Over the last 40 years most of our travels between Alaska and Southern Calif have generally been centered along the fastest route, the I-5 corridor. When there were schedules to meet and family to visit it was the shortest distance between two points.

Now that most of our timelines and deadlines are gone our new mode of travel is to take a leisurely pace and follow the back roads as much as possible. Recently we re-entered the USA from Canada and drove into north-central Washington state.

To say the least we were pleasantly surprised at what we found. We have been averaging between 75-150 miles every few days for the last week or so stopping at almost every state park and national rec area that we came across.

We have found nicely maintained and mostly vacant state and national recreation area campgrounds. Central Washington seems to have a mild climate this time of year and temperatures have been just right for us Alaskans.

A few of the great places we came across and highly recommend are Lake Roosevelt NRA with its great fishing, boating and camping opportunities.
Touring the Grand Coulee Dam and its amazing power generating facilities.
Banks Lake and Steamboat Rock SP with hiking, fishing and very nice campgrounds.
Sun Lake Dry Falls SP located on the sureal looking Blue Lake and the fabulous town of Soap Lake with the lakes special healing powers..

The scenic 13,000 year old waterfall site at Grand Falls SP is not to be missed.

We did accomplish one of the items on our Washington State “to do” list by visiting one of its newly established cannabis shops. It was a very strange experience to walk into a public place and shop for marajauna. But shop is all we did because as it turns out nothing is really affordable…yet. The State is currently setting the prices and so it may be legal but its not cheap.

So in conclusion if you have the time don’t miss central Washington State especially in the fall…it is well worth a visit.

Next stop Fort Motsko in central Oregon….keep you posted.