North Cascades Weekend

Our adventures this weekend took us up into the mountains, where the three of us explored one of the most beautiful roads in the country: SR-20, the North Cascades Highway.

My transportation for the weekend was of the two-wheeled variety: an 1100cc Honda Shadow ACE. The girls rode in the car ahead of me.

We struggled to make it out of the city on Friday afternoon with the traffic--I-5 was a parking lot--so we ended up taking some very scenic backroads through a series of small logging towns on our way up to Rockport. This town, along the Skagit river, is a prime spot to see bald eagles eating salmon in winter (our last visit was in January).

Dinner was at the Skagit River Resort near Rockport, where Nora got to chase dozens of rabbits that roam around the yard.

We then secured a spot to sleep. Most of the campsites in the North Cascades National Park are first-come, first-serve. We were able to take our pick of really nice campsites without making a reservation. We ended up in Newhalem Creek, in a site within earshot of the river.

Saturday we drove east to Winthrop and back. We saw some really spectacular sights: Diablo Lake and the Skagit River are a beautiful jade color, and the mountains all around us were really impressive. There was even some snow on the side of the road as we reached the pass, despite temperatures in the 80s. Descending down into the Methow Valley, the temperature rose another 20 degrees...making Winthrop feel that much more like an old dusty cowboy town.

That evening we made s'mores. Nora became quite upset when we suggested that she take her prized little piece of chocolate and put it in with the marshmallow and graham cracker. Apparently chocolate, like a good steak, is a delicacy that is enjoyed best when served by itself.

Nora and I also went for a short hike down along the river. She chatted away for the duration of our walk, telling me that she was going to be in Auntie Nessa's wedding, and that she would be nice to her brother and give him lots of kisses. She also mentioned that he was in Mommy's tummy now but would soon "come out her bagina".

We returned back to the house this afternoon and are just now finally unpacking from the odyssey of the past three weeks. All of the pictures we took are available on flickr. Enjoy!