I wanted to get out and see more of Washington State this year, well I have done just a little bit of that. Last Sunday my friends Dan & Shawna invited me along on a little adventure they wanted to go on. I happily said yes and although I apparently lost the coin toss to drive, Dan was the chaeuffer for the day. I was the “navigator” although that function was actually performed by the GPS. I just took photos and watched the scenery pass me by!.
Our adventure was out over the Cascade Mountain range, out east to the Yakima Valley to go cherry picking. It is the cherry season and they are super super cheap compared to back home in Aus. After an early morning start, a quick breakfast it was time to hit the road out east on I90 for my first time over Snoqualmie Pass. The pass thankfully had not a glimpse of snow (though some of the mountains around here still do) and on the other side we made a brief roadstop at a Gas Station for some coffee and a bathroom break and then it was time to let Dan loose on “Canyon Road” so he can enjoy himself.
Canyon Road was twisty, windy and full of nice smooth bends, tight turns and lots of fun. I can see why Dan wanted to drive it and I think i got duped on the coin toss for this one reason 😉 But I will let him take the win, cause it sure was a lot of fun. Even got a nice giggle out of a guy on a motorbike in front of us.
Once into the Yakima valley we headed to a little town called Naches where we went cherry picking at “Thompsons Farm” and it was so cheap. $1.50 a pound to get out in the sun, enjoy some time with my friends, eat… i mean pick some cherries and think to myself just what I can do with them. We really had no idea what we were doing really so kind of went through testing a bunch and if they tasted good, picking them from there.
We got a pretty good haul and all three of us were set back less than $17 for all of our cherries. A true bargain. I picked up a good heap of Bing to turn into some Jam and some Rainier cherries to snack on and also share with my coworkers. It was certainly worth it. As you can see our haul was fairly decent and for what we paid it was a steal. Add on the “samples” that we had and it was a good mornings work if you ask me.
We headed out of Naches, made a brief stop at the farms market in town to take a look and headed into Yakima for some lunch. Shawna grew up in the area so she was determined to let me experience a true icon of the area, Miners. This place has that old school American burger joint written all over it and the food was good. The burgers were HUGE! and the fries were ok. The curly fries and Tater Tots (aka potato gems) were better than my fries but the show was stolen by my shake. A Peanut Butter Snickers Shake that had a fantastic ratio of goodies in the bottom of it. At the start it was so thick I couldn’t even get any of it into the straw, I had to let it melt a little. Wasn’t so bad though, got to enjoy the sunshine, friends and a fantastic lunch. What more could you want?
After lunch we hit up a few wineries to visit and I spent some time walking one of the vineyards taking photos (which I have barely even looked at mind you) and then we headed home. Traffic over the pass looked bad, so a quick decision after some checking (thank you traffic apps) we headed home the longer way via Leavenworth. This was my first introduction to Washington State’s own little piece of Bavaria. Dear god in heaven had I been consuming something? It was Bavaria everywhere!!! Every single place in town had the signs to show it! It was truely crazy. We spent some time stretching our legs after a number of hours in the car and I was enjoying the high temps (it was around the low 30s at this point).
Before long we were back on the road, this time on US 2 up and over Stevens Pass (the highest point I have now been in Washington State) before we were back down, through Snohomish county back to my house.
I had an amazing day. It was long, almost 12 hours but I would not take it back or complain at all. Pretty soon I need to get back out there and explore some more of the state. This time I get to drive but where to next? Pumpkin picking will begin in September/October so looking forward to that (though I won’t be around much of october). The snow will pick up though so that will make things interesting. Maybe head out further to at least Moses Lake, to get me some touch and go shots of all the Boeing jets using the Grant County Airport for training? Who knows, but if my friends ask me to go somewhere again. I won’t say no. They were fantastic guides, so to Dan & Shawna I say thanks for making this tourist feel a little bit more at home!
Had an amazing time! RT @bigmalx New Post.. Come Get it – Exploring my new home state: http://t.co/dQYgxzo1G0 ft @spl1011 @missousse
@bigmalx that was awesome buddy! Thank you! And yes, you (we) need to get out to Moses Lake. More amazing scenery awaits!
@bigmalx gotta make a drive across route 20, Grand Coulee dam, Winthrop (think wild west), Lake Chelan. And that’s just half of the state!
@bigmalx there’s the Olympic peninsula too!