Just Add Water...

Winthrop, WA"old west" humor signpost

Well...our plans changed...One of the great things about traveling without confirmed reservations - you can change your itinerary immediately if logistics become difficult...and we did - so we headed back to the U.S. and are now in northern Washington.

Back in the USA!

We loved camping in British Columbia (BC), but August arrived and just as we were heading for southern BC, so did the heat (high 90's) and the BC campers - by the thousands.  Almost overnight, we could no longer find a lovely campsite with access to water (with either showers or a lake or stream).  Even if we arrived at the campground at 9:30 a.m., no shady sites were available.  Plus, these campgrounds were so packed with large families and all their best friends we couldn't separate one campsite from the other.

Tons of families enjoying the hot day while floating down to Skaha Lake - lakes district in BC.

We also found a substantial change in the lakes we had visited 20+ years ago.  The fishing highway (Hwy 24) lakes that were so pristine and lovely back in 1994, have been logged of their "old growth" timber (logging and lumber remain big business in BC) and both the private and provincial parks have been heavily impacted by the large number of tourists and by land development. It was clearly a different world from northern BC and the old fishing highway we remembered from our pictures. We were disappointed at the significant change and regretted the loss.  But - you can never go back and naively expect it to be like it was...So - that night, after fruitlessly failing at five parks, we gave up our search and stayed at the Best Western in Kamloops, which was a treat with its queen-sized bed, air conditioning and wonderful shower!

The next day, we found that the Okanagan Lake area had similar issues; it was very crowded, extremely hot and smoky (from the fires around there) and we simply couldn't find a campsite that suited us (with shade, showers or lake access). The beautiful farming and wine area remain there still - on the southern tip of the lakes district - but few public campgrounds exist near the agricultural areas and campers in the private parks, are stacked within inches of each other - "like logs." It was laughable (with hindsight), once we decided to move on.  Clearly, we now know to avoid the southern BC recreation areas in August, since that is definitely their prime vacation time!

Shade, green grass, a river, a pool and showers! Water magic!

So we headed across the border to Washington and stopped at a small KOA campground (which provided showers, trees, grass, a river and laundry facilities) close to the old-west town of Winthrop. The campground setting was perfect for us, so we decided to stay several days.  Winthrop is a charming, eclectic town of 350 with fun curio shops, interesting galleries and good restaurants and bakeries - a surprising find in this area of eastern Washington. Our last night there, we sat on the riverside deck of the Arrowleaf Bistro and had a wonderful dinner - elk meatballs and tagliatelle both uniquely prepared and well presented. The quality of the dinner alone provided us a reason to return to this delightful town.

Entertainment for the kids

A welcome party complete with treat!

Winthrop - with its old-west charm!

Rocking Horse Bakery - Ernie was happy!

Fires in the surrounding areas continue to chase us wherever we go - from the Kamloops area in BC to northern Washington - which has about five active fires right now (it's been unusually dry here this year). A little rain (without lightening) would do wonders here.

Hwy 20 near Winthrop - note the smoky mountains in background. With dry grass everywhere, this area is a tinderbox

Methow River - relief from the smoke and arid surroundings

For the next few days, we plan to follow Hwy 20 west toward the North Cascades National Park.  Hopefully there we will find cooler temperatures, clear blue skies, big trees, big mountains and, perhaps, a river or two.