Sedro-Woolley, Washington

 We were in a bit of a "travel mode" today.  Driving thru parts of the North Cascades NP.   It's just lovely and impressive.  Leaving Winthrop, it was dry and arid.  As we turned more westbound, the trees started to appear on the mountainsides.

Snowy peaks in the distance.  Temps yesterday were in the 80's.  Today it was 52.

 

These photos don't do justice to the grandeur.

This is Ross Lake, one of the many hydro-electric power lakes.

 

The dam.

 

And this is Diablo Lake.  Also a hydro-electric power plant.

 

They let you drive on the dam!  So I had to do that, of course.

 The view as we drove across the one lane dam.

 There was a very nice overlook area along the road for this lovely waterfall feeding the Gorge power plant.

With lovely overlooks along the path paralleling the Skagit River which feeds the Gorge powerplant.

A few miles further on the road, the actual power plant had a nice trail and waterfall.

 

The Ladder Falls were lovely and loud.  Too much for one photo though.

 

 

 

A fun suspension bridge over the Sagit River.

 

View of the Sagit River.

We stopped at the North Cascades NP Visitor center, watched the feel-good movie and had lunch.  Took a 2 mile stroll to the Skagit River.  Lovely clear water.

 And one final waterfall that is visible from the highway on the way to our stop for the night.

 

Winthrop, Washington

Last night we went into Leavenworth for a fun little meal.  We chose the Leavenworth Sausage Garten.  We got a couple of German beers and enjoyed a sandwich each with fancy German mustard.  

 

Little bit of a strange place....why is this here and why is it all German themed??  (I actually googled it....in the 1960's the local government simply decided that was a good idea to save the town from decline!)

In the morning,  we found a cool trail along the route out of Leavenworth - the Saddle Rock  trail.  Cool climb up a bare mountain to beautiful lookouts.  This is the view from the base.  Just 1.5 miles up to the top in full sun....

 

I'm going to post a bunch of photos of the view on the way up....it's just beautiful.

View down to the town of Wentachee and the Wentachee River.

Tree with roots exposed.  Not sure how it survives.

View in the other direction - so arid.

The town is large!  I've never heard of it.

Just more views as we ascended.

At the top!

On the way down, I spied another little animal.  This time, Google says its a yellow-bellied marmot.

 

Back on the road, we followed highway 97Alt which Google says is more scenic....mesmerized by the dry barren hills along the road.

 

 

Driving north, we came upon a hydro-electric power plant so stopped by to check it out.

 

 

 Very nice visitor center.

 

 

And cool fish ladder like all the power plants have. 

Scenery along the road....

 

We were interested in the apple orchards.  I guess I always thought Washington State apples were grown in lush, wet, cool forests.  Not true at all!!!  They are grown along the river and irrigated.  Note the green orchards along the bone dry mountains.

More shots from the car.

Really enjoyed the surprising beauty of the drive!