Friday, September 09, 2005

Lake Wenatchee Weekend

Another weekend and another mini adventure. This time we are traveling to Lake Wenatchee State Park to visit Leavenworth and watch the NICOP crew run in the Challenge the Lake Adventure Race. We loaded up the dog and took off at about 4:00 PM on Friday. We had several printouts describing where we would be going, but I didn't toss in a driving map. As we neared Wenatchee, we started to be a little concerned because all the printouts said was turn off Highway 2 and go north. Where was Highway 2? After much debate Linda reread the info sheets and there it was a little phrase, but an important one. It said, "Coming from Wenachee going west". Oh, west of Wenachee we would find Highway 2! So we were looking too early! Yup, we found the Highway and then the turn and finally the campground. It pays to read everything.

We set up camp at campsite 74. It was a good one that had quite a bit of privacy. We had stopped in town at a Bavarian SUBWAY and bought sandwiches. Couldn't taste any difference from non-Bavarian SUBWAYs, but they hit the spot for our evening meal.

We went to bed at about 9:00PM read and fell asleep to the rain on the top of the camper. It is a nice sound and makes it real hard to keep your eyes open while you read. Next morning we got up and looked around the campgrounds. It's a real big place with quite a few things for people to do during the camping season. This weekend everything was closed, so we did a nice long hike. Later in the day we took a ride to the north campground and checked it out. The south campground is much nicer, but probably gets a lot more use. After the ride we came back and took a nap, cooked dinner and ate.

By that time it was getting dusk so we went for another walk. Just as we came to the main road at the campgrounds the Outdoor Pursuits Adventure Race Team showed up. They found a spot and we chatted for a bit. They got ready for bed but before they turned in they came over and brought some cake. It was Rachel's birthday so we were able to enjoy some of her cake and wish her happy birthday.

The next morning was the race. We met the team down at the beach and watched them prepare. They hadn't trained together at all and I don't think Paul or Jon had trained any personally. There was a good crowd so I think they were a little excited to get it all over with. They were in the race because they had won their division last year and were invaded back at not entry fee. It's a fun event and participating gives us some good ideas for our event in the spring.

The race began and I took pictures of the start, kayak leg and the transition to Mt. Bike. The total race would take about four hours and Linda and I didn't want to stay all that time so as soon as they left on the bikes we returned to our campsite and packed up. On the drive home we followed Highway 2 back through some smaller towns like Davenport. Wasn't eventful, we did see a coyote running along the road. Got a good look before he rambled into the sage.

The OP Team took first in their division and 3rd overall. Should have had second, but they had a little problem with the last challenge and one team passed them.

Sunday, September 04, 2005

Cd'A River Camping

Headed up to the
14 mile camp
for the weekend. The camp area was looking good, a little dusty but at least the trash had been picked up. We had our usual chili and Fritos for Friday night and then made a pasta meal on Saturday. Fished and hiked and on Saturday evening we spotted a little bear about a quarter mile up river on the far bank. It was trying to climb up a little tree to eat something but the limbs of the tree kept breaking and it finally moved off into the woods. We got up and put things away and headed into town. Monday we plan to go shopping.