Winthrop, WA

Tuesday, October 1

(Wrapping up the last few weeks of our awesome RV road trip through the northwest USA this past fall)

Fall was in the air on the first morning of October. Our family of four plus Andi’s mom, Janie, woke up snug as a bug inside our Winnebago View RV. We’d spent the night camped at an apple orchard about 30 miles outside of Spokane, WA . Outside our RV window were rows and rows of beautiful round apple trees and a fun tire maze Tory and Aden had tried their luck on the evening before.

Inside our RV, Andi was busy preparing eggs, sausage and hash browns for breakfast while Janie, Tory and Aden played a board game at the table. We planned to drop Janie off at the airport in Spokane later that afternoon, but first we wanted to check out the apple orchard grounds. We didn’t get to explore much when we arrived around 6:00pm yesterday.

Hidden Acres Orchard, where we’d camped overnight, is a Harvest Host location — a network of wineries, breweries, farms and museums that allow RV members to camp for free. We haven’t stayed at many Harvest Host locations, but the ones we have stayed at have been truly unique experiences!

The five of us were crowded around the table eating breakfast when a tractor pulling a hay wagon full of people suddenly passed by our RV window. It was quite a surprise to see 30 people staring at us like we were on display at a museum! The farm had been so quiet that morning that we hadn’t realized bus-loads of school groups had rolled in to visit the orchard. We saw them all now, though, as flocks of children and their parents descended on the tire pit and pumpkin patch situated near the RV. We laughed because our rig was parked in the backdrop of all their cute fall photos.

Andi cleaned up breakfast while I did some school with the kids & then we bundled up in hats, coats and mittens to check out the orchard. We wanted an orchard pic with our RV in the background, too! We snapped a few and then headed toward the main building / gift shop on the property.

The five of us walked toward the gift shop and introduced ourselves to the orchard owner. I spoke to him on the phone last week when I’d called ahead to make a reservation, but he wasn’t here when we checked in last night. The owner’s wife was in a farm accident the day before, so he was a little frazzled that morning (as you can imagine!) operating the orchard while his wife was in the hospital. We thanked him for allowing us to stay on his property and asked if we’d be able to pick apples for purchase. Before we had a chance, the tractor driver invited us on the wagon to take a tour of the farm grounds.

After the hay ride, we picked apples. Normally, I would have loaded up with two big bags of apples (they’re my favorite fruit!) but we don’t have much room in the RV to store produce. We each picked a few and also bought a soup mix and some honey sticks at the check-out.

We were having so much fun on the farm that we almost lost track of time! We had to get on the road and to the airport to drop Janie off for her flight, so we headed back to the RV and packed up our things. Fortunately when we’re parked in a field, it doesn’t take long to pull in the slide, make sure countertops are clean and hit the road.

We arrived at the airport right around Noon and pulled into the cell phone/waiting parking lot to make lunch before Janie’s flight. I whipped together our go-to snack lunch consisting of deli meat and cheese, cucumbers, carrots, hummus and crackers. After we ate, we rolled over to Departures and said good-bye to Grandma Janie. It was so fun having her visit us while we traveled. The kids and I will never forget the weekend she spent with us in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho.

The four of us together again left the Spokane Airport and drove west toward Winthrop, Washington. Winthrop is known as the “gateway town” to North Cascades National Park — and our next destination. It took us about 4 hours to drive to Winthrop along Highway 2 and the scenery was not at all what Andi and I expected. The fall climate was chilly with bright skies and dry barren land. This area of Washington has similar weather to Minnesota and Wisconsin — cold, snowy winters and hot summers with little rain.

I found all the apple farms interesting to see near the town of Chelan. We saw miles and miles of apple trees along the highway and buses parked along the road which must deliver workers to and from the fields.

We arrived in Winthrop around 5:00pm and decided to stay at a KOA Campground that evening so we could shower, fill up with water and dump. The campground was practically empty. The front desk worker told Andi today was the last day the pool was open, so the kids were determined to swim once we got settled. It was chilly outside - in the high 60’s - but they were undeterred.

After swimming, Andi returned to the RV to make chicken stir fry for dinner and I walked with the kids to the shower house. This was one of the nicest showers I had ever seen at a campground and luckily, we had the whole place to ourselves. Aden and Tory took extra long hot showers before we suited up in jammies and headed back to the RV.

Tomorrow, we’ll continue on Highway 2 to North Cascades National Park.