My Blog and I: Winthrop, WA

Two weekends back, Nick and I took a solo trip to Winthrop, WA. Located in central Washingon, it is a quaint little town with numerous things to do...from shopping to laying by the river to various outdoor recreating. Sounds a lot like Bend, but not nearly as big. It has it's own Country Western feel, as most of the buildings on the main drag (only drag for that matter) are faced with the Wild West facade. The home made ice cream shop was by far the most hoppin' place, but it certainly didn't lack the antique-ish gift shops that are always so fun to browse, as well as outdoor clothing stores and restaurants.

Since it had been years and years since either Nick or I had ventured to Winthrop, it was clear that it was time to re-explore the land together. After randomly selecting a campground near town via internet and getting a wee bit lost trying to find it...we rolled into our campground at 10pm, Friday night. Ahhh...another set up in the dark...is there any other way? The camp host had no record of our reservation, but after telling him that my credit card statement said otherwise, he willingly gave us a site and we were on our way.

The next morning we realized Big Twin Lakes campground is beautiful and well shaded (a MUST considering 95 degree weather - too hot for a good ol' Western Washington girl like me), but the lake was rather disappointing. It did not pass the inspection as being a swimable lake, unless one enjoys swimmers itch, but rather a good fishing spot, which neither Nick nor I do.

After a leisurely breakfast and a game of cribbage, we headed up Sun Mountain for some awesome mountain biking. It took me about 2 peddle strokes to realize that the term "Mountain Biking" can have many different meanings. Most of Eastern Washington mountain biking is rolly, hot, exposed, sandy, rocky, fast, narrow, non-technical and in my opinion very boring and life-sucking. Not to mention boiling hot! I was reminded yet again how lucky we are to have Galbraith mountain 10 minutes from our front door. That is my kind of mountain biking: Steep and steady going up, fast going down, technical, networks of trails, compacted dirt, shade and fun, fun, fun. So after an hour and a half of peddling and seeing if the trails would get any better, we threw the bikes back on the car, headed back to camp and took a 2 hour nap under the Willow tree.

Shockingly, when we woke up we were still exhausted and realized it was more about being over heated than it was about being tired. A 10 minute drive took us to a beautiful, refreshing lake where the water cooled our bones and rejuvenated our spirits. Charlotte even took a little swim (slightly forced by Nick) and though she probably hated it in the moment, we could tell she too felt much better after taking a dip. We did a little dog sitting once we returned to our campsite. Ore site neighbors, and as it turns out fellow Bellinghamers, were celebrating a 60th birthday in town and asked us to watch their 3 lb dog, Lucy. She took a liking to Nick quickly, although, I'm not sure if she ever stopped shaking.

Sunday morning, the skies were a bit overcast and I thanked the Lord every moment. After peanut butter pancakes and sausages, we packed up camp and headed to another mountain bike trail that was promised to be more of our kind of biking.

Cutthroat Lake, located in the Oakenagen National Park, is a must see for everyone! The lake itself is a mere 2.4 mile trek up a very gradual incline. The scenery during the hike is treat enough, but the lake is awe-inspiring. Warning: Layer on bug spray like you would smoother frosting on a cake. The mosquitoes are thick as blankets and have a tenacity that would humble a tiger feeding on it's pray. They only surround the lake, so when on the trails you are home free!

Since we were biking, we took 2 seconds to snap a photo by the lake (Nick was lucky to have me stop moving that long - they were ferocious little blood suckers) and we continued up the trails.

From there on the incline got much steeper. With constant switchbacks and the occasional stream to plow through, we climbed and climbed and climbed with beauty surrounding us. Eventually we hit a stopping point (mostly due to our time limit...we still had a 3 hour drive home), padded up and headed down. Granted it wasn't the technical downhill that we are used to, but boy was it fast. Nick lead the train, then Charlotte who can run with the best of them, then me bringing up the rear. We were back at our car before we knew it, amazed at what a difference the day before's ride had been compared to what we just did.

Refreshed and exhausted we headed home, soaking up the awesome views the whole way.