Seeking Cicely

snow in the vineyards

Judd retired from teaching school Friday and we headed north on Saturday. We stopped in Yakima at Lance's to examine pop-up truck campers. Judd's been "researching" on line for weeks already. He had already admired the campers and spoken with one co-owner brother already. The other brother showed us around this day and was totally a fan of our choice--small, lighter-weight, efficient. Judd likes that we can put it on a smaller truck which he can use as a go-to-the-dump/haul-the-boat-in-Maine vehicle. I like that it has a porta-potty and it's name is "Northstar." Everyone wins. We left the brothers a down payment and said we'd be back when we have a truck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGEutaSo9to

While reading our Things to See in Washington book, we discovered, by accident, that a tiny town nearby where we could spend the night, was the town where the old TV show Northern Exposure was filmed. We drove to it. The Central Washington Cascade mountains appeared out of our mostly foggy drive, all white-snow-capped in the sunset. The sitcom was supposed to be in Cicely, Alaska but it must have been easier to schlepp a film crew to Washington than Alaska. The town is about 2 blocks in any direction. Population: 912 We cruised the mandatory saloon The Brick-- famous for being 'the oldest licensed watering hole in Washington." We made a point of checking out the "23 foot running water spittoon" at the base of the bar, but the restaurant was so crowded and noisy a picture was untenable.

http://www.bricksaloon.com/history.html
We considered having our pub dinner there but when no wait staff attended to us after 5 minutes and a bathroom break, we walked a block down the street to the Roslyn Roadhouse where the locals get their burgers. We were fine.

Our stay at the Timber Lodge Inn in Cle Elum was uneventful, sadly, because the hot tub they have advertised on their web page hasn't been in service for a few years. We did make use of their complimentary popcorn. We were amazed that with regular TV channels, we could watch Saturday Night Live, LIVE on a Saturday, before our midnight!!! Time zones are incredible. We're usually 2 weeks and several hours behind.

Sunday morning we returned the 3 miles to Roslyn and had breakfast in the Roslyn Cafe. Good service and good food. Just a 3 hour road trip back to Walla Walla in time for a farewell pizza lunch with Judd's best work-mates. They will miss him and he's very sad to be leaving them. But the "honey-do" list I have for him will alleviate his sadness and boredom soon.