Wenatchee National Forest

Spent a few days getting warm and dry in the eastern Cascades of Washington. Drove along the Cascade Highway and through Stevens Pass (where I went snowboarding last year, sure looks different in summer!).



Rode a motorcyle along the Wenatchee River (active verb here is "rode" not "drove" - my friend Ken was at the helm). This river flows southeast for about 50 miles until it reaches the Columbia.





Hiked up to beautiful 8-Mile Lake...



The national forest is 2 million acres! There was a forest fire here in 2005 that wasn't able to jump across the river. We hiked along the river up the the forested side and could easily see the affects of the fire on the other side.



Spent a couple of nights in the Bavarian style village of Leavenworth. The vegetarian brat wurst is actually really good! My Granny would be apalled, I'm afraid.







Rode the motorcycle out to Plain Valley...





A nice place to enjoy the sun between trips to Alaska. :)