picked up and headed home pretty quickly. 

We listened to the Seahawks game and heard about the game delay.  When
play resumed, our radio station in Wenatchee was broadcasting severe weather
warnings including tornadoes for the counties around us.  Luckily,
we only had the rain and wind but not to the extent of the storm a week
ago.  

Today, 20 campsites and  the Upper South bathroom were closed for winter.
We are digging out the campfire rings for next year.  I was hunting
down litter in the bushes and found "Happy Duck".

This afternoon, we went into Leavenworth for coffee at Starbucks.
This little petunia was on the other side of the fence.