Tuesday July 12, Riverbend, WA

It rained from early morning but by the time we left it had cleared and apart from a few showers we had a reasonable day weather wise, but thoroughly enjoyed the drive and the towns we passed through this morning.

Not far from camp was the town of Winthrop, an excellent case of a small town that had been close to dying in the 60’s after the mines closed. They reinvented themselves as a western town, and although it sounds tacky it in fact looks realistic with wooden side walks and all the commercial buildings in the whole town have the western theme. It really draws the crowds and we thoroughly enjoyed meandering through the town. Had a great chat with a photographer in a gallery, and we had to have a coffee and cinnamon bun at a neat outdoor café called Sherri’s. Shared the bun, but took one with us, a supper treat!

Continued south following the very pretty Methow River, with small acreages and orchards using the river for irrigation. The hills are very dry and arid, and before long came to Twisp, another small delightful town. I discovered a wonderful gallery and studio of jeweller Nancy Hubert called Peligro ( www.peligrostudio.com), who was a neat person to talk to and did some wonderful work. She also stocked other metal artists works and unfortunately I found a hand crafted watch and strap from a New York artist that I fell in love with. Will say no more!!!

Loved the rest of the drive south as we dropped down to Pateros following the river all the way until it joined the Okanogan. It reminded me so much of Central Otago with terraced irrigated orchards. We followed the scenic Route 97 north now following the Okanogan River with sage bush covered hills and found a nice little campground in Riverside, just north of Omak. I am so enjoying the bundle of fresh herbs that Sherry sent me off with, just makes such a difference to a salad.