Saturday morning was spent in what has become a normal routine. Wake up, look at the Seattle forecast (gray, cool , drizzly) and decide to spend another day away from home. Harris is able to stretch the coffee making routine to a good 13 minute ritual—while heating the water (8 mins.), he spoons the coffee into the French press, makes the bed, restores the laundry hamper to the correct location and does a quick Howie pickup, checks email if wi-fi is available, pours the water into the press and lets it steep (5 mins.), and waits for Judy to return from the restroom.
Our morning walking course
With coffee in hand, Harris finishes checking email and other internet stuff for awhile Judy, with juice or hot chocolate in hand, reads for awhile. Some time passes and then one will suggest it’s time for breakfast whereupon the day officially begins.
The view from Howie looking back
After breakfast and our walk we headed into the town of Soap Lake where we strolled around down town. We noticed many empty buildings, several mineral massage places and one hotel that must have been there for decades. The grounds consisted of mature trees and several very nice sculptures. Of course, Harris forgot the camera in Howie. Then it was off to Ephrata so Judy could check out a quilt show at the local high school while Harris hung out in Howie reading a book. Then it was back to camp and an afternoon of reading under a tree, playing miniature golf (Harris won in a tiebreaker 3rd round, although Judy got the only hole in one), cards, and listening to the Mariners (Harris decided to give them another chance). The temps varied depending on cloud cover, but it was between 72 and 78 degrees! As we split a steak and grilled it we could feel the wind come up and the weather begin to change. Later we watched a dvd (Michael Clayton) which was very good.
A closer view of the bluff
It started raining during the night and Sunday morning gray clouds and drizzle greeted us on Father’s Day. The morning weather check told us that Lake Stevens would be no worse than where we were so we headed back. We decided to return via Highway 2 so we could stop at Crescent Bar which is on the Columbia River just outside of Quincy. It’s been in the Seattle paper because several hundred residents there live on a spit of land (Crescent Bar) which has been leased from a utility company very cheaply and the PUD has been tasked with making the land more accessible to the public. With the lease ending in 2012, the residents have been told that their leases would not be renewed.
All that's missing is the Corona!
We were amazed at how many people had upgraded their 350 sq foot RV parking lot to 2 or 3 levels of permanent structures that must have cost over $100,000 in 80% of the lots and much more than that on many others. With all the tension about the issue Harris didn’t feel comfortable taking pictures. If you have the chance to take a look, you should. There is a big resort Sunterra just above the bar in dispute. Afterwards, we drove on to Lake Stevens, stopping in Wenatchee to eat some lunch.
Driving down into Cresent Bar
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