Winthrop, Washington

Good morning, my friends. Oh my...what a pretty place we find ourselves in today. We drove into Winthrop, Washington, yesterday afternoon.

Winthrop is such a fun little town. I can’t wait to get out and explore today. It was founded in 1890 after the Methow Valley was opened to white settlement by the indigenous Methow people. Winthrop was named for author and explorer Theodore Winthrop, who visited Washington Territory in the 1860s. The town was incorporated in 1924. Winthrop adopted an Old West theme for its downtown architecture in 1971 to prepare for the opening of the North Cascades Highway. That’s the road we drove in on.

But let’s back up to the beginning of our drive. We backtracked over road we’d traveled on our first day of sight-seeing at the North Cascades National Park. We’re seeing more fall color every day.

This next picture is one I wanted to include because I’d missed it when I wrote about this area in an earlier post. When the dams were built and the rivers flooded the valley, trees were cut down to avoid problems in the newly-formed lakes. These lakes are now part of a national recreation area. In shallow areas, tree stumps can be seen above the water’s surface.

We stopped off at the town of Newhalem on our way by. I was still on the hunt for a refrigerator magnet, and I was able to score one at the visitor information center.

We also looked for a shot glass at the general store. The only ones available were square, and I’m not interested in that. I only want traditional round shot glasses. Somehow I survived this disappointment, but you’ll note that I’m sharing it with you, my friends, because misery loves company. Thanks for listening.

Driving on, we marveled at the sharp peaks of the Cascade Range. Sharp peaks like these are indicative of young mountains. These are still being pushed up by seismic activity along the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

In the image below, you can see where waterfalls probably flow in the spring.

We drove up, and up, and up, and up over the top of the mountains, and then down, and down, and down, and down into the Methow Valley. We’re east of the mountains now and the landscape is significantly drier. There are a lot of ranchers and farmers in this area, making it a good day for barns.

And here we are…in Winthrop. Wooden storefronts and boardwalks. How cool is that? This is going to be fun!

We’re staying at the state park just out of town, and so we drove through Winthrop on the main street and continued on to the campground. Along the way, we watched these wild turkeys cross the road.

Just a little farther on, this young deer ambled across the road as if it had all the time in the world. Just up the road, we saw a doe. My picture of her didn’t turn out. Bummer.

Just a few minutes later, we turned off on the road to the campground.

You can see how dry the landscape is here, and the tall dense forests are gone. 

We were a little early for check-in, but that was no problem. There are other campers here, but it feels as if we have the place to ourselves. This is the view from our campsite.

As much as I would have loved to sit there and relax with a margarita, we needed to get some groceries. We haven’t seen a grocery store bigger than a mini-mart in days, and so it was mission critical…especially when it comes to kitty treats. Even that part of the day was a delight. Just look at this grocery store. The only thing missing is a couple of hitching posts.

So, that didn’t take long, and it gave us another chance to drive through town. When we had everything put away, I was able to get Smitty out for a few minutes. We found some suitable grass for him to munch on.

It was all going purrfectly until some people walked by with a woofie on a leash. They were at least 50 feet away, and no threat at all. Nevertheless, Smitty made himself as flat as he could and flattened his ears. I kept petting him and telling him it was all right. We were able to maintain until they got safely past us, and then we made a beeline for the camper door. Frankly, I’m happy he runs for the camper when he gets scared. I know he’ll do that even if he were to slip his leash. (And he has.) Sadie on the other hand….Well. Let’s just not talk about that, okay? 

There’s that little rascal now. It’s hard to see her, but she’s in there ready to sound the alarm, if necessary.

As the light changed in late afternoon, I was able to get out and get some pictures of the fall colors. It’s really lovely here.

There’s a lake and a beach just beyond those trees.

Smooth as glass.

Walking back, this is what I saw.

That’s our camper.

This guy was sitting on the fence. He was devouring something scrumptious there, and he really didn’t want me to bother him. I took a lot of pictures of him, moving closer and closer, until I was just about ten feet from him. 

And that was a good way to end the day.

As I said, we’re going to be streetwalkers today. There’s plenty of parking on the main street. We’ll just walk up one side and down the other. I read about a “saloon” called Three Fingered Jack’s Saloon. It’s the oldest legally licensed saloon in the state of Washington. Apparently they’re famous for their Bloody Mary’s, and I happen to love a good Bloody Mary. We might eat out tonight. 

So that’s it. The day awaits. Make it a good one, my friends, and we’ll try to do the same.