Eastern WA Weekend

May 21, 2023

Friday, Day 1

I travel to eastern Washington the middle of May so that I could help RJ of Cascade Bicycle Club check out some route options for a fall tour in the area and to ride Your Canyon For A Day that Sunday. I would be sharing an AirBnB with him and another bike friend and got a great price.

I got there a couple of hours before RJ and investigated the rental. There were three beds, a bathroom with a shower, a sitting area, a dining area and a place to prepare food with a refrigerator and microwave. It also had a Keurig coffee pot and an electric kettle for hot water. The hostess supplied oatmeal, coffee, tea, sugar and seasonings for our use.

So things wouldn’t get weird, I took one of the two single beds in a room that was between the bathroom and the rest of the unit. The queen bed was in the same room as the kitchenette and table. I gave it to RJ, thinking Elizabeth would feel more comfortable having him in a different room, even if there wasn’t a door to separate us (plus, he still had to go through our room to get to the bathroom).

After RJ arrived and he dumped his stuff, we headed off to check out the Wild Horse Wind Farm. When we got there, they were closed, so we would need to return the next day to discuss their location as a possible lunch stop for the tour. While there, we did walk around a bit and could see some lightening off in the distance.

When we returned to our AirBnB, I got a message from Elizabeth that she wasn’t going to make it until the next day.

I was just able ready to call it a night around 10pm when the renters in the other half the the house (also listed on AirBnB) showed up with their kids. They were quite noisy in spite of the hostess letting them know we would be there and to keep their voices down. I was tire, though, and soon fell asleep.

Saturday, Day 2

After a leisurely morning, we headed to Thorpe to park my car for when we returned. I loaded my bike onto RJ’s rack and we drove to Cle Elum and parked at the Palouse to Cascades trailhead (one of many along that trail).

The first part of our ride was along roads and we rode through Suncadia. I had never been to this resort (I think they have time shares) and it was quite beautiful. We rode further than we had planned and had to circle back to get on the correct road into Roslyn. We took our photo in front the the famous camel sign (used in the intro reel of the TV show Northern Exposure).

My kickstand was coming loose (again) and stopped at the bike shop in Roslyn to get it tightened. I was getting hungry, so I popped into the café and got an Italian soda and some really good garlic avocado toast.

On the return to Cle Elum, we got on the Coal Mine Trail then made our way to the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail. This trail is all gravel….from hard-packed dirt with some sprinkles of light gravel to big chunky stuff. My bike doesn’t have fork suspension, so it felt like my eyeballs were vibrating by the time we rode 18 miles back to Thorpe! We rode through two train tunnels on our route and we were behind about 75 horses and had to slow down to pass them (they were really spread out).

After getting back to Thorpe, RJ rode back to his car in Cle Elum and I headed to the AirBnB.

When I arrived, Elizabeth was there and getting settled. I kicked back to relax while waiting for RJ to return. We still needed to go back to the wind farm to talk about the fall tour.

RJ arrived and hit the shower. I had also changed clothes by this time. We then took off for the wind farm.

After the wind farm visit (which was successful), I wanted RJ to check out the lovely gardens & orchard at the Olmstead Place Historical State Park (which used to be a farm that was donated to the state). The bearded iris was in bloom but the orchard was much smaller than I remember (I think some diseased trees were removed). A mocking bird kept hollering at me because I was too close to her nest.

For dinner, we went to the Ellensburg Pasta Company where we had really good service and the food was amazing. It had been a long time since I went to a pasta restaurant that didn’t belong to a chain or wasn’t high-priced.

Later that evening at the AirBnB, the “neighbors” came home late and were noisy again. I had more trouble falling asleep and it was after midnight before I finally drifted off.

Sunday, Day 3

In the morning, I woke up early and packed up my things after eating a quick breakfast of a donut and putting on my bike kit. I then headed to the park where I would be riding through the Yakima canyon. Each year, the highway is shut down to vehicles so that bikes can ride through it. Some start in Yakima and ride to Ellensburg before returning on the same route. Others, like me, start in Ellensburg and ride to Yakima and back.

I started a few minutes before the official start time and got a jump on the other riders. It was nice and relaxing riding through the canyon without anyone else around. The scenery was beautiful and it was so peaceful. I wouldn’t want to live here, but it’s always nice for a visit.