family adventure weekend | Day 3: Exploring Stehekin

Saturday morning began with a quick sugar fix in the bakery. What day that starts with fresh-from-the-oven pastries, isn't great? Patrick was so glad to get a good cup of coffee, too. I packed my french press, but had neglected to bring cream and sugar. Patrick's not exactly a straight-up coffee kind of guy, in fact, he hated coffee for the first eight years I knew him. I was persistent, though, and eventually he gave in to the power of the bean.


While we were at the bakery, we asked the owner for some hiking suggestions. We were looking for something simple and easy so that we wouldn't have to endure "I'm tired!!" complaints from a certain young boy. He suggested the Imus Creek Trail, a short, one mile loop with a few creeks and bridges. Sounded good, so we packed a picnic lunch, and with Tula buckled into the Ergo on my back, we set off for our adventure.



The first portion of the trail was really nice—not too steep, wide trail, and a quaint little bridge to cross. We continued up the mountain and before we knew it, the trail had become a narrow path about 18" at the widest point, with about an 80 foot drop on the side. We were already about a third of the way to the end and Alden had his heart set on finishing the hike. We finally decided to proceed, with the stipulation that Alden would allow Patrick to hang on to the back of his shirt for the remainder of the hike. Pictures will never do justice to how steep the trail was (in fact, we only stopped to take pictures on the wider, safer sections), especially for a four-year-old, who not less than a day ago had tripped and face-planted walking across a wood deck. It wasn't a strenuous climb—just a long walk along the side of the mountain.


The view was spectacular and I'm so glad now that we didn't turn around. Alden did great, and didn't complain once. I never would have guessed that he would love hiking so much, but he's been asking to go again everyday since then. The trail ended in a campground right next to the lake, so we sat down to eat lunch. The kids filled themselves on pb&j and began rock hunting. Alden found a rock wall that someone had started, so he worked tirelessly to add onto it.


Tula and I headed back to the cabin for naps, and Patrick and Alden decided to rent a canoe. As soon as they left I sat down to read the Northwest section of the Seattle Times I had brought with us. To my dismay, the first headline I read was Man Dies in Canoe Accident. "You've got to be kidding me," I thought to myself. I read on hoping that it was someone who had neglected to wear a lifejacket, knowing that Patrick and Alden would surely be wearing theirs. Nope. He was wearing a life jacket and still drown. Thankfully (and after much prayer), my boys made it home safely, and I managed to not give myself an ulcer worrying while they were gone.


We picked up some delicious sandwiches from the bakery for dinner and settled in for the night. Day three was a total success.

family adventure weekend | Day 2: Chelan to Stehekin

We woke up early on Friday morning in order to catch the boat to Stehekin at 8 am, shuffled our belongings around according to the ferry's strict baggage policy, and checked out of our wonderful room. It looked like we had packed enough to live out of suitcases for a month—that crazy old woman from the movie Labyrinth comes to mind—but we had to bring quite a bit of food with us. Stehekin has no grocery store and only two restaurants; with Tula's dairy-free diet, we figured we had better be prepared.

Thanks to a good friend who loaned me her Ergo carrier (best baby carrier ever!), I was able to contain Tula for the 2 1/2 hour boat ride (and that's the express trip, the other boat takes 4 hours). Alden did surprisingly well, too. He did a little drawing, listened to an ipod for a while, and folded a bunch of origami shapes.


The ride up was breathtaking. Lake Chelan is only about two miles wide, but it's over fifty miles long, and the scenery changes drastically along the way. At the south end of the lake, it's sandy and arid, but the sandy beaches soon transform in to rocky cliffs and dense forests. Here's a little geography nugget for you too; Chelan is the third deepest lake in North America, after Crater Lake and Tahoe.

We landed in Stehekin, a town of about 95 residents that is situated at the source of Lake Chelan, around lunch time so we grabbed a quick bite at Stehekin Landing before heading up to our cabin. We booked a newer cabin that was built by the owners of the Stehekin Pastry Company (which was featured in an issue of Martha Stewart Living). The cabin was about 100 yards from the bakery, which was a little added bonus!

The owners had left a car at the landing for us to borrow for the weekend. Stehekin only has one road that runs along the edge of the lake and up into the river valley. Most people travel by bike, so there's not a lot of cars around. We didn't think we'd be able to take the kids' carseats with us on the boat, so we just buckled them into the back seat old fashion style. They thought it was the best thing ever! Alden thought that the Subaru Forrester that we cruised around in was the coolest car ever.

Our cabin was a lovely two-story two bedroom house with no phones and no wi-fi—what a fantastic break from technology! Outside our windows dozens of butterflies fluttered around, and across a short field was a corral with four or five horses.

We settled in and I put Tula down for her nap and I took a nap too, which is a rare treat for me! Patrick and Alden went out to explore the valley. They drove up to Rainbow Falls and threw rocks into the Stehekin river. Then they headed back to the bakery to get ice cream cones. That night we headed back to the Landing for dinner. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was much more upscale than I would have expected for such a small, mountain town—white tablecloths and all.

After eating, Alden wanted to do more exploring and was sad to find out that it was already bedtime. We indulged him in one game of "Sharks and Minnows" which is just his fancy version of freeze tag where you get to put a wash cloth in your back pocket and pretend to be a cold-blooded predator. Then, off to bed for the kids, and a great evening of wine and board games for us.

It was a great beginning, and we had so much planned for the next day...
oh, and after sifting through photos, it seems that Patrick never let the camera out of his hands until three days into the trip, so no pictures of him until tomorrow :(

family adventure weekend | day 1: Chelan

Day 1: Chelan

We hurriedly ate our lunch at our house, loaded the car and started the 3 1/2 hour trek to lake Chelan. Two mountain passes and three movies later, we pulled into Campbells—a historic lodge turned beautiful resort. We were delighted to enter our surprisingly beautiful lakefront room. No dated floral bedspreads or tasteless art in sight. The decor was classy and modern with a Northwest twist. The walls were adorned with pictures of mid 20th century families enjoying the lake. We had a sliding glass door that opened to our own private patio, and a path led down to the beach and pool.


We decided to eat a quick dinner at what turned out to be a overpriced, overrated restaurant, and head back to Campbell's to enjoy the water. Tula was quick to wade into the lake up to her torso followed by me, and eventually Patrick. Alden had no interest in getting his feet wet, but instead stood happily in the sand throwing "boats" (sticks) into the lake.


It was getting late and we decided we didn't haul all of the pool accessories from Seattle for nothing. It took some persuasion, but eventually the kids decided to trade their sticks and rocks for swimsuits and floaty toys. I spent five minutes blowing up an inflatable car for Tula to float in, and nearly passed out—she hated it. First, I thought she just didn't like being in the water, but it turned out she just didn't want anyone to hold her—not even a giant floating car. That works fine at a wading pool or the beach, but not so well when the shallow end of the hotel pool is two inches over her head. She would stand on the stair and without trepidation, attempt to walk off of it into the deep water.

She is one stubborn girl (ahem... admittedly, with a stubborn mommy). She screamed when I put her back in the floaty car, screamed when I tried to hold her to swim, and she screamed loudest when I hauled her—flailing arms and legs—out of the pool. I had originally hoped to slip stealthily in and out of the water in my not-so-flattering bathing suit. Instead, I didn't have time to even grab a towel, and I was walking past a couple hundred windows trying to strong-arm a tantrum-throwing toddler.

Meanwhile, Alden and Patrick played and splashed in the pool. If you've ever heard our past swimming pool stories, you know this is a surprise! The last time we were in a pool Alden had a life jacket, two noodles, and a rubber duck and still wouldn't uncurl from a ball in the waist-high water. I'm glad to see him overcome some of his fears!

The day ended with the kids in bed and Patrick and I sitting outside on the patio drinking a glass of red wine, watching the moon dance on the ripples of the lake. I thought to myself, "Are we crazy for leaving all of this after one day, and boating up into the woods?"


Check back tomorrow to find out if Stehekin was worth the 2 1/2 hour boat ride and to see some pictures of my dear, camera shy, husband!