Dry Falls

Riding by the Columbia River

Dry Falls, Washington

Day 4: We were actually out of bed, packed, had breakfast, and on the road before 7am. Our goal today was Lake Chelan. So, in order for us to get to our beautiful room overlooking the lake, we had to move early and move fast. Apparently Lake Chelan is to some folks (a lot) in Washington what Lake Tahoe is to some people in California. I noticed as we rode along that the entire first hour of our drive we were in hay country. And most of the second hour and some of the third. Oh, we left Idaho behind and the farming community in Washington. Here's the thing... hay farming is fascinating. We must have seen over 5,000,000 acres of hay. The hay fields extended so far back that we could not see the end of them. Paved roads were put in so trucks could drive down to get to the backs of the fields. Now, you Americans define deserts as either long stretches of land with strange green stringy plants, or maybe hills with the same weird plants. Those of us who have seen the Sahara know that deserts are made from beautiful white sand. But I prevaricate. The farmers attack these grizzly hills, tame them, and plant hay. Somewhere along the line they have to go fallow to allow the ground to rejuvenate. So as you drive by you see hay, cut fields, and brown areas. The amazing result is millions of acres of golden hay. And questions. Who cuts it all? Who eats it? Who owns the farms? Do they keep spreading? We then had the wonderful pleasure of riding along Lake Soap. Wow. We were really blown away by how powerfully we were both touched by the remarkable wonder of the whole setting. The lake, which seemed more like a river, was surrounded by giant columns of rocks similar to those in Southern Utah. Fabulous. Later we were racing to get by a slow RV when we caught sight of a gigantic hole in the ground. It turns out that Washington has been hiding some pretty cool stuff. The hole is called Dry Falls and in its day it was 400 larger then Niagra Falls. That was before the Ice Age stole its water and left some sizable puddles in the bottom. It was pretty amazing too. We were glad we stopped. Now, up at 7:00, stopped for gas, stopped for George, stopped for the big hole. Finally roll into Lake Chelan about 1:00. More on riding on the back of a motorcycle for a vacation some other time. We check into the Best Western, and sure enough we get a beautiful room. The funny thing is, we always get handicap rooms. I think it's because I mention we are AARP members. Jeez. So now there is some creepy wooden chair in our shower that I wouldn't sit on if I fell. And they always give you a hand held shower head....which I find really creepy too. All in all it has been a wonderful day. We had a lovely lunch and a delicious dinner. George is snoring next to me. Writing on the IPad is very challenging. I am certain there are many errors, but is no way to go backwards on here so I don't. Thank you all for your wonderful comments. It is so reassuring to here from friends when you are so far away. I wish you all a good night from sweet Lake Chalin. Jenson and George