September 2008 Road Trip (48)

Heading South - September 16, 2008

On the road again, we aimed south. In our inimitable style, we zigged where most would zag and took a "road less travelled" through vineyard country between Penticton and Osoyoos.

Here is the "road less travelled."

By the time we arrived in Osoyoos it was hungry out, so we started looking for a place to have lunch. We learned the last time we passed through Osoyoos that there really aren't that many places to eat with a view of the lake, which we thought was a bit odd. However, we did find this place (below) and it was quite all right for lunch.

We sat at the far end (can't see it in the pix), overlooking the lake. It was getting into the high 20s C, which for the last half of September is quite amazing! It was just like summer without the crowds!

From Osoyoos, we continued south on Highway 97 into Washington State. Our first stop there was a place called Omak for the tourist info centre. It turned out to be a good one, manned by several retired people who were extremely friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. The best suggestion they gave us was to stop in a place called Leavenworth, which I immediately associated with the Texas prison. What do I know?

Further down the highway, Joe spotted a building that he thought we should have a closer look at, so we turned off the highway into a very small place that we never really figured out the name of, other than it is the seat of Okanagan County. The building was the court house.

This is looking back down the street from the court house (the road we came in on - highway is directly ahead).

Now I have to reveal my wicked sense of humour. Only in the good ol' US of A would you find something like this! Note the "Guns" sign above and the "Bibles" sign below. Now keep scrolling down.....

The pix below isn't great, but you can see the "Guns" sign on the left, and the "Bibles" sign directly across the street on the building in the right of the pix. I hope I don't have to explain the irony this represents to me.

Off we went again....

The highway began to parallel the Columbia River, which has been developed to the max for hydro power. There is a series of dams along the Columbia. We stopped at this one: Wells Dam.

The dam (obviously!).

Looking upstream.

A big turbine blade.

Our last stop of the day along highway 97 was a place called Beebe Bridge Park - still on the Columbia River. It was really pretty - late in the afternoon - the water was like a mirror.

Geese on the water, ducks on shore.

Then along came a {adjective} person on a sea-doo and messed up the water...

We drove on and found a motel in Leavenworth. This day was fantastic in terms of weather, as you can see by the pix, with temperature in the high 20s C. The driving was good and we had a fun day of meandering in our little Mazda 3.