<– Wed. July 30th Oroville to Colville | North Washington Trip

This map only shows our route from Colville to Priest River, but we drove home late Thursday night.

I stayed up late Wednesday night completing emails and posts, so we stayed in bed until 10AM at Benny’s Colville Inn motel in downtown Colville. The motel was a solid 1 1/2 stars. We had a king bed with slightly uneven box springs. The bottom sheet wasn’t fitted, so it moved easily underneath us. But, the room was quiet, cool, and comparatively cheap. The lobby was unusual, part taxidermy showcase and part firearms museum. The staff was friendly, especially an older female gardner who began to talk to us and wouldn’t stop. I finally had to close the room door, albeit graciously, while she talked until she couldn’t see us anymore. She was a little off . . .

The other oddity we encountered involved the water. When we took our showers, we had the MOST difficult time washing the soap off of us. Either they softened the water too much or there was something else in the water, but neither of us could recall such a difficult time removing soap. Since we’d brought the soap from home, we knew it had to be something in the water (we finally had to use towels to feel clean of the soap).

At 11AM we pulled out of the motel, the temperature already in the low 80s. It was going to be hot again. We drove up to Kettle Falls, then turned to drive north toward Canada. Our first stop was at the Roosevelt Reservoir, a large body of water fed by the Columbia River, which winds through much of Washington State until it flows by our home in Pasco a couple miles away. One of the neat aspects of the Roosevelt Reservoir area is that the shorelines remain free of houses, giving the area a remote, peaceful feeling.

Roosevelt Reservoir behind us.

Back on Hwy 25, we stopped at every campground to evaluate them for future camping. Our favorite place was a small no-reservation campground called North Gorge. This campsite would have been perfect had we brought the motorhome. There were no other sites adjacent to it.

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<– 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.

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