Cascade Loop, Washington State....weekend

We met Jen and Ric in 1986 at Meekatharra and over the last 26 years our lives have crossed paths....from Meekatharra to Tom Price, to being neighbours in Australind, to Windy Harbour with catchup's in Broome and Fitzroy Crossing, and now living 5 mins away from each other in Australind. Stu and Ric are both Principals in the Bunbury area and catch up every Friday afternoon for drinks at the CBT when we're home....so our friendship has longevity.

.......not missing their day jobs back home.......

So it was meant to be when they received an exchange to Vancouver Island and we were in Colorado.....once again we were in the SAME.... hemisphere!!
I love how plans eventuate and with no persuasion needed, we organised a road trip weekend in Washington (State) to drive the Cascade Loop...we flew to Seattle and they ferried to Seattle and the plan was to meet them at the International Airport. We were waiting at the airport for them....wondering if we would find them, when I looked up at a covered walkway and saw these two people who looked remarkably like Ric and Jen walking away from us.....Stu rang them, told them to stop walking, turn around and look down and there we were...waving furiously. (If you've ever seen the movie Bend it Like Beckham, there is a scene at the airport where the main character sees Posh and Becks walking through the airport...well it was just like that!!!!)
I am not homesick at all, but it was just fantastic seeing people from home, particularly friends we have a long history with....and it was one of those "Can you believe we are here "moments.....from Meekatharra to Seattle!!
Ric and Jen had organised the accommodation and our job was to organise the hire car....but not this one....

We caught a shuttle bus to the car rental place, amidst great chatter and laughter.  Ric said Stu's ONE job was to organise a car and here we were on a bus!!!  We finally got to the car rental place and the boys were questioned about the teacher exchange by the attendant, who wanted to know if she could do an exchange to which Stuart replied..."If I can exchange to teach computing, anyone can!!"
She was also interested in their WA Heavy Duty driver's licence, so they both regaled her with their Meekatharra stories of how they were handed their truck licences from a Weeties box!! Maybe not the story to be telling the hire car people.  With the paper work completed, we were given directions to where to go to get the car....but of course with everyone talking over each other, noone was listening and we got lost!!! Not a good start!
We eventually found our little 4WD and with Stu driving, the first thing he did was open the bonnet instead of the boot, then started playing with all the buttons and dials.... and managed to ring emergency...who answered....please state your whereabouts....whoops..."the car park at the car rental!"!  We were all in hysterics and this was before we had even managed to get the car outside!!  ANYWAY, we did get away and with the help of the sexy, dulcet tones of Madge (our GPS) we were on our way to our accommodation at Stephen's Pass on Mt Index Rd.
By this stage it was around 11pm and after an hours driving, we got to a Safeway in some town to buy some supplies (well, alcohol). Ric kindly took over the driving and his first mistake was to start driving on the left hand side of the road, with a car coming towards us and everyone shrieking and laughing and unable to help him!! He sorted himself out and the rest of the drive was uneventful to our cottage.
We got to the cottage around 12.30 and spent the next 2 hrs sitting in the hot tub, listening to the river, enjoying some beverages and having a great catch up.

Stu and Ric working out our trip...the map's upside down fellas!

The next morning after a leisurely brekky and a lengthy hand over of the cottage from Rita (Ripper Rita!!), we headed off on our adventure.....the first stop was at a bewwwdiful lake.....where there was a choir singing.....and a bloke fishing.

 Ric went up and chatted to the guy fishing and his first words to him..."Can I ask you are a personal question?" The guy said yes, so Ric asked "Are you a redneck?" (Jen, Stu and I looked at him (Ric) incredulously, planning our escape route) He answered "yes and proud of it". So the next question was...."what do you need to do to be a redneck?"..answer..."I go huntin' and shootin', I'm gonna lift my truck up next year and the Remington is my gun of choice!" He was a nice guy and took this photo of the four of us.....

Our plan was to get to La Conner for lunch and we were treated to some lovely scenery along the way.....

before stopping at this pub in La Conner for lunch...

...and enjoying the view at Deception Pass Bridge.... a two-lane bridge on Washington State Route 20 connecting Whidbey Island to Fidalgo Island.

We made our way back towards our cottage......where the vegetation was so lush and almost tropical.....with huge, craggy, snowy mountains...and the green river and lush surroundings.

We drove past our accommodation on a dirt road, through a no trespassing sign where we saw a dam wall spurting copious amounts of water. We pulled over to take a look and there were 4 people there. They were probably aged in the late 20's. One of the men, had a hand gun strapped to his belt, a beer in his right hand and looked either stoned or drunk and his girlfriend was puffing on a joint.  It was very disconcerting, and when Ric went to take a photo of the water, two of the men walked in front of him and then asked if they were in the way of the photo...to which Ric replied rather hastily...."no worries mate.....you're fine".  We weren't going to ask them to move!!  Then the girl who was smoking a joint offered to take a photo of the 4 of us...again...who were we to say no! And this was the photo....not bad...but I think Jen is keeping an eye on the bloke with the gun!!!

Earlier this month Jakeb showed me this AMAZING gadget on my phone (that I have had for a year) called Siri (most of the world knows Siri except for maybe my mum and I!!).  Basically you talk to Siri using your own voice and ask her a question and she finds the answer for you.  So one question Jakeb asked Siri was, "where would you hide a dead body".  Siri comes up with all these suggestions including a morgue, swamp ....back of the ute!!, then gives you the directions to your desirable location to hide a dead body.
So, when we were on our driving trip we came across a bloke siting in the back of his ute....but he was hunched over and looked like he didn't have a head! After our ealier experience with the gun wielding stoner, we were all too scared to stop, so continued on.  When we drove back, he was still there....and hadn't changed position. So we didn't stop!! Now I'm concerned, that if it was a dead body, someone will have seen our car, the police will come and investigate us and find that I've been looking for places to hide dead bodies on my phone!!!  Thanks a lot Jakeb!!  (Note to my readers...he was either headless, sleeping, sulking or very drunk!)
So we were well and truly ready for a drink in the hot tub, and headed back to the cottage and spent the next few hours enjoying our environment.

 The next morning we got up and were greeted by mist......

which is ideal conditions for.....

although the only big foot we saw was Stuart's size 13 shoe!
We drove across Steven's Pass and came across the ski resort, which had closed down for summer. However that didn't stop us from having a play......

 and as Ric and Jen can attest to, Stuart dropped many a bombardier in the car.....making for an unforgettable experience for those of us who were unfortunate enough to have to share the car with him...."windows down" was a common phrase heard over the 3 days!!

The plan was to get to Leavenworth for lunch and again we were treated to gorgeous scenery along the way......

 The town of Leavenworth struggled until 1962, when a committee was formed to transform the city into a mock Bavarian village to revitalize its economy. So it was no surprise to be greeted by this striking fellow.....

We walked into the town for a look around.....

had lunch (including cabbage for Stu which should have been banned from his diet!)...and where Stu and Ric attempted really, really bad German on the waiter....(bet he hadn't heard that before)......

and finishing up with an icecream.....

 

Leavenworth had some great shops and I couldn't believe it when we found these t shirts that summed up Stu perfectly.....

 and......

and again...(something Ric and Jen will back me up on)....Stu saw plenty of rabbits!!! This one was for Ric....

After fuelling up,

we headed towards our last night's accommodation in Winthrop.  Check out some of the sights along the way.....

A coyote in the wild...

and got to Winthrop around 4pm.  We couldn't believe our luck when we were greeted by this at our cottage.

Winthrop is located in the  Methow Valley, in north central Washington. In 1972, when State Highway 20 was nearing completion over the North Cascades, several business people began planning for travelers passing through the town. Mrs. Kathryn Wagner and her husband Otto came up with the idea of a western restoration. All of the local merchants pitched in financially and Mrs. Wagner paid the balance for the reconstruction, painting and new signs. The architect and designer was Robert Jorgenson of Leavenworth, Washington who wanted "to make the design as authentic as possible in order to preserve the spirit of the valley". The original signs were created by Chet Endrezzi....and did you know, Americas first western novel,The Virginian, was written by Owen Wister after honey-mooning in Winthrop?  Well I'll be!!

We walked into the town to check the streets out and it really was authentic....except for the cars in the street.

Real cowboys....

While we were wandering back to our cottage, Stu either told a really funny joke or bombardiered again...whatever it was it had us in fits of laughter....

We watched the sun go down......

before lighting a fire and ending a perfect couple of days with good friends.

On Monday, we had to be back in Seattle by 1pm to catch our flight and for Jen and Ric to get to the ferry, so we were up early and despite the navigator (Ric) sending us into more redneck country, we managed to find the road we were meant to be on.  

Australian humour is wonderfully unique and I have really noticed that since living here (basically, noone gets our jokes), so after being away from dinky di, true blue Aussies for so long, when you do get together, something comes over you and the Ockerisms flow. We were in fits of laughter as the "oh my gawwwwd's" and "noice" and "ooohs and aaahhhs" were in full flight as we drove through the Pass on our way to Seattle....

Did someone take a wrong turn?

Oh my gawwddd....it's bloody bewwdiful mate!!!

We got to the airport with 1/2 hr to spare and Jen and Ric returned the car for us. We had good seats and were able to see Mt Rainier emerging from the clouds as we flew beside it....pretty speccy....

It was the perfect way to end a fabulous weekend....with lots of good food, beer/wine and loads of loads of laughter...something we can all look back on with great memories when we return to Australind.
Cheers to Jen, Ric and Stu for a great weekend and we look forward to that party invite where you have to bring a plate...a Washington plate!!