road trip – day eight (tacoma to winthrop)

don and i left tacoma with the intention of driving straight to canada, but decided on the drive up that the north cascades were not to be missed. we stopped at the north cascades ranger station in Sedro Woolley which is to the west of the national park. they were so friendly and a wealth of information.

We only had a few hours to drive through on Hwy 20, so the rangers advice was to stop at all the lookout points as well as the visitor center.

Here are our stops and some of the photos we took:

• North Cascades Information Center. Check out the current view from their webcam. Behind the center there is a boardwalk called the Sterling Munro that takes you to this nice view:

  Lola is very happy to be on this trip with me:

  

• Gorge Overlook Trail – this was a short walk on a loop that takes you past some impressive views of the Gorge High Dam.

  Lola the mountain dog!

  

• Diablo Lake Overlook

  I took this next photo that shows all the veins through the rock because my Dad (a geologist) would probably have appreciated it:

  

• Washington Pass Overlook – this was closed due to snow, but we parked before the road block and walked in a bit to enjoy the area and let the dogs stretch their legs.

  Don with Lola:

  

  Shall we dance?

  

  Sporty goes wild! “Finally I’m in the snow again!!” (she’s from Canada)

  

  Lola is still very happy:

  

The town to the east of the North Cascades is Winthrop, where we spent the night. Warning: if you ever go to Winthrop and need to eat dinner out, be sure to do it by 8pm because everything closes early. We were starving and had to drive 9 miles to Twisp. Fortunately the little bar/grill there had terrific food.

We stayed at a wonderful place in Winthrop called ‘River Run Inn‘. Had a little cottage all to ourselves with an expanse of lawn and the river behind it. We could have stayed a couple extra days there!

Don and his trusty travel guitar: