Snow, Sun and the Wild West: The North Cascade Loop

While my mum Corinne, and her partner Basil were over here in Seattle, I really wanted to give them a taste of all the different faces of Washington State. Right after the San Juan Islands trip (in fact, the very next day) we loaded ourselves into my mighty Stallion Subaru and headed east to do the famous North Cascade Loop. The North Cascade loop travels over the Cascade mountain range, through little Western-style towns like Winthrop, and then looping south to Wenatchee and Chelan, and back towards Seattle via the Bavarian style village of Leavenworth. 

Our route! Just casually doing over 400 miles in one day... yes, this is what travelling with me is like

I am familiar with the south part of the loop because of the times that I travelled to Leavenworth and Plain with my host family when they went skiing, however I had never done the top part of the loop and I was very keen to do it - especially to see Winthrop, which is a real movie-set type of Western town! It was great to be able to take Corinne and Basil to a place that I had not been either, it meant we were all experiencing something new together. 

The Cascade mountains fence in Seattle on the east side, a majestic mountain range which create many different landscapes as you drive through. There are valleys, ridges, gently curving roads undulating over hills, wild rapid rivers, dams far down below, and snow capped peaks. I had kept it a secret from Corinne and Basil about all the different terrain we would be driving through - it's always more breathtaking when you don't know what to expect (I really just said to them "tomorrow we'll do the North Cascade Loop and see Winthrop, its lovely, just trust me, see you at 9!"). Basil, being from hot hot hot Australia, was particularly taken aback by seeing the snow! He had not really seen snow up close, he loved it! In some places, the snow was still visible right up to the roadside. Other places it was just the remainder dusting the peaks left over from the big winter snow dumpings. In fact, some sections of this road are closed in winter due to the heavy snow and ice on the roads. 

After a gorgeous drive over the mountains the terrain started levelling out and we came through an area of lush green plains of farms. Not long after that we arrived in Winthrop. Winthrop had just been a regular town, until one resident in the 1970's had the idea to resurrect the 'Wild West' history of the town by redoing all the shopfronts into the fully-fledged Western theme. The whole town jumped on board and now when you enter the town, it really is like stepping back in time, just like being in a movie! There were wooden boardwalks, Saloons, and cowboy hats everywhere!

As kitsch as it might sound, the town felt very laid back and genuine, it did not feel like some fake Disneyland or something. It was actually really lovely and very enjoyable to spend time there. We ate a lovely lunch, bought cowboy hats (how could we resist?), and just generally had a good time!

As the afternoon wore on, it was soon time for us to hitch up our pony and ride out of town. We continued driving, each new leg of the journey took us through different scenery. We got to Lake Chelan in the late afternoon - it was so stunning to see!

Lake Chelan

I was so pleased that I could show Corinne and Basil the Bavarian town of Leavenworth, mainly because it simply is such a curious concept! We did not stay long, just drove through - it's enough just to see it.

We continued on and our appetites were growing. We had planned on eating dinner in Leavenworth, but none of us particularly felt like stopping in Leavenworth, so I suggested a fabulous 50's style American Diner which is a short drive out of town. We drove there, and I was mercilessly berated by my passengers because I had mistakenly thought it was nearer than it was - I told them it was a 10 minute drive when it was actually a 30 minute drive (out in the middle of the mountains where every store is so spread apart, 30 minutes feels like 10!). We finally arrived and enjoyed a lovely meal and the best milkshake in Washington. It was a good pit stop before the final leg of our journey back to Seattle.

The diner!

As we drove home, Corinne read some more of the ebook we had started in the San Juan Islands, it was a thrilling and thoroughly enjoyable way of passing the time as the light began to fade over the land. 

Well, another tick off my To-Do list, another fabulous roadtrip, another great day with Corinne and Basil! North Cascade Loop - highly recommended!