Bridgeport, Washington

Good morning, my friends. Yesterday’s drive was pretty easy. Just about 90 miles, and almost no traffic. We’re in the hinterlands, and so there’s not a lot to see. We passed by a few barns.

And sadly, this big burn scar. This must be fairly recent.

And this was pretty much our view for most of the day…wide open spaces. The landscape is barren compared to what we saw just last week. The arid climate doesn’t support much in the way of growth.

Here was something of interest. Take a look:

This large collection of satellite dishes belongs to the Brewster Teleport, also known as the U.S. Electrodynamics Earth Station. Sounds pretty sci-fi, doesn’t it? They were built in 1965 by COMSAT (Communications Satellite Corporation) following the Communications Satellite Act of 1962. It was among the first major satellite earth stations in the United States.

It features over 55 antennas, including 16 dishes ranging in size from 9 to 30 meters each. It is operated by U.S. Electrodynamics, Inc. (USEI) and supports GEO, MEO, and LEO satellite traffic. (Don’t ask me.) The site is also home to an 82-foot radio telescope dish that is part of the global Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), used for deep-space astronomy. 

And why here? The location was chosen because it sits in the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountain range, which naturally shields the sensitive receivers from heavy precipitation and radio frequency noise coming from major metropolitcn areas like Seattle. 

Who knew? I love finding this kind of stuff when we travel. And have I said lately how much I ❤ the internet?

We traveled alongside the Okanagan River for a distance. As we reached our final destination, I believe we saw its confluence with the Columbia River.

Soon, we crossed a bridge spanning the Columbia River. To our left (and out Mike’s window), we could see the Chief Joseph Dam. It’s a concrete gravity dam operated by the USACE Chief Joseph Dam Project Office and the electricity is marketed by the Bonneville Power Administration.

The dam was authorized as Foster Creek Dam and Powerhouse for power generation and irrigation by the River and Harbor Act of 1946. The River and Harbor Act of 1948 renamed the project Chief Joseph Dam in honor of the Nez Perce Nez chief who spent his last years in exile on the Colville Indian Reservation. Like the immediate upstream and downstream dams, Chief Joseph does not have any form of fish ladder system installed, and therefore, does not allow the passage of migrating fish. In a conversation with the camp host when we checked in, progress is being made to begin building a fish ladder to one side of the dam (if I understood him right.)

Construction began in 1950, with the main dam and intake structure completed in 1955. Installation of the initial generating units was started in 1958 and completed in 1961. Ten additional turbines were installed between 1973 and 1979, and the dam and lake were raised 3 m (10 ft), boosting the capacity to 2,620 MW, making Chief Joseph Dam the second largest hydroelectric power producer in the United States. The vast majority (80% on average) of the power from Chief Joseph dam is sent to the Everett area of western Snohomich County via the Bonneville Snohomish substation. However, power produced at the dam is not only used in Washington, but also in Oregon, Montana, Idaho, California, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada.

We’re planning to take a drive up there today to have a look at it. Up until yesterday, I didn’t know this dam existed. Looking out my window, I could see this.

After crossing the bridge, we were here.

The area that is now Bridgeport was settled in the late 19th century and originally named Westfield. Some of the earliest settlers in the area were Chinese miners extracting gold from the banks of the Columbia River. Developers purchased the town in 1892 and renamed it Bridgeport after where they had come from, Bridgeport, Connecticut. The city of Bridgeport was officially incorporated on March 21, 1910. The biggest economic boom to come to the city came from the building of the dam. 

The town’s old sycamore trees, which lined the main street, were in sad shape but instead of being cut down, chainsaw artist Jacob Lucas has transformed them into incredible sculptures. We saw them as we drove into town. We’ll take a walk up and down here today to get a better look at them. They’re hard to see in the image below, and so I’ve marked them.

This is a lovely city park, and we have the place to ourselves. We got Smitty out for a walk right away. A public road runs alongside our rig, and he wasn’t happy about the occasional car going by.

We’re just about 50 yards from the river, and there is a boat launch there. Sorry, my friends. No swimming. Put your beach towels away.

Walking out to the end and looking north, it looked like this.

Looking south, it looked like this. You can barely see the dam near the middle of the image below.

In this next image, I’ve zoomed in to get a better look.

And here’s one of the sculptures right here in the campground. Cool.

It’s a very nice park, and we’re in a good spot.

It was a nice afternoon, and so we sat outside and had margaritas.

Smitty joined us on the veranda.

Across the road from us lives a huge covery of Gambel’s quail. They kept us entertained for a good part of the afternoon. I was able to capture this one when he ventured close enough to my camera’s lens. There must be hundreds of them. Looking to where they’re congregated, there is a lot of movement.

Sadie helped me write this post, but she refuses to pose for a picture. She’s consulting an agent to see about creating a contractual obligation wherein she scores kitty treats whenever her image is used in any sort of promotional materials. We can hardly blame her. Would you give away your image for free?

Okay, so Mike has scoped out a nearby McDonald’s. Sometimes we just needs us some Egg McMuffin. And as I mentioned, we’ll head up to the dam today just to have a look-see, and then we’ll walk along the main drag and have a look at the tree sculptures. We really have nothing else planned here, and there are no hiking trails to speak of nearby. There is a path that goes alongside the river for half a mile, and we’ll probably check that out. 

We still have two days here. If I’m remembering right, when I planned this trip, I was trying to get us to Lake Chelan. I grew frustrated when I couldn’t find a place to stay that was closer than an hour’s drive away. Finally, I gave up on the idea of seeing it, and added those two days at other stops along the way, this being one of them. And that’s just fine and dandy. A chill day is always welcome, especially this late into a trip.

There should be plenty of time for slow-stitching over the next couple of days. It seems like a good time to get to it. Have a good day, Everybody.

Winthrop Walkabout

Good morning, my friends. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed our time here in Winthrop, but we’ll be moving on today. It’s another short day of driving to Bridgeport, Washington. We have three nights there and, honestly, I can’t remember why I included it in the trip. We have no real plans for the area, however, I did read about a mile-long path of chainsaw sculptures. Sounds entertaining. Possibly, I just gave us a few days to relax. In any case…that’s next on our itinerary.

Before we headed out on our little walking tour yesterday morning, I spent some time on the flock. When I had it this far, I decided to move my hoop to the right so that I could capture a few more sheep. Those French knot fills take forever.

Now I’ll pick it up here. Actually, I did a little more on this yesterday afternoon.

Okay, so we set off to walk the main street of town. The town really is just one street. There are some residential streets, and some motels, hotels, and inns, but the business end of the town is mostly all on one street.

This architecture speaks to me in the same way barns do. Maybe it’s because my growing up years were television’s age of westerns. Rawhide, Paladin, Bonanza, The Virginian, Wyatt Earp, Gunsmoke, Bat Masterson, the Lone Ranger…shall I go on? As we walked, I just took random pictures of structures that caught my eye.

We started here at this boardwalk. It extended nearly the entire way down the street and around a bend.

Holy sh*t! A QUILT SHOP!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh. Never mind. They’re closed. We’ll be gone before they open again. I tried to take a picture through the window, but the reflections wouldn’t allow it. It looked like one of those old-fashioned dry goods stores inside. They had big bolts of fabric, but other stuff too.

But hey…if you have a quilt that needs quilting, I know where you can get it done.

We were getting ready to head down the other side of the street about that time, but we first crossed this covered footbridge spanning a dry creek.

End of the line here. We headed back the other way.

This building was on the opposite side of the street. I intentionally waited until we walked to the other side because it was all in shadow otherwise. It was built in 1895, and it was the original stagecoach stop at the main intersection in town. After the turn of the century, it was moved to this location. Since then, it has housed a brothel, a blacksmith shop, and an art gallery. Currently, an internet service provider does business from there.

Continuing on, I loved this building. We ended up having dinner there last night after first having Bloody Marys at Three Fingered Jack’s Saloon, mentioned in yesterday’s post. I’ll say more about that in a minute.

In our wanderings, I was able to score a refrigerator magnet.

No shot glasses though. The only ones I saw were made of clay, and really intended to be dust collectors, rather than drinking shots of tequila.

Here’s Three Fingered Jack’s Saloon. I mentioned it in yesterday’s post. According to what I’d read, they make a mean Bloody Mary, and that we had to try. 

We’d planned to have dinner there as well, but it was trivia night…and busy…and terribly noisy. We had our Bloody Marys…

Spicy, but good.

And then headed back to the Old Schoolhouse Brewery (pictured above) and had dinner there. The mural below is painted on the side of the saloon. The quilt caught my eye, and the mural made me laugh.

I hope you can see the little foot-tall sculpture below. Reflections made it hard to photograph, but I’m hoping you can see that it’s Bigfoot, and he’s “Gone Sasquatchin.”

I liked the name of this place. It was a clothing store.

This was an eclectic art gallery. I knew you’d want to see the quilts.

And get a load of these barstools made from saddles. They had those a Three Fingered Jack’s Saloon too.

We crossed over a bridge that spanned the Chewuch River.

Crossing back, I noticed the “styling parlor” across the way.

From there, we went back to our car, and then drove up a block and down a few more to see the Shafer Museum. It had all sorts of mining and farming equipment and some log cabins.

Just next to where we parked, I noticed these changing leaves.

The. museum is free, requesting donations only. Below is a church bell that survived the church it originally inhabited.

The Rev. James Taylor (no relationship to the singer) preached the first sermon in the church in 1912. The church had no bell at the time, but the congregation’s young people raised enough money by 1921 to buy the bell. Sadly, the church burned in 1994, but the bell was donated to the museum.

The museum began via bartering. The Shafer family of four arrived here in 1920. They bought cattle and grazing land, but lost their investments when stock prices collapsed. Simon Shafer rented a farm and worked as a hired hand until he could buy the Winthrop meat market. His store quickly grew to sell everything from thread to plowshares. He was known for bartering, and he road out the Great Depression by trading merchandise for produce, livestock, and heirlooms. Over time, he amassed a trove of tools and treasures from early settlers' lives.. In 1943, he bought a home to house his collection. It opened as a museum in 1948.

In the image below, you can see a typical settler home. They were small, windowless, and had dirt floors. Some had a roof of poles overlaid with shakes, with a stone fireplace and a stick-and-mud chimney.

In the next image you’ll see what was referred to as a “mud wagon.” It was a humble version of a stagecoach, smaller, and less luxurious. It also carried fewer passengers. 

In the next image you’ll see a 1914 Model-T with a four-cylinder engine. It’s top speed was about 30 mph, and it could go 13 miles on a gallon of gasoline. Automobiles trickled into the valley as they became affordable, although at first, they were less reliable than horses. There were few roads suitable to accommodate them.

In the image below, you’ll see a sleigh. Building one required woodworking skill to make them strong, weatherproof, and stylish. The one in the image below was built around 1880 and was used until the 1940’s. To its right is a “stitching horse.” Saddle and harness makers sat on these wooden seats with their leatherwork held securely between the jaws of the large wooden vise in front of them. A strap anchored on one side of the vise, threaded through the other side, and connected to a foot pedal. Pressing against the pedal held the leatherwork firmly in place, which left the saddler’s hands free to stitch and cut.

Below, I was peering through the window of one of the cabins. Here’s what’s inside.

Here’s another photo I took peering through the window. 

I knew you’d want to see that sewing machine up close.

To its left is this framed text. If you’re on social media, you’ve probably seen it before. That whole part about being “put together.” I have just one thing to say: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The next image shows a schoolhouse. Even in hard times, settlers regarded school as essential. Between 1890 and 1940, at least 24 schools were built ranging from the nearby towns of Carlton to Mazama. School was called off when the snow was too deep or summer farm work intervened. Schoolhouses were also used for church services, card games, town meetings, and dance parties.

Okay, and so our eyes were full by that time. We’d seen this footbridge as we drove around, and so, obviously, we had to walk across. This is the Spring Creek Bridge, completed in 2011.

If you look above, you can see the confluence of the Chewach River with Spring Creek.

Looking in the other direction, it looks like this:

From there, we headed back to the camper. We spotted the wild turkeys again.

And that was our day. We relaxed until dinner time.

As I’m writing this, we’re sitting in some rather chilly conditions. There’s some problem with our furnace, and it only will run for about a minute before shutting off. Mike can fix it, but he had to wait for daylight to do anything. We have an electric heater, but we need to run our generator to use it. We had to wait until 8:00 a.m. to fire up our generator. Sigh. And now…heat is coming. For now, I’m just bundled up keeping warm under several quilts. Quilts save lives. Does anyone doubt it?

Okay, so now that we have some electricity, I can get on with my morning. We’ll sit tight here until we have to check out, and then we’ll move on to the next place. It’s just about an hour down the road.