Newport, WA

August 19th, 2014 We spent the night at a road turnout expecting quiet but it had a fair amount of truck traffic from the border. I slept much better than Bob. It was uneventful, thankfully. We were on the road early for us, by 7 AM. Another 150 miles through Canada. The terrain stayed the same as the last 150 miles. Brown hills with very few trees. Also staying consistent was the very long almost continuous lake at the bottom of the valley. This allowed for extensive irrigation and a very green productive valley floor. Throughout this area there was a steady supply of fruit and vegetable stands. Also it has a very heavy concentration of vineyards and wineries. We stopped at a farmers market and picked up a couple of fresh peaches and 2 small native artists prints of birds that I loved. Then headed through the border with ease.

About 50 miles into Washington we took a left onto route 20 East. This route crosses the entire state. It mostly stays up in the mountains and is very scenic. As we headed toward Wauconda Pass at 4310 feet elevation, the hills became thick with evergreens. This was the scenery we had expected in WA. Route 20 passes right through Newport where Pam and Chris (Bob's niece and her husband) live with their newborn baby Peter. It was a beautiful ride.

One town that really took us by surprise was Republic. Well up in the mountains, away from everything, was a beautiful preserved gold mining town. It begged for a further exploration. If for no other reason than to try the local micro-brewery. Alas, this is one day we were on a schedule. We will have to make it back another year. Another place of note was Kettle Falls where we crossed the Columbia River. It was very wide and majestic at this point.

For the day we drove around 350 miles. We arrived at Pam's a little before 5 PM. Chris worked the evening shift and unfortunately didn't get to see him that night. Pam put together a great supper for us. We had a very nice visit.

As a result of our lack of sleep from the night before we headed out to the camper before 9 PM. Pam didn't have to worry about us keeping her up late. The next morning we awoke from a wonderful nights sleep. We had our coffee and cereal breakfast in the camper and went into Pam's as quietly as we could. (sorry Chris if we woke you!)

We both had nice showers and felt refreshed. I was able to visit more with Pam and little Peter. He is so cute and energetic. Especially early in the mornings. I tried to take more pictures but his arms and legs are in constant motion. You can see they are nearly invisible in my picture! But his smile is radiant! We topped off our water here as it is a nice safe supply. At this point Chris got up so we had a short visit with him before heading out at 9:45 AM.