My hubby is a Mason and he was invited to a function in Brewster, Wa and the first thing I did was to run to a map and try to find "Brewster".Brewster is mid-northern section of the state, above Wenatchee, along the Columbia River. In fact, it started as a ferry landing and was named Virginia City, although the name and purpose were both short-lived. (They actually had to move the whole town, lock-stock and hotel to a better deep-water dock a few years after the first one was developed)
Not a big town by any standards, it didn't take me long to drive through it, and the only great thing I found was a delicious Mexican Bakery that had more selection of pan dulce than I have ever seen. The smells coming out of the building made my mouth squirt and I was sorry my diet doesn't allow breads.
After Brewster the road continued north, now following the Okanagan River and I saw a sigh for the Fort Okanagan Interpretive Center and lucked out to find they were having a talk about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was presented by a Army Corp of Engineer lady who really new her stuff. I had to laugh, there was another gentleman sitting next to me and when I arrived he asked if I were a Clarky. He was certainly one and Ill bet he knew more about the Expetion than she did. (I have a book on Lewis and Clark at home and I'm going to read it again as the talk was very interesting)
(The photo above is from the site of the Interpretive Center. It is in the high-desert and as you see very deserty in the foreground and very green along the river. On the right side, the green are apple trees and if I were a betting person, I would thing there are at least a billion apple trees in this area. One man told me that lots of farmers are now switching to grapes as wine is better cash crop)
I did stop at one of the many fruit stands. The prices were excellent and I bought some beautiful blueberries that were the size of nickles and sweet as sugar.
The next town up the road was Malott, a scenic little town that was flooded by the Okanogan in 1938 when a dam broke, so most of the buildings are from that time or later.
Last stop was to the city of Okanogan. I wish I had taken some pictures because the Methodist Church faced with river cobbles and the courthouse, built in semi-Spanish style architecture were awesome. Guess we just need to go back some day.
It was a long ride home because we just didn't want to deal with the traffic or retrace our steps. so we headed to Ellensburg and Yakima and then took White Pass over the mountains. The last time I was on this section was with Dea and family when the boys were young. I didn't remember how beautiful the drive was.
