CHELAN ADVENTURE - LAKE ANTILON

Last week we had our first visitors from San Francisco.  Our friends Eddie and Noreen are avid birders and naturalists and had flown to Seattle and rented a car to drive to Wapato Point at Lake Chelan.  We were lucky that their route took them right by our house so we had a really nice visit with them at the beginning of their trip.  Today Jim and I drove over to Manson, on the east side of Lake Chelan, to visit them on their last day before heading on over the North Cascades Highway, and then back to San Francisco in a few more days. 

We had a lovely day for it - partly sunny and not too cold.  The trip started out well when we saw this only a few miles up highway 97 from Cle Elum:

Of course I had to stop and take a photo.  Then, only a few miles farther on, the car in front of us slowed, then stopped on the highway.  There was a family of White Tailed Deer ambling across the road.  My photo is not great, but you get the idea.

It was fun to go over Blewett Pass again and relive other trips from the past.   It's amazing how much drier it is once over that pass -  pine trees with little undergrowth.  Here in Cle Elum we have lots of firs and cedars, as well as low undergrowth.  The rest of our trip was uneventful and we arrived in the town of Manson in time to have a wonderful home made Chantrelle soup with Eddie and Noreen at their condo.

After lunch they drove us up to Antilon Lake which was deserted except for the four of us.  This is why I love the Northwest...a spot as gorgeous as this and no one there.

It was so quiet that we could hear quite a few different birds which Eddie and Noreen were able to identify by their songs.  We only caught glimpses of some of them but that was ok because the scenery was so stunning already.

Here's Noreen capturing the beauty of the place

Eddie stalking the wildlife

and Jim contemplating the solitude.

Although we didn't see the birds we came for we did have exciting (to me) animal finds.  Noreen found several deer hides and this somewhat dessicated coyote with really nice teeth.  Having hauled home a coyote road kill in the past I decided to leave him returning to nature.

Later Noreen also found a bunch of what she thought were pheasant wings but I think we concluded they were actually grouse.  And who would have thought that on the first of November ANYTHING would be blooming in the Northwest?

This reminded us all of apple blossoms but we don't really know what it was.  The bush it was on also had leaves budding out.  That was one confused bush and it will be sorry in a few days when a heavy frost hits.

Good friends

Good times

Good views

Grand Day Out.

Audrey

HALLOWEEN, CLE ELUM STYLE

Dear friends,

Lots has happened since my last blog 10 months ago.  I retired after nearly 29 years of Federal Service and we immediately packed up and left Santa Rosa.  Jim and I are now living back in Washington State in the little town of Cle Elum, just over Snoqualamie pass from Seattle.  We are on the DRY and SUNNY side of the mountains.  Also the COLD side of the mountains, in this season. 

We were told to expect 100-200 trick or treaters so we bucked up and bought some candy, as well as readying our new house for little visitors.

We had read in the paper that there would be a Halloween parade in downtown Cle Elum so we put our coats on and walked two blocks down to Pennsylvania Avenue which was the staging area.  I was amazed at how many people turned out.  I told Jim I felt like we were back in Cuenca for the Christmas Eve children's parade. 

There were some pretty cute kids...and dogs - notice the dog in the pharaoh costume!

Leopard girl!

Everyone was standing around waiting for the parade to start.  Mind you, there were no spectators - everyone was waiting to march in the parade.

This also included the sheriff, who was tastefully attired in his uniform...with "blood" all over his face and shirt.  I really, really wanted to photograph him but sort of felt that wouldn't be good.   Instead I got a photo of this adorable devil-angel girl... 

and this chicken girl.

Finally the fire truck started forward and everyone followed onto 1st Avenue.

It was fun to have the main street in town blocked off.  I turned around and this was what I saw.

This was about when I really wished I had worn something heavier than my windbreaker!  A cold wind was blowing and it felt colder than 40 degrees F.  This did not dampen anyone's spirit.  The kids were really motivated as the businesses along 1st Avenue were handing out candy.  The parade pretty much dispersed as soon as people reached these businesses (this was roughly 5 minutes after the parade started) but there was still plenty to see, like this adorable horse girl.

And this amazing scary-mobile, which was driven by a Mad Max kind of character in a mohawk and long flowing robes.

And did I mention there were LOTS of dogs in costumes?

We headed back home shortly after the parade started to turn into a chaotic mess of kids lining up for candy.  We wanted to get ready for the onslaught.  We had set up luminarias in the yard in addition to our skeleton and pumpkin lights.  We learned about luminarias when we lived in the Southwest.  Sometimes they are also called farolitos or "little lighthouses."  These are all over the square in Santa Fe in the wintertime creating a lovely sight in the snow.  We make ours simply by taking a brown paper lunch bag and putting a few inches of sand in the bottom, then lighting a votive inside.  This creates a really nice glow. 

We were ready with 100 Halloween pencils for the little kids and 120 Mike and Ike candies for the older kids.  It's so fun to hear the little kids walking away and exclaiming gleefully, "Mom!  I got a PENCIL!!" Once they started coming we had a steady stream and more cars going up and down our street than we normally see in a week.  When it was all over we had a handful of pencils left and just a few candies.

So, we not only survived but enjoyed our first Halloween in our new town.  We know what to expect for next year and we'll be ready.

Audrey


Next - Lake Chelan Adventure