this is the sight we see, before we close the back of our truck and head into the woods!
this weekend we've chosen to go backpacking outside of winthrop, washington. so we'll head up and over the north cascade mountains.
the pass looks like this.
as we headed up and over the pass, the light dimmed; unusual for the afternoon. after further examination, we realized there was a wild fire in the mountains, and the smoke from the fire was diffusing the sunlight. Crazy...cool.
We made it to camp at Pearrygin Lake State Park. It was about the only place in the area with water and trees for shade. Most people don't know, but Eastern Washington is more like a desert.
downtown Winthrop is like an old western town.
Townsend and Andrea hanging out by the lake.
It's finally cooling down.
Nothing beats a west coast sunset.
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Friday morning we took off into the woods. Our plan was to hike 8 miles up to a beautiful meadow area along the Wolf Creek in Okanogan National Forest.
Taking a lunch break at the creek. With 97 degree heat, it was pretty warm. It was nice to take a break in the shade.
Part of the hike was through an area that had been hit by a fire years ago. The dark skeleton-like trees were very eerie.
A beautiful grouping of dandelions. Softball size dandelions.
Townsend didn't do so well in the heat. After the first 5 miles, this was all he wanted to do. So we let him rest for a while. Brooke took a little nap himself.
We decided not to go all the way to our final destination. The heat and the physical exertion was a little too much for our four-legged-friend. (He's a dog!...where's all that energy!?) So we found a random campsite along the way and called it quits....
literally.
Townsend was very happy we decided to head back down the next day, instead of pushing up to the meadows. He had had enough. This was the only time he looked happy:)
I guess we were happy too. It was warm.
Brooke looking down to the river.
We welcomed the cool water rushing between our toes. Ahhh.....
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We decided to take a different way home, south on 97, through Chelan and Ellensburg. The landscape is so much dryer out here.
Big barns like this always draw us close to home.
Waiting for Brooke to grab dinner. We stayed inside the air conditioned car:) Now let's head back home and try and catch some fireworks!
Eily Sky in concert. Check them out. They're awesome.
It was great to get a little taste of home. We miss these guys. We miss Ohio.
Afterwards we went to Elliott Bay Brewery for some food and brews. It was great to visit and catch up before they took off on the roads.
