Aww... the beauty of the Northwest!

Pretty rivers, spectacular lakes, beautiful hiking trails, robust wines, and fresh produce are what we found in Washington and Oregon.

Formed about 7,700 years ago when a volcano erupted, Crater Lake is breath taking! The water is as blue as what one sees in the Caribbean.

We climbed .8 miles of switchbacks and 420 ft. of elevation gain on the 1.6 mile Watchman Peak trail to get the “birds-eye view.

The lake is located in Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.

Annie Creek Canyon is a pretty, 2-mile moderate hiking trail in the park with about 200 ft. of elevation gain.

There are several strenuous, moderate and easy trails in the park but we did only the two. 

The Wanderer was quite at home in the Mazama Campground, which was not at all crowded.

We loved that we were surrounded by young folks in tents (which brought back pleasant and not-so-pleasant memories.)

With a change of plans and the recommendation of our friends, Chuck and Linda, we discovered the cutest little Bavarian inspired tourist town of Leavenworth. With the evergreen trees of the Wenatchee Forest as a back-drop, it was reminiscent of an Alpine Village. 

It was very crowded when we first arrived but we found spacious outdoor seating at Icicle Brewing where we had a Bavarian pretzel and the most amazing milk stout beer. Dark Persuasion is brewed with rich coconut, vanilla and cacao nibs to give it a delicious German chocolate flavor. The beer was so good, we returned after our hike the next day to have another one. That was mid-afternoon and the town wasn’t nearly as crowded.

The shops looked really cute but, because of COVID, we just walked around outside (wearing masks). Perhaps we will visit again post-COVID and the town is alive with music and entertainment.

It was worth driving over the washboard gravel road

to get to the Icicle River Gorge trail. The 4.5 mile easy hike was one Kodak moment after another!

Around Wenatchee we saw orchard after orchard of apple and pear trees. Fruit stands were in abundance.

We were a bit early for the apple harvests, but we did score some Early Honey Crisps!

Oregon and Washington are homes to some of our country’s most magnificent natural resources and outdoor activity opportunities. In the higher elevations, the summer temperatures are delightful. It was in the 50s when we left this morning.

We are back in California where the temperature is quite oppressive at 110°. Our home tonight is a Harvest Host stay at MoonBeam Lavender Farm in Corning. 

(Fortunately The Wanderer has air conditioning!) We missed the lavender harvest but were right on time to see the loofah in several stages. 

(Yes, ABN shopped and purchased loofah seeds.)

We drove through some dense smoke on our drive today, 

but it isn’t bad here at the farm.

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