Transition

The remainder of Sunday, and Monday 8/3 and 8/4/2014

By mid morning on Sunday, we were on the road with no particular destination in mind, but a peice of worry on our brain. There are more fires and we are not sure how that will affect the remainder of our trip. For now, while here we will hide in denial.

We drove along, enjoying the scenery of an area I have rarely been to, and made a few small lake stops for Susan to cast in a line. Conconully is a town I have never been to, though had friends, years ago, that would come to often for a getaway. Susan came here with her family a few times but has only some recolection of it. With the high heat, we grabbed a cabin at the state park -- not cheap, but air conditioned.

KOA type cabins at the Conconully State Park

Many of the small towns we have been to over here (Oroville, Conconully, Omak) have great outdoor activity and scenery, but the towns themselves do not offer much. They are simply out west towns with basics like a feed store, a hotel or two, a small grocery store, and maybe a tumble down cafe. Omak is a little bigger than that, but you need to get to its outskirts, and then it is a bit hustle and bustle traffic. Also -- Omak is the home of the "Stampede" which is being held next weekend, so hotels are already filling up for the pre-festivities.

The "resorts" along the lake in Conconully, and all the other little lakes we investigated, are crowded with RVs encroaching upon each other, sandy or grass bare tent spots, if any, and little in the way of lake access. The title of Resort is a stretch. The best place in Conconully is the state park.

Deer are abundant in Conconully and never fear the people. They roam the park grounds in families of several.

Once encamped in the cabin we realized that we both were a bit drained and happy for an early stop for the day. Earlier we each had thoughts of wanting to drive directly home. We cannot do that as we have hotel reservations in Winthrop that cannot be canceled, and we are meeting our biking friends there for a weekend of fun. This stop gave us a second wind, affording us a more positive outlook on the remainder of our vacation.

On the ranger's recommendation, we walked up to the Sit 'n Bull tavern for dinner. Afterward we roamed around the small local park, taking time to read all the posters with photos from 1903-07 taken by a man from Japan in those years. Apparently he being a photographer, came here for that express reason. The Park is a memorial to him. Interesting to let my mind wander and wonder about how or why someone from Japan would come to this (at the time) remote town to take photos for recorded history.

A drive out the dirt road to see the National Forest campground, and the place where Susan and her family camped when she was a young girl, completed our visit to Conconully, and we had now seen it all.

Next morning we continued our route to Omak and abutting town of Okanogan where we spent the night. Basically relaxing in our hotel room, reading, watching a movie and enjoying (once again) the air conditioning. An uneventful day of driving, exploring and being inactive!!

 

Posted with Blogsy