Lake Pearrygin (part 2)

Tuesday April 28- Wednesday April 29 (Days 437-438)

 

The weather has been good, but Tuesday was the best. It started out a little cloudy, but soon cleared up and by the afternoon we were wearing our shorts.

We took a long walk in the morning with Marilyn, Gene, and Trix. It wound around a hill and took us by a herd of cows that were a bit upset when they saw Trix. So we cut up a hill and avoided the trail they were blocking. Harris took pictures with his new camera of the cloud formations.

 

Marilyn, Judy and Sharon went off to the quilt store in Twisp, and explored the touristy shops in Wintthrop. When we retuned to camp we all played a dice game called Farkle...and Judy won!

We pooled our resources and had a delicious dinner of steak, potatoes, bread, salads and wine. Not your usual camp fare!

Marilyn and Sharon tried fishing again, but the fish just aren't biting. No one in this campground has had any luck all week.

 

On Wednesday, we took a morning walk up the hill, searching for a geocache....which we did not find. Harris tried again later in the afternoon on his own, but had no luck. It was a laid back sort of day, sunny but a cold wind kept us from fishing. Since we didn't want to sit outside to eat, we decided to go into Winthrop for a Mexican dinner to finish off the camping trip. In spite of the lack of fish, it's been a good trip. The weather has been good and the company even better.

 

Trix looks noble here, doesn't she

 

Lake Pearrygin

Sunday April 26- Monday April 27 (Days 437 and 438)

 

Pearrygin Lake is a favorite fishing place for Marilyn and Gene, and so we tag along. We left Wenatchee on Sunday, under beautiful blue skies. The wildflowers are beginning to appear on the hills, turning them from brown to green and yellow and blue.

 This was our site at the County River RV park.

This little place is a favorite roadside stop for lunch and ice cream. Unfortunately, Judy lost her sunglasses here. :( But the chocolate brownie ice cream was good.

 

We stopped at Twisp along the way to check out a quilt shop, (closed on Sundays), and in the yard of the house next door were two little deer resting in the shade. They looked like pets!

 

Marmots or some such creatures are all over the park and this guy is within 12 feet of Howie, chirping away at us in the early morning and late at night.

 

Marilyn's friends from Poulsbo, Al and Sharon Brown joined us for this trip. Sharon cooked us a terrific dinner the first night.

 

Monday morning we took a walk up the hill and a little ways out of the park and geocached (of course) along the way. The birds were prolific and noisy! One cache was in a little birdhouse on the park sign.

One cache was in this old storage building. Fortunately for us, it had been moved from hanging inside (and falling on the ground some feet below the window opening) to a rock along the foundation.

 

Dinner Monday was a recipe that Marilyn wanted to show Harris from the most recent Cooks Illustrated, BBQ pork medalians in Hoisin sauce. It was great!

 The whole crew minus the photographer!

 

Off to Wenachee and Lake Pearrygin

Thursday April 23- Saturday April 25 (Days 433-436)

In what has become an annual tradition, it was time to join Marilyn and Gene (Judy's sister and brother-in-law) in Eastern Washington for some fishing at Pearrygin Lake with a stop in Wenatchee. The weather turned cool, but at least it was dry. Harris and Judy left Thursday after dental appointments and arrived at Wenatchee Confluence Park in mid afternoon.

 Thursday night's dinner was Mediterranean salmon burgers provided by Marilyn.

On a walk Friday morning Harris spotted a hawk to try out his Lumix ZS-50 30x zoom lens.

 Gene found one of the caches Harris and Gene looked for on the bike ride while 

the wives checked out several quilt stores Friday.

The destination of the bike ride was the Wenatche  Public Market

where Harris found fantastic clam chowder and 

Gene equally good chili. 

 One the caches was called Bird's Eye View.

Harris cooked Friday's dinner which was nearly as special as Thursday's.

Since Wenatchee Confluence Park was fully booked Friday and Saturday, Harris and Judy moved 4 miles west to Wenatchee River County Park where they stumbled upon a Fake Deer while Face timing  with their granddaughter River.

On the upside, there was great wifi at the park so they could stream the Mariners game. Felix dominated and Harris captured a  Nelson Cruz home run that went into 

the upper deck at Safeco Field.

Saturday was spent at a couple of wineries in Chelan while finding several caches along the way. Also punctuating the trip was an ice cream stop (which had a geocache on the property) and lunch at a Mexican restaurant which Harris talked the group into doing.

Spring Training 2015 part 5

Sunday March 28- Friday April 3 (Days 427-433)

Harris and Rick suddenly realized that the time to head home was almost upon them. Games were a bit sweeter than earlier games. Rick decided to sample the food from several ballparks so he could return home with all senses satisfied.

One experience  Rick and Harris could have done without was Felix getting roughed up with 5 runs in a couple of innings when the Mariners played the Cleveland Indians. But the weather was warm and once again they found shade to sit in for the game.

According  to news reports, both Phoenix and Antarctica were setting all time heat records for the last week of March. Phoenix temps were upper 90's with one day of 99 degrees. Being resourceful lads, they found an ice arena to hang out at mere steps from the Mariners stadium. For several days they ate lunch and played cards there until it was time to head to the game.

 It is tradition to snap a picture of the two of them and they waited until the very end to do it this year.

 They discovered a neighborhood park adjacent to Goodyear Stadium to hang out prior to the game. This will be added to the ever expanding list of pre game places to  eat lunch at.

On Rick's getaway day, it's tradition to treat Harris to breakfast at the Times Square Diner where the special that day was pork medallions, eggs, hash browns, toast, and coffee. It was yummy!   And Rick was gone...

Harris left Thursday morning around 2:30 AM. He passed by Las Vegas around 7 AM. He was also back in long pants as the weather was chilly.

He paused at a scenic stop a couple of hours north of Vegas.

He paused again in Northern Nevada where he figured there must be a geocache. And there was...in the tree to the left.

 Harris could see the line of clouds promising the end of warmth, sunshine, and dryness. He stopped outside of Boise for a couple of hours sleep and again outside La Grande, OR.

Sure enough! On the eastern side of Snoqualmie Pass the rains came. He made it home by 3:30 PM on Friday for a return trip of 37 hours. His body is trying to recover from the temperature shock of going from the  mid ninety's to mid forty's.