<– July 28th/29th Pasco to Oroville | North Wash Trip | July 31st Colville to Priest Lake –>

In 1986 during a jeep drive around Washington I stopped by to visit my great aunt and uncle, Tom and Ev in Oroville. That’s when I took the top photo. Yesterday, I decided to recreate the photo. Since Tom has since passed, I stood in for him.

As I remembered from my previous visit to Oroville in 1986, my great aunt Ev was a gracious host and great cook. We awoke at eight O-clock on Wednesday morning to find a table set with fresh fruit and home made granola. She also whipped up some eggs and bacon for us. Good stuff!

After breakfast we toured the apple orchards that they farmed for many years before selling them. Naturally, if she needs some fresh fruit during the summer, she doesn’t have to go far out her backdoor to find some!

At 90yo, she still can farm a mean garden! The orchards are behind her garden. In the background stands “Numbers Mountain” where the high schoolers used to paint mark their class years.

Ev was climbing the hills despite the 90 degree heat.

Great view from the orchard of the lake. Canada is in the background.

Eventually we had to say goodbye and begin our trek to Colville.

Our route for Wednesday.

We began our drive by climbing out of Oroville up onto a high plain. The views were gorgeous during the climb.

Looking West, that’s Oroville at the bottom. You can even see Ev’s house in that photo if you know where to look.

Still Climbing.

Eventually we found ourselves on a high plateau where the temperatures were only 90 degrees (a relief from the 100 degrees in the valleys).

Pretty soon we discovered we were literally a stone’s throw away from Canada. We crossed the road to stare at the ‘impenetrable’ fence that marked the boundary between us and our northern brethren. 

Clearly, Canadian’s know enough about the U.S. that they aren’t exactly swarming the fences. In fact, I doubt the border fence you see in the photo below can stand up to a slight breeze! The fence was made up of barbed wire tied to old tree limbs that were pushed into the ground. 

Apparently, being close to Canada does strange things to a woman. It’s probably best the photo below is a little blurry . . .

After some discussion, we decided to forgo leaping across the border for some Macintosh caramel. Instead, we continued eastward to the old town of Molson, where a cool, lonely outdoor museum awaits visitors.

We spent some time checking out the old equipment and wandering through the old buildings. If you are ever nearby Molson, stop in and check out this gem of a place.

Back in our jeep, we drove for another twenty minutes or so before we passed through Chesaw, a town of a few hundred residents. On the far side of that tiny town we found a few curious old vehicles peering at us from behind a faraway barn.

I wished we could have gotten a better view, but we only got what you see above using a good telephoto lens.

Feeling victorious for finding some jeeps for the day, we left the high plains behind and entered some tree filled mountains. We began a serious of long climbs and descents along gravel roads. It was beautiful. Despite the remote area, we were surprised at the number of people who lived along the road.

With few restaurants along the way, we eventually pulled into a large abandoned area to eat some lunch. There were mountains all around. Except for the constant sounds of crickets and other bugs, the area was peaceful.

Once we were done with lunch and tired of the 100 degree weather, we climbed in the air conditioned jeep and continued onward. We soon landed in Curlew, where we spotted this odd fire engine-like vehicle. Out of Curlew the road climbed and climbed until we found ourselves in sub 90 degree weather. It was great! Then we began our descent into the Kettle River Valley. The valley is beautiful. Along the way we investigated different camping spots so we could find good ones we could revisit with the motorhome. The spot below was nearly empty and had a beautiful view of Roosevelt Lake.

After a quick trip through Kettle Falls and a visit to the bakery and the natural food store there, we arrived at Colville where we found a cheap room with air-conditioning for the night.  We also found a truck performing as a signage for the “E.T.” coffee shop.

Before retiring to our room, we went out for some dinner. I did some research on Yelp and found a place called Lovitts, a restaurant with pretty good reviews that operated out of an old house. While there were things we liked about the place (the setting, the wait staff), we did not love the food. That was disappointing, but that’s the risk of trying new places.

Tomorrow we drive north along the Colombia River, before attempting a trek across the mountains into Idaho. Should be fun!

<– July 28th/29th Pasco to Oroville | North Wash Trip | July 31st Colville to Priest Lake –>