Two of my favorite weekends in Washington!

Chapter 1 :  Lake Chelan

 

Last weekend we took an extra Friday off and drove  4 hours north and camped at Lake Chelan (pronounced Shay'-lan.) It's a 50 mile long lake and the third deepest in the USA (after only Crater Lake and Tahoe.) WoW!  
We arrived in time to set up our tent (the ONLY tent in the tent-only area, as most of mid-October campers are RV-ers)  and then we dashed off for fire wood and a vineyard.  Nefarious sits up on the hill overlooking the lake. We sat in the last rays of afternoon sun in Virgin Island-colored plastic adirondack chairs. After that happy hour, we returned to camp for a walk and to warm up our pre-made beef stew.  We played some backgammon and then scrolled through our phone-pic memories of vacations-past.  At 12, 2, 4, 5, and 6AM we were reminded how chilly camping in Oct can be. We had set our alarms (NOT a usual camping deal) but wanted to make the last-of-the-season-8am voyage of the Lady of the Lake-- a boat cruise that traversed the entire 50 mile length of the lake to Stehekin, only reachable by boat, plane or hiking.  We were so ultra-camping dressed with long underwear and LuLaRoe under our jeans that we were quite comfortable on the outside deck for abut 90% of the tour. We could keep migrating our chairs for different sun angles and vantage points. We did imbibe tea from the snack bar, reminiscing that a similar cruise on Loch Katrine  on our Scotland tour would add a wee dram of whisky to your coffee or hot chocolate. But we'did bring a pretty fine picnic for our hour at Stehekin, embellished with stuffed croissants from the local bakery. Snow still dots the highest peaks of the Cascades surrounding the lake.
I became quite bold on the 4 hour cruise back to town by photographing strangers.  There's the "cool" guy in too-short shorts, the gaggle of  women-traveling-alone, the cute couple asleep on each other's shoulders.  And, strange, but not a stranger:  Judd dozing or Judd with his pants tucked into his socks for cold air control. And while we're cruising, we get a bonus pic of Malindi and Ryley summiting Katahdin with their sig O's.

Back in town, Judd finally finds the perfect pairing for wine:  BBQ!. And we splurge and get the last room in a hotel, rather than cold-camp again.  BONUS:  hot tub with long white bathrobes with which to get there.  NICE!