Early Summer Roundup, Installment Three: Washington's North Cascades

Jeff and I recently drove to Seattle for the wedding of a very good friend of mine from my hometown.  There will be another post about the wedding shortly as the Early Summer Roundup continues... I'm trying to do posts every other day, to catch up.  So far, so good.

 

Anyway, I have always loved a good road trip and since my husband doesn't much care for airplanes, we road trip quite often.  Who would want to fly after all the negative events surrounding airplanes lately, anyway?!?! I know they say more people die in cars than in planes, but there is something about that feeling of control when one is driving a car.  Who am I kidding, though- my husband is the driver!

 

This was my first time into the state of Washington.  We took our time driving from the farm to Seattle.  I think straight through, going the fast way, it takes about 12-13 hours.  We took several days to drive out and stayed with a few friends along the way.  Columbia Falls, MT the first night, and Omak/Okanogan, WA the second night.  This gave us quite a bit of time to meander and enjoy the scenery. We took many designated scenic highways and by-ways and never touched an interstate until we got to the Seattle area.  We enjoyed taking in the countryside and theorizing about agriculture in different climates and situations from our own. 

 



 

Shortly after we left Montana, we drove through the town of Clark Fork, ID.  As you can see, Clark Fork is home of the Wampus Cats.  No joke.  Yes, that is a mace on the end of it's tail...

Winthrop, WA was a charming little western town (tourist traps work on us!) just east of the North Cascades. It was kind of the gateway to the National Park and it was delightful. We were driving through at about 8:30 in the morning, so it was pretty calm.  It was situated right on a river, which I can no longer remember the name of, and was very scenic.  We agreed it would be a great destination to come back to and stay a few days.

So... that happened. Like I said, sucker for touristy things.

Along the North Cascade Highway, which is actually US Highway 20. I have always thought the perfect long-term road trip would be Highway 20 coast-to-coast.  Seriously.  Take out a map and look at the countryside that Highway 20 goes through.  It would be epic. 

Lake Diablo in North Cascades National Park.  Truly beautiful. The park was really pretty empty, especially compared to Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier, which are the three parks where I have spent the most time.  AND it was FREE ADMISSION to boot!  Couldn't be beat.  The mountains and glacial lakes were very striking. Jeff and I agreed that it reminded us of Glacier but with only a fraction of the people. 

Yours truly... followed by a few more views of Lake Diablo.

Jeff and I did take a few short hikes in the park. Driving through East to West is definitely not the recommended route, because there is only one visitor center (that we knew of) and it is on the West side of the park.  Thus, we were not able to plan our hikes or our day very well.  But we did manage to find a few good short jaunts that weren't far off the highway.  It definitely looked and felt like west-of-the-divide, with all the humidity, mosses, and ferns.

This waterfall was extremely steep and narrow. Unfortunately, my photo really flattens it out. What can I say except my photography skills are less than great. Just go to North Cascades already, ok?

And... vino time!  As we coasted out of the mountains, we couldn't help but stop and "rehydrate," so to speak! Since it's very difficult to ship wine into Montana, we have decided a wine-drinker needs to take care of business when travelling!  We definitely stocked up in Washington!

 

Next post will be about Seattle Proper! Stay tuned...