Skies of Concrete

We have been staying with friends for the last two nights, so suddenly we are three days behind with our blogging.

We left Twisp on Sunday morning as it started raining. We could not be bothered to stop in Winthrop to absorb the Old West atmosphere, choosing instead to head west through the North Cascades. After passing through the little town of Mazama we soon began climbing into the mountains and found ourselves riding between the banks of snow on either side of the road. By the time we got to Washington Pass at an altitude of 5477 feet the temperature had dropped to a chilly 39 degrees F (3 degrees Celcius).

We ran downhill for a few miles before climbing again to 4855 feet to crest the aptly named Rainy Pass before descending again down the Skagit River Valley. A few cyclists were coming up.  Two of them will be spending the night in these conditions. By the time we got to Diablo Dam the rain had eased. We stopped at the overlook for photos, then continued on to Newhalem where we had a well earned coffee break.

The road continued its descent though Marblemount and Rockport. As we travelled through the town of Concrete, the skies looked like they were made to match.

We reached Burlington early in the afternoon and stopped for lunch. We were heading to stay with Ries and Sheila Niemi, and had said we would arrive late in the afternoon. Since Burlington is only 10 miles from their home, we decided to ride further west to Whidby Island to visit the Deception Pass State Park which we had been told was very scenic. The further west we rode, the more the weather closed in, and the rain was really bucketing down. It was clear we wouldn't see much, so we decided just to turn around and head to Ries and Shiela's to get dried out.

Now, for some strange reason, I had it in mind that their house was at the northern end of the superb Chuckanut Drive, a scenic road along the coast (see http://chuckanutdrive.com/). I was wrong: they lived south of the road. This meant we got to ride the road in both directions - which wasn't a bad thing.

We arrived at their house rather earlier than expected, and they were both busy in their studio and workshop. Once they realised we had arrived we were welcomed most warmly. Ries showed us around the property which is like a mini-national park with all the birdlife that lives there. There is even an eagle's nest in one of the trees, although the owners were on holidays.

Ries gave us a tour of his wonderfully huge and well equipped workshop where he was working on a stainless steel bench seat for a school. Chris was particularly envious of his power hammer, shears, punches, folders, rollers, TIG welders, plasma cutter (on an X-Y table with automatic tracking), ...

Sheila showed us through her studio where she makes textile art. We were fascinated to see her line of designer clothing made from cotton cleaning cloths (!) brought back from a trip to Buenos Aires, and samples of stainless steel cord especially made for her in Belgium for an earlier work. It was amazingly soft and flexible, being spun from incredibly fine fibres.

We were treated to a gourmet dinner of smoked oysters, locally made goat's cheese and bread, home made pickles and Thai fish cakes made by Ries  After dinner we all went to the local town of Edison (population 110) to one of the two inns there to enjoy some local bands playing. Everyone seemed to know each other and we were introduced to a number of colourful local identities. There is a huge emphasis on local food, skills and friendship.

  

After an enjoyable evening, we crashed into bed and slept like logs. The cat lay on our feet all night. It didn't mind when we wiggled and didn't stir until we woke up. All the animals we have met so far have trained their owners well.