PAGING STEPHEN KING

We left Chelan and started north to do the Upper Cascades loop, once again following the Columbia River for a ways.  That is one long, convoluted river.  It seems we keep crossing or following it wherever we go.  Not much to report, scenery-wise, and our first goal was the town of Winthrop which, like Leavenworth, has “re-created” itself with false fronts, this time in a Western theme.  Well, it’s sorta like revisiting Knott’s Berry Farm, but with less charm. 

It didn’t help that many of the stores were either out of business, closed for the season, or closed because it wasn’t the weekend.  The last applied to my only real reason for stopping here, a local brewpub.  Guess nobody drinks during the week.  It was three o’clock by the time we finished walking up and down the drag, so we decided not to keep going.  We looked for an in-town park that was mentioned in one of our guides (alas, several years old), and which had received an alleged September 2010 review in one of the online guides.  We found it.  A forlorn empty lot full of waist-high weeds that had been growing for years.  Can’t believe everything you read, I guess.  Fortunately, there was a state park nearby, and it proved to be a gem, albeit not cheap ($28). 

I have no idea what (or who), if anything, a “Pearrygin” is.  Wifi is down where I’m typing this, so can’t Google it.  Anyway, it’s in a beautiful, park-like setting with widely spaced sites and lots of trees getting fall color.

There’s a modest lake with a view to some hills to the south.  We tried skipping stones on that glassy surface, which I used  to be good at, but the best I could do was a lousy single bounce.  I won’t describe Loni’s effort.  She did hit the water.

We spent a quiet night (about the only option out here), awoke to a sub-40 temperature, and went out for our morning constitutional.  Glad we took the camera.

The fog down by the lake gave it an eerie, Stephen King sort of appearance.  Loni and I both vividly recall reading one of his short stories decades ago that took place on a lake with a floating dock and things that lurked below.  Scared the bejesus out of both of us.

But, as this shot of Loni’s shows, it was beautiful as well when the fog lifted a bit.

After our walk, it warmed up to 42, so we braved the camp showers.  They were nice and clean, but they used a push-the-button system for the water.  There were no controls for hot/cold, just a plunger that you press to start the water flowing.  After a while, it turned hot, but not scalding.  Get in, stand under, and . . . the water turns off.  The plunger is supposed to give you about a minute per push, but that musta been when they were new.  These babies gave you 10-15 seconds.  You have to keep pressing to keep it flowing.  Once you get the choreography down, it worked.  But, jumpin’ penguins, those shower rooms were not heated.  You learn to work fast with that towel.

As we pulled out of the park, we caught sight of:

Don’t know where it was launching from, but it only stayed up a short while, then disappeared down behind the hill.  Maybe it escaped from the Albuquerque Balloon Festival.  A bit further up the exit road and we were rewarded with a glorious scene.