Road-trip to Winthrop and Everything in Between
For Memorial Weekend, I totally slacked by procrastinating until 2 weeks before the weekend to book plans. I am normally a “full itinerary, months in advance” sort of gal, but my crazy life happened this year.
Nonetheless, this trip turned out to be one of my favorites. I left most of the plans up to fate and just booked one experience and the hotel.
The Drive to Winthrop
The drive to Winthrop, I went up north from the Seattle area to Arlington then went East. We stopped at the Big Four Ice Caves Hike, which is quite popular in the Summer.
The hike was short and mostly flat so my daughter had no issues walking through it. (There was still minimal complaining). It was 2.2 miles round-trip. Right of the bat, the scenery was amazing. You can see the top of the avalanche area where the caves are from the entrance to the hike.
There was a large number of people on the trail, but surprisingly more than I thought. I realized why once I reached the end of the trail. There were no caves yet! But the sight was still gorgeous. We played in the snow and adventured off the beaten path. I want to go back in the summer to see the caves.
We headed East again on Mountain Loop Highway. The road turned to dirt for quite a few miles. I was not expecting a “highway” to be a gravel road, but it added another element of adventure to our trip.
We drove north at Rockport and got onto highway 20 crossing the Washington Pass. We stopped at Diablo Lake but the weather had turned cold and we didn’t want to get out of the car for long.
That evening we drove into Winthrop and checked in to the AbbyCreek Hotel. It was fun, clean and had a lot of amenities for the price. I definitely recommend it to anyone who is considering staying.
PSA: First time using the Yeti Cooler on our trip and it is awesome!!!
We got settled, then drove downtown to walk the boardwalks of the cute touristy town. We just had to get ice cream and I had to break my gluten free diet to have the pie my boyfriend bought me. #vacationcaloriesdontcount right?
The Full Day in Winthrop
PSA: Mazama, WA has no ATM’s.
Sunday was the day we went rock climbing. Click Here to read my full report, but it was an absolute blast! I would love to go back and recommend North Cascades Mountain Guides to everyone.
Following climbing we went back to our hotel and chilled for a while. We ate some of the lunch I brought. Garlic Butter Quinoa and Veggie Nuggets. Click Here for Recipe. Then we went and laid by the pool. I am not much of a pool person. I think they are all way too cold. My daughter will usually swim in them all, but actually thought this one was too cold. They were still filling it with hoses at that point so who could blame her. I read for a while while she splashed her feet around in it.
Next we went down by the river and played croquet, but realized we were getting a bit too much sun. This resulted in a 2 hour nap and lots of relaxation in our rooms.
Once hungry enough, we went out to eat at the Methow Valley Ciderhouse. I didnt have a great experience there, so I will just leave it at that.
The Drive Home
Monday came too soon and we drove a different way home. We went south into Twisp to look for an old abandoned mine, the Alder Mine. We were unsuccessful at finding it, but hiked around the area a bit which was really nice.
When we were done with that, we drove south-west and went over Blewitt Pass. We stopped in Liberty, WA to see a local who sells rocks and antiques out of his yard. He calls himself Uncle Paul. 3 years ago my daughter and I went through there and he told us about another local that taught gold panning. We didn’t have cash, so Uncle Paul lent us $10 to go try it. We mailed him back a check for $20 a week later, and when we showed up 3 years later, he remembered us!
After that stop, we just sat in a lot of traffic the rest of the way home, but it was a fun trip indeed!