Today we headed down into the place we are staying; Cove Palisades State Park. This is probably one of the most remarkable places we have visited in the last two years. As a matter of fact, this is the second time we have been here in the last 18 months and we don’t really do repeats in most places except TT campgrounds. This park is located a bit south of Madras, OR, and if there weren’t signs telling them where to go, most folks would miss it even passing within 500 yards. The park consists of three enormous gorges coming together where their rivers (Metolius, Crooked and Deschutes) reach a confluence in Lake Billy Chinook.
Our spin for today took us from the park’s Crooked River Campground down an enormous switchback to the east shore of the Deschutes. According to my Garmin, the lake is some 500 feet below our campground up on the edge of the gorge. The road continues along the edge of the water beneath tall cliffs composed of basalt postpiles mixed with thick layers of volcanic ash that have big chunks of lava protruding from the surfaces. A small suspension bridge takes you across to a part of the park called “The Island” which is actually the peninsula between the Crooked and Deschutes River. After some more switchbacks, the park’s Deschutes campground and 10 mph roads, another even smaller suspension bridges takes the courageous across to the peninsula between the Deschutes and Metolius River watersheds. This is truly a great drive for low speed because of the roads and the scenery.
Amazing and bizarre rock formations mixed with pine and juniper forests make for a spectacular drive. We spotted deer, two very large bald eagles, many hawks and a variety of other birds. The geology of this area is probably not similar to any other spot in the world. The vistas are spectacular and change with the lighting which changed rapidly during our drive from merely cloudy to light rain to heavy rain mixed with lightning and thunder before it started to drop soft, gooey hail and then going back to merely cloudy. It was pretty spectacular.
Our two stays here have been when the kids were in school and so we can’t comment on the conditions when the park is full but both times we have visited this place we noted the scrupulously clean restrooms with family showers available, grass camping areas with paved RV spots, 50 amp electrical hookups, gorgeous grounds with fruit and lilac trees flowering, a $28 per night fee and, strangely, the best designed and operating dump stations we have seen. Your receipt from this park can be used to avoid paying the fee at nearby Smith Rock saving another $5.
We liked this park the first time when we accidentally stumbled on it 2014 and eagerly awaited our return. Now we have been here twice, it has moved pretty far up our favorite places to go and quietly enjoy nature. This place is a keeper.
Some pix can be seen by clicking here

Today we left our trailer at Cove Palisades and drove Charlotte over to a nearby state park called Smith Rock. It is only about a 15 or 20 mile drive and we were rewarded with some gorgeous examples of the effects of lava, basalt and layers of volcanic ash coupled with the always-present ravages of erosion. In this place 15 million years ago, liquid basalt flows and layers of volcanic ash up to a half mile deep have been vertically exposed through the effects of erosion and the abrasive action of the Crooked River sawing at the bottom of the formations.
This place offers extraordinary views of massive basalt and lava pillars extending from the valley floor where the Crooked River is meandering across the landscape. Almost all the rock formations are vertical in orientation such that many rock climbers could be spotted ascending the sides of the canyon. There are numerous trails throughout the park but all of them are accessible only by descending first to the bottom of the canyon and then taking any number of paths from there. One trail leads up a circuitous path and through many switchbacks to the top of the rocks on the other side of the park from the parking areas.
Peggy and I descended a very short way down our side of the canyon before deciding we were unprepared for a long walk further down, up one of the trails and then back down before the steep trudge up to where we started. Instead, we found a wonderful shady spot where we could see the entire park and watch the very fit drop into the gorge and scamper up the trails on the other side. From our vantage point we could watch as the athletic and sturdy types bailed over the edge and then ascended up trails on the other side of the park. One girl with skinny legs passed by us on the way down, was sighted part way up the other side of the canyon in about 10 minutes and was visible cresting the other side in about 25 minutes. On steep uphill sections we could see her almost trotting up the 20% grades. I was in pretty good shape back in the day but I do not think I could ever have matched her exhibition of power and stamina. The girl was back in the parking lot before we departed. Amazing.
The rock in the park comes in numerous textures and colors in this magic place. I’m not advocating breaking the unreasonable vice laws of this country but this place would be almost magical on acid. The colors, patterns and textures at this place are extraordinary and even old farts without the benefits of psychedelic drugs should find it amazing.
Some pix can be seen by clicking here

Columbia Sun RV Resort in Kennewick was a very well-kept park with level trailer spaces that had little grass strips between them, wi-fi that was exceptionally fast, full hookups, a friendly staff, excellent roads, a beautiful pool, a well-stocked store and a great lodge. Unfortunately, it is located right next to a road used extensively by trucks that utilize unmuffled exhaust braking on one side and railroad tracks on the other. Early this morning we were awakened by a flurry of trucks going to work that were proceeding downhill and running their Jake brakes. The exhaust braking noise was periodically interrupted by the two longs, a short and a long blasts from locomotives passing the nearby grade crossings.
We departed this land of early morning racket and headed further down the Columbia River, crossing the river and the state line at Umatilla, Oregon. We then took I-84 to the point across the river from Maryhill Museum and turned south on US-97, entitled the Dalles – California highway. As we continued south, we were treated to crystal-clear views of St. Helens in Washington along with Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson and the Three Sisters west of us. They are all dormant or mostly dormant volcanoes and all of them were blanketed with snow. We passed through the ancient town of Moro, the almost-town of Shaniko and continued on through Madras, OR, where we got off 97 and headed for an Oregon state park called Cove Palisades.
We stayed at this park in 2014 and were delighted to return. Cove Palisades encompasses some gigantic gorges where the Crooked, Metolius and Deschutes rivers come together. The campground is near the top rim of the canyon and those foolish enough to step over the edge would soon find themselves bouncing once or twice before landing in the rivers several hundred feet below. The two stratovolcanoes, Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson, are the primary features of the western horizon. They are spectacular.
It was a pretty long drive for us to get here – about 4.5 hours. That is about as far as we want to go in one day when pulling the trailer due to our self-imposed rule against long drives when scheduling is not a constraint. We were delighted to arrive at this favorite of ours and we took the rest of the afternoon off so we could drink and loaf.
Some pix of the Gorge can be seen by clicking here

It was a travel day today so we packed up our stuff and departed from Leavenworth RV Resort. We took the long way back to WA-2 because the short way through an area called Chumstick has steep hills, frightening curves and some interesting sections where the road seems to have fallen off a cliff. The Chumstick area also has gorgeous views so we liked driving it but not with a 34′ trailer attached to the back of our truck.
Fortunately, the easy way out took us down Tumwater Canyon again and it is hard to be disappointed with the views along this spectacular section of road. We passed through Leavenworth, Cashmere and Wenatchee before turning south on WA-28. This is a gorgeous road that runs alongside the Columbia River through apple orchards and some spectacular cliffs. The Columbia River Gorge is very scenic even this far up river from the Pacific Ocean.
In the town of Quincy we turned off WA-28 onto WA-281 which took us to I-90 westbound for about 10 miles. We then turned south again on WA-243 which is perhaps the road with the worst paved surface in the entire state. Smoothness was apparently not one of the requirements during the contract to build this road and many little items in our trailer rearranged themselves as we passed over it. The scenery is pretty good along this stretch and there is a particularly gorgeous but unforgiving set of curves where the road has an abrupt dropoff to the river below on one side and postpile rock cliffs on the other.
After about 20 miles skirting the Columbia, we crossed the river on WA-24 for a short time before continuing south on WA-240 to through an area called Hanford Reach to Richland. After that, I am not too sure what roads we took because it seems we turned every which way before Peggy, through superb navigation, got us right to the door of the Columbia Sun RV Resort. A nice guy named Al led us to our spot, backed us in and cut us loose. This park has nicely sized spots, wi-fi, full hookups but has a fairly busy road running right behind our space. We are not aware of too much nature stuff to see in Kennewick so we will probably be on our way tomorrow. The drive here was very scenic but that does not necessarily mean this place has any of it.
There’s a few pix if you click here

Today is our last full day in this part of Washington and we elected to take lunch to Peggy’s nephew, Ian, and his family because they have generously decided to welcome us to their home for the last five days. We are not particularly imaginative so we took over a load of bratwurst and fixings for fruit salad for lunch. Ian barbecued the brats and we all devoured them while playing with Ani and hobnobbing with Bree.
We bailed from their place about 3:00 and returned to our campground so I could do fascinating stuff like dumping the waste tanks. Readers will certainly be uninterested in the fine points of sewage so I will cut it short here.

We woke up this morning to a gorgeous, clear day. After virtually no deliberation, we decided to go exploring. Our journey started with a second trip to Lake Wenatchee because the weather was different than the last time we were here a couple days ago. Sure enough; the lake and surrounding mountains look different in different lighting but either way the vistas here are breathtaking. We checked out the state campground here but it seems unlikely we will ever stay in this great spot because we have a great spot about 8 miles away in the Thousand Trails Leavenworth RV Resort.
We departed the lake after a bit and drove a few miles south to WA-2 where we headed down Tumwater Canyon through which the road and the Wenatchee River share the skinny bottom of the gorge. There is a tremendous amount of water moving down the river here and it makes for about 8 miles of spectacular rapids and cataracts right next to and in plain view of the highway. If you fall in the river here, you may soon find yourself in Cashmere about 20 miles downstream.
Tumwater Canyon runs right down to the edge of Leavenworth and almost as soon as you pass the town’s nifty welcome sign there is a turn to the south that will lead you up Icicle Creek and the gorgeous canyon it runs through. Near town are some residences that follow the architectural look of Leavenworth (probably at great expense) before the road turns northwest and heads up the canyon. The canyon is absolutely spectacular; raging rapids, pine forests, hillsides covered with large yellow flowers, snow-covered peaks in the distance. Although we had to turn around after ten miles due to road closure, we still required about 3 hours to make our way through this magnificent canyon. This drive is comparable to some of the other top ten rides we have taken in the last two years; Yosemite Valley floor, Highway 12 in Colorado and the Blue Ridge Parkway are in the same class.
Late in the afternoon we finally emerged back in Leavenworth and we turned east on WA-2 again for the drive of 10 miles to Cashmere. We met Peggy’s nephew, Ian, and Bree, his spouse, along with their fascinating kid, Ani, in a brew pub called Milepost 111. The porter here is good and my fish and chips were good, too.
Peggy and I figured we would not be able to make today any better through more fun so we drove back up to our campground and called it a day.
There are some pix of this gorgeous drive if you click here

We started the day by taking a vote on going out to breakfast and home cooking lost. We took the beautiful drive from our campground north of Plain down to Leavenworth where we stopped in at a restaurant named Louis’s. I tried the chicken fried steak and Peggy got the Monte Cristo sannitch. My chicken fried steak was not very large but was certainly adequate and the sausage gravy they applied was great. I can state for a fact that Peggy’s Monte Cristo was good because I ate the 3/8 of it remaining after she crapped out. I also got a side bratwurst and it was pretty good, too. Cost was reasonable.
After we ate, we drove down the Wenatchee River to Cashmere where Peggy’s nephew, his spouse and their daughter live. There we met Peggy’s sister who was filling in as primary caregiver for the kiddo while mom got a short break to perform pesky chores. Peg’s nephew has gone to John Day, OR, for a few days for some training associated with trying to keep all us dummies from being incinerated each summer.
A couple hours of banter later, we departed and drove into the completely unremarkable town of Wenatchee where we stopped in at the local visitor information center. From there we were directed to a bookstore so we could acquire DeLorme maps of Washington and Idaho. These maps have ALL the roads on them, not just main highways like our road atlas. It took very little time to determine that there was not much to interest us in the town of Wenatchee but almost everything visible around it is quite stunning. The Wenatchee and Columbia Rivers have a confluence in Wenatchee and driving up either is a treat.
We selected to drive up the Columbia today, going up the north shore as far as Lake Chelan. The terrain adjacent to the Columbia is markedly different than up the Wenatchee. The Columbia passes through a deep gorge with gigantic rock bluffs on the north side and a skinny farming strip along the south shore. About 5 miles up river from Wenatchee is the small Rocky Reach Dam which was open for business and releasing quite a bit of water. Behind the dam is Lake Entiat which is actually the backed-up Columbia. The river still looks like a big, calm, linear lake where we crossed from the north shore to the south shore near Chelan. From there we drove back down the south shore to Wenatchee and up the Wenatchee River to our camp above Plain. We took the slow way from Leavenworth to Plain on Chumstick Creek Road which is very curvy but the scenery is fantastic. The balsam root plants are happily blooming and entire hillsides are covered with vibrant yellow flowers.
This part of the world is very scenic as long as you stay out of the city of Wenatchee. Abundant water is charging down creeks, waterfalls and rivers almost wherever you look. Deer and birds lounge in emerald green pastures. Even the estates of the rich out here are gorgeous outside and may even be nice inside as long as the residents are not home.
There’s some pix if you click here

We awakened this morning to some dull thud noises coming from our trailer roof. We pulled back the blinds and found that, contrary to all the expert weather forecasts we could get last night, it was all white with snow outside. Everything we could see was covered with a couple inches of snow and the snow kept coming down until about 10:00 AM. After a little lull in the inaction, a bit of rain fell before the skies cleared up at about 2:30 PM.
We enjoyed our forced isolation by texting and calling friends and family before Peggy got down to business and finished the dreaded taxes. The always-benevolent IRS only wanted about $1200 more than we had withheld and the Franchise Tax Board in California only extorted about $237. It is fortunate that we live a frugal lifestyle or paying these bloodsuckers might empty the entire fund of our unearned cash assets.
Once the snow on the roads melts, we will mosey down into Leavenworth and send our tax forms, vouchers and personal checks to the undeserving for their unreasonable uses. At least the IRS and FTB fun for this year is over, thanks to Peggy’s diligent work and my pension fund.
Since the weather has defied the experts and is turning nice, maybe we will go meet Peg’s relatives in Leavenworth for some chow.
There’s a couple pix if you click here

We originally figured we were going to do mundane, routine chores like blog writing, laundry and tax form preparation but we were thankfully rescued from this stuff by Ian, Peggy’s nephew, stopping by our campground and offering us alternatives to boredom. His mom and Peggy’s sister, Tonie, also texted us that she was headed this way from her place on Whidbey Island over in Puget Sound. She is just delighted with Ian’s baby daughter, Ani, and misses few chances to visit her.
We piled into our truck with Ian doing the navigating for a short trip to Lake Wenatchee which was not ten miles from where we are camped. Lake Wenatchee is the source of the Wenatchee River which we followed through the gorge on our way home from dining in Leavenworth last night. It is a relatively small lake and one can see the other shore across the water but it is surrounded by very steep, snow-covered mountains and it is quite a striking view from the state park at the east end. We bought a Washington State Parks yearly pass in the parking lot because we believe we will be visiting some other state parks while in this section of the north central part of this pretty state.
We were sitting along the shore chatting when we got a phone call from Ian’s mom who had already covered the distance from Langley to our campground. We rolled back over to the campground where we all got to chat a while before Ian and Tonie went on to take care of their bizz and we were sent back to our boring taxes and laundry.
Some photos are available by clicking here

Our new glasses had arrived at the Woodinville Costco so this morning we took the half hour drive over there to get our new specs before returning and loading up our stuff for departure. We pulled out of Monroe at about 11:30 and turned east on scenic WA-20 for the trip over Stevens Pass to Leavenworth.
The first thirty miles were pretty flat as we followed the Skykomish River into the Cascades but once we got close to Stevens Pass, the road got pretty steep and we did the last 5 or 6 miles at about 40 miles per hour while pulling our large trailer. As usual, our Charlotte performed admirably and soon we were at the top and starting the long decline into Leavenworth.
The scenery on both sides of the pass is magnificent. The east (downhill) side is markedly different than the west side. The west side has fir trees and heavy brush, the east has pines with little forest floor vegetation. The east side has more exposed rock mountain surfaces and it is pretty plain that the earth is still making changes in this part of the world. After dropping from 4000 foot elevation at the pass to about 2000 foot elevation, we turned north on WA-207 for about 10 miles to Leavenworth RV Resort, another Thousand Trails facility situated about 8 miles as the crow flies or about 20 miles by road from Leavenworth. Leavenworth RV Resort has full hookups, a big lodge with wi-fi, a store, a laundry and pools, all surrounded by mountain views and tall pines.
Peggy’s nephew, Ian, lives in Cashmere near Leavenworth so we called him and he suggested we meet at a restaurant named Munchin Haus in Leavenworth for dinner. About 5:00 PM we departed the campground and drove into Leavenworth which is a gorgeous little town done up in a German alpine village motif. All the businesses are located in nice Bavarian style buildings throughout the whole town. Even McDonald’s looks like it is from Munich.
Once we arrived at the restaurant we encountered Ian and his wife, Bree, along with their baby daughter, Ani. We had never met Bree nor Ani before but we were delighted with the results. Bree is a federal firefighter (as is Ian) and she is sharp as a tack in addition to being gorgeous. Ani was sitting next to me at dinner and, initially, was concerned that I was a funny-looking stranger with a deep voice and she spent some time giving me the fish eye before deciding it was possible I was okay. She was a very sweet kid during our dinner only making noises indicating she was comfortable and happy.
The restaurant was just the kind of place Peg and I like; outdoor dining in a place with an assortment of sausage and wurst to choose from in addition to great beers on tap. The food was excellent as was the beer. The prices are very reasonable, particularly because Ian picked up the food tab using the excuse that we had fed him when he came to visit us in San Diego in the past. I don’t remember being particularly generous but it was great that he paid.
We drove home after dinner via a route Ian suggested up Tumwater Canyon. He was correct – the drive alongside the Wanatchee River passing through this basalt canyon is truly gorgeous and we will be passing down this way again during our six days here in this remarkably scenic section of this stunning state. Six days here may be insufficient to see all the exquisite scenery around this area.
There is a couple pictures if you click here