Thursday, our Last Day on our Anniversary Trip .

We had such great memories of Twisp when we were there in 2016.  We decided to go again.  Twisp is about 15 miles from Winthrop.  This was a bakery we went to in 2016.  Mike had a huge cinnamon roll. No more cinnamon rolls but they did have cinnamon twists.  We both passed on having a twist. There was really nothing else to look at or to do in Twisp.  The reason it was so fun last time was because it was the 4th of July.  A parade and streets filled with people.  We sort of forgot about that.  We didn't stay long.  

We did go to a grocery store.  Franks was the name of the store.  Frank sold it to Rosauers.  I had never seen so many animals in a grocery store or anywhere for that matter.  There had to be over 40 animals of all different kinds. Yes, that is a lion!

I learned later that the previous owner of the store, Frank, hunted every one of these animals.  He even went on African Safaris.  I didn't take picture of everything obviously.  Hopefully, Rosauers won't take them down.  They are a part of the history of the area.  

I finished of the day with a short walk over the suspension bridge right by the inn we were staying in. 

Not sure what that door leads to but I didn't investigate.  

That's all for our 25th anniversary trip to Winthrop and the North Cascades Loop in Washington!  We had a good time and it was very relaxing.  We met a great couple from England at breakfast one morning.  We talked to them about our faith and they shared the same with us. It was a divine encounter.  Thank you Jesus!  

 

Road trip along the North Cascades Highway.  Our first stop was Mazama.  I wouldn't call it a town, more like an area.  There is a great bike/hiking trail that goes through Mazama.  There was a big store with all kinds of things in it.  Food, clothes, etc. There was also a sports store where you could rent bikes or pay a lot of money for sporting clothes.  Maybe there are houses somewhere but this was our second visit to Mazama and we have seen no houses.  Of course we didn't go exploring.  

The outside of the store had a coffee shop. 

This is the rode we came in on.  We are on our way out in this picture.  

Here we go.  Majestic mountains as far as you can see. 

Notice how small the cars are at the bottom right of the picture.  

This highway is long and windy.  I am standing on the edge of a cliff basically.  See the rocks.  I did not get close enough to look over the edge.  Those rocks might not be stable. You can see the road in the distance. 

A waterfall trickled down this mountain. 

Mike is in his element.  Looking for wildlife. 

We stopped at a overlook.  There was a nice path that headed to some great scenery.  

I circled the cars on the road below the mountain.  These mountains are huge.

We were looking for a Diablo Lake that we had visited in 2016.  The color of the lake is green and it is surrounded by beautiful forest.  We couldn't remember the name of the lake so we never found it.  When we got back to Winthrop I searched green lake in North Cascades.  Diablo came up, and we found it on a map.  We didn't go up far enough on the highway.

Dinner was next.  We went to a local restaurant.  Great food and we were being watched the whole time by animals.  

We needed to walk off dinner and found a trail close by.  

We both looked at this picture and said, "Boy we look old!" Ha!

We walked a couple of miles on this nice trail.  It was a great way to end the evening.  God's creation is amazing and glorious!  We love being in the creation God made for us.

North Cascades Vacation July 3, 2016

Let's plan our vacation talk started in January.  Lots of talk but no action.  Finally, we got it done.  Let's go to the mountains and let's stay close to home.  I got it! The North Cascades National Park.  Great idea and the plans began.  Our home base was Winthrop, Washington.  Mike had never been to Winthrop.  Hard to believe because he grew up in Washington.  A small western tourist town with lots of things to do! 

We stayed at the Chewuch Inn.  Great place to stay.  

 We got a late start leaving Spokane which is no surprise.  We arrived in Winthrop around dinnertime.  We rode our bikes on a nice trail into town.  Maybe about 1/2 mile ride.

 Here we go!

 Deer everywhere!!!

 Over the Chewuch River and into town for dinner and some site seeing!

 Down the main street Mike goes!

 I took a few pictures of this western town before we ate!

 Everything sweet here! The hot spot.

 And here we are sticking our heads through holes to make us look totally different!

 The recycle bin!

 Dinnertime.  As we walked into Three Fingered Jack's a couple was walking out and said the wait for food was long but it was worth it.  It was a long wait but the food was good.  We had dinner here another night and the wait wasn't long at all.

Here is the story about how Jack's got its name. Poor Jack!  

We had a nice dinner together!  

 Another one on the bike ride home.

 Back to the cabin to get ready for the 4th of July festivities!