Travels with haRVy

Posted by: sunnyharvy | September 28, 2014

You Know You’re In Western Washington When…

On our route traveling east to west across the State of Washington, we have passed through varied terrain from dry deserts, lush river valleys, rolling hills, and rugged mountains. We now have reached the wet western portion that the state is best known for.

You know you’re in Western Washington when you frequently see…

The photos above were taken near the campground at Fort Casey on Whidbey Island where we spent a night enjoying the salt air (again finally!). When the intermittent light rain let-up, we took a walk around the extensively restored fort bunkers and lighthouse.

We are now camped out at the best Boondocker’s Welcome location ever in Anacortes, WA on Fidalgo Island. Check out our view in the next photo. The site even includes full hook-ups and dump! Maybe we’ll stay a while… just kidding. Thanks to our hosts Carl and Karen.

We are now getting ready to take a ferry over to Vancouver Island, Canada.

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Posted in Washington

Posted by: sunnyharvy | September 28, 2014

Over the Mountains and Through the Woods

I just had to take a few more photos at from Janet’s house in Twisp, WA the morning of our departure. We really enjoyed our stay in the Methow Valley and look forward to returning someday…maybe as soon as next year.

Dish-washing view

Waiting to get juiced…

Final look at view from haRVy’s campsite in Janet’s driveway.

A bit reluctantly we headed west for a beautiful drive up Highway 20 through the Sawtooth and Cascade Mountains.

The photos above were taken near Washington Pass.

An arm of Diablo Lake next to the Colonial Creek Campground where we spent the night.

Our beautiful and quiet ($6!) site right on the lake shore.

From the campground we hiked through beautiful old-growth forest along the Thunder Creek Trail. Thanks for the recommendations Janet, we might not otherwise have found the campground or hike.

Driving over the Diablo Dam as we explored the area.

The season is definitely winding down. There are fewer RVs on the road and several campgrounds are already closed.

Heading further west, our next stop was at my brother Tim’s house in Mt. Vernon, WA in beautiful Skagit Valley. We spent three relaxing nights visiting with he and his wife Jackie. I’ve been to this area a few times before, so we didn’t do a lot of tourist activities, but we did manage to visit my favorite local health food store for lunch and provisioning – the Skagit Valley Food Coop. Jackie and Tim also took us out to breakfast in nearby scenic La Conner on the Swinomish Channel. Thank you both for the warm welcome.

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Posted in Methow Valley, Uncategorized, Washington

Posted by: sunnyharvy | September 21, 2014

Autumn Coming Soon

We’ve had a very pleasant stay at Janet’s house in Twisp, Washington in the Methow Valley over the past week and a half. The weather has been superb (once we got through the first night that got below freezing) and Janet a congenial host. It has felt much like summer with high temps in the 70’s and 80’s, but the leaves are starting to turn and the forecast calls for rain, so Autumn will undoubtedly arrive soon.

Janet’s house, on which she did much of the construction work herself.

Al earning his keep by helping mow the lawn.

Janet’s garden. Flowers and vegetables near the house and a fruit orchard out back.

Janet and I among her beautiful zinnias.

The Methow Valley is full of interesting folks, a few of whom we’ve gotten to know a bit through Janet and by visiting some of the local businesses. We enjoyed smoothies at the health food store, delicious produce from the weekly farmer’s market, lunch on freshly baked bread at the historic Mazama Store, the Fall Follies show at the Community Center, a nice afternoon bike ride on the Community Trail and more.

Great health food store (first I’ve seen with a wine cellar) and bakery in Twisp.

We also visited the town of Winthrop, which has created an old-west feeling in their downtown area with false front buildings and wooden boardwalks.

We reluctantly leave tomorrow to head westward over the Cascade Mountains.

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Posted in Methow Valley, Washington

Posted by: sunnyharvy | September 14, 2014

Washington State At Last

After an uneventful crossing back into the USA, we found a beautiful FREE riverside campsite at the Army Corps of Engineers’ Dunn Creek Campground near Libby, Montana.

Morning view from haRVy. We spent hours watching the antics of an Osprey family.

Later we took a short hike from the highway to view Kootennai Falls and…

so Al could walk across this swinging bridge (what acrophobia?).

The next notable campground was a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) property on Lake Leo near the northeastern corner of Washington State. It was extremely quiet with just a few other campers, one of whom offered to catch us fresh trout for dinner. Fresh picked huckleberries for breakfast and trout for dinner…can’t beat that!

Our next night was spent on Lake Roosevelt near the Grand Coulee Dam. The busy season is obviously over as we are now able to easily snag a prime site at each campground, even if we arrive late in the day.

Full lake view from our campsite. Enjoyed a pretty sunset and full moon rise from here too.

Thought this was a good idea – various sizes of life preservers available to use as needed.

This part of Washington, on the Colville Indian Reservation, was unexpectedly arid and reminiscent of the Southwest. Then we were on to Lake Chelan where we took an all day boat trip across the 50-mile length of the lake to the village of Stehekin, which can only be reached by boat or sea plane.

Old dock from the steamboat days.

On the way uplake.

Rainbow Falls in Stehekin.

View back down the lake towards the town of Chelan.

Shop featuring crafts made by local residents, of which there are 85.

From Chelan we drove north to my friend (from High School!) Janet’s house in the Methow Valley where we plan to stay for at least a week. The weather is forecast to be perfect for our entire stay. We are enjoying warm afternoons and cool clear evenings.

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Posted in Idaho, Montana, Washington

Posted by: sunnyharvy | September 9, 2014

A Bit More Alberta

We spent a few more days north of the border before crossing back into the USA. Highlights included driving over scenic Crowsnest Pass and viewing the Frank Slide, the deadliest rockslide in Canadian history. Plus, in Sparwood…

One of our favorite things about this trip is coming upon interesting small towns. We drove into Fernie, Alberta and quickly found a beautiful riverside parking spot. From there we walked the river trail and into the historic downtown area where we toured a few galleries and stopped for tacos and peach pizza for dessert at NEVADOS. We did not find any “no overnight parking” signs back at the van, so we decided to stay the night.

Lots of fun and friendly young folks in Fernie, including lots of Australians for some reason. The town’s ski resort might have something to do with that draw, but I’m not really sure.

There’s something about living “above the store” that appeals to me.

River we camped next to, just two blocks from historic downtown Fernie.

Yes, that is measurable snow in early September!

After a foggy walk the next morning, we spent some time online at Big Bang Bagels. Later we had smoothies and wraps at The Lunch Box. It was exhilarating to see so many small locally-owned businesses thriving, but it was time to head back over the border into the good ol’ USA.

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Posted in Alberta, Canada, Uncategorized

Posted by: sunnyharvy | September 9, 2014

Wet and Wild Waterton

Waterton Lakes National Park (Canada) and Glacier National Park (USA) joined to form the world’s first International Peace Park in 1932. We headed up there to complete our circumnavigation of the combined park. It turned out to be a wet and wild visit with lots of wind and rain to contend with, but still worth the time and effort.

The view along the road to the Canadian side included Chief Mountain.

View of Waterton Lake from Prince of Wales Hotel – best we could get given the weather conditions.

Set-up for High Tea in the hotel.

Prince of Wales Hotel

Given the permanent tilt of these trees, we should have expected high winds.
This shot was taken from our lake-front campsite, which was great for the view,
but put us in the front row for the brunt of the gusts.

Away from the lakefront the wind wasn’t so bad and we managed to hike
around the village, to the hotel, and to Cameron Falls.

The winds brought the temperatures down and the first snow of the season fell at higher altitudes. Since our AT&T Mi-Fi doesn’t work in Canada, we spent some of our spare time utilizing the community-wide (!) free WiFi network. We also enjoyed the unlimited HOT showers provided by the campground (very rare in the USA). The extremely clean bathrooms even had stainless steel sinks and granite counter tops!

A little rain (actually quite a lot) wasn’t going to keep us (or many other tourists) from seeing the sights, so we headed out to Red Rock Canyon for a hike.

The first fall foliage we’ve seen – on September 3rd

Blakiston Falls

Staying warm and dry as best we can

After leaving the park, we headed a bit deeper into Alberta, Canada to stay with Boondockers Welcome hosts Bev and Garry at their beautiful farm outside of Pincher Creek. We swapped travel stories and advice for a few hours after dinner. Thanks for the warm hospitality.

Travels with haRVy

You Know You’re In Western Washington When…

Over the Mountains and Through the Woods

Autumn Coming Soon

Washington State At Last

A Bit More Alberta

Wet and Wild Waterton

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