Friday 21st July

We pulled into Twisp, Washington. We spot the sign that reads Twisp River Suites. We head inside. Mummy is asked, if she is here for the Rhythm & Blues festival. Little do we know, this would turn out to be the most spectacular hotel suite of the trip!

We woke up without an alarm. That lovely feeling of waking up naturally. Elliott is an early bird though and wakes everyone up, he is good about grabbing his Kindle and reading during those 5am – 7am hours. Yawn!

Breakfast was a brief affair, we found if there is any TV or screen near the boys we lose them. It cements our belief that we won’t give them iPads or phones as they really do look like zombies when they see the screens. It’s also near impossible to eat healthy when they have this temptation.

We faced 4.5hrs of driving today. The drive was an interesting mix. One hour we are in endless fields of wheat and farmland, next we cross into protected forest and reservation land. We moved to mountains and rocky ridges, we passed rivers, dams and towns so smalls they could be classed as ghost towns.

We made a stop at the 3.5hr mark in Omak, Washington. We needed to make a Walmart stop and this Walmart replaced the only store in Omak. First impressions were the difference in people compared to Montana. In Montana, it was 98/99% white, but after walking into Omak the difference was clear. Omak and the surrounding areas have a large Native American population and lots of towns named after tribes.

We discussed how having Tesco deliveries is an amazing benefit in the UK. Another challenge is trying to shop with so much temptation and two young hyper boys. Also they want photos of everything, like this…

We have moved on from being local celebrities to being a side show attraction. People in Walmart were following us listening to the boys talk! We are still getting caught in this “heat dome” and we felt it outside of the air conditioning it was 38 degrees today.

We jumped back in the car and cracked out 45mins of driving before finally getting to Twisp. We filled out petrol and Daddy was upset we didn’t go to Hanks Supermarket instead of Walmart.

We lucked out completely with this hotel and suite. After the crazy cabin in the woods and a few rough hotels this is define luxury. We have a giant suite with full kitchen, laundry and en suite bathrooms. The extras like slippers and bathrobes, along with free torches and earplugs in the bedrooms. We have a lovely porch area that looks out onto the river, along with access to a BBQ, hot tub and direct path down to the river.

The reception had a lovely chill area with movie screen and massage chair!

Mummy kept us healthy and cooked up a tasty tuna pesto pasta with sweetcorn. Nate managed to injury (not enough to make the list) three times. Knocking his toe, leg and head on various things.

Mummy & Daddy have robes and slippers like we are in a posh spa, we don’t want to leave. We discussed cancelling the next accommodation to stay here! But, we need to make progress and move forward. There are orcas (fingers crossed) to see soon!

Saturday 22nd July

Saturday morning and no alarm is needed! We woke and headed down for a tasty healthy (for a change) breakfast. Also we are officially 50% through our trip. We have done enough activities to last a lifetime!

We met Joe (who had a Joe – Owner) badge on and eat tasty fresh fruit and yogurt. Joe was a funny character he spend all the time talking in a Donald Duck voice to Elliott and Nate. He told us that he build the hotel from scratch after moving from California. Turns out he owned one of the largest Halloween shops in California and loves a good story or two!

Joe also told us about the Farmers Market happening today! Good timing as we didn’t have anything planned for today. Joe told us it’s exactly 281 steps from our room.

We counted the steps and saw some interesting sights along the way.

It was already starting to get hot 29 degrees by 10am, but it didn’t feel as intense as yesterday. The people at the market were completely different to Montana, a lot more relaxed, arty and slightly hippy!

One stall for Gagi

Anyone fancy an all natural funeral?

We took a stroll around and grabbed some “shaved ice” after Elliott demanded that we needed it. The trouble was the shaved ice stall doubled as a teriyaki stand. The smell of cooked chicken and vanilla ice wasn’t the best mix. The drinks were tasty and a good choice in the increasing heat.

Lots of people were buying “Elephant Ears” which Mummy needed to know about. Turns out it’s fried batter with jam on it.

We were told that the Methow river and the swimming pool were good spots to spend an afternoon with the kids. We packed up and drove exactly 1.5mins down the road. Only problem was it’s Saturday and there was a swimming competition happening! The car park was rammed and there were people everywhere.

We managed to find a spot across the car park from the swimming pool which has a play park and was relatively empty.

After a spot of playing, Mummy instructed us to head over to the swimming gala to watch the girls and boys race. Elliott decided to sunbathe while we watched. It turned out to be the Okanogan County Summer Swim League.

We grabbed our Titan cooler (we are trying to fit in with the locals) and headed over to the river. The river is a stream/run off from the Columbia River so there were parts that had some current to them.

Lots of people waded in the water, dogs running around and lots of kids from the swim league coming and going. Elliott claimed he saw a snake in the water, we were sure it was.

The lake was cold, very cold. Daddy trying to look happy, but losing most of the feeling in his toes.

Mummy is always happy if it’s sunny and she can do something that is challenging. I bet you can’t swim across the river Kate…Manning’s love a challenge!

We did have a moment when Mummy went down the river on a rubber ring. Nate was watching from the rocks and stumbled and slipped into the water. Luckily it was right where Mummy was a everyone was safe.

Next Elliott wanted to go across the river with Daddy. Elliott told Daddy to get on with it and remember what NASA told us. Impossible is not a word!

As we were wading across, we noticed a women approaching the water edge. She was in her mid thirties, holding a three year old along with holding a new born baby. Walking along the dry rocks was challenging enough, but this women was walking along the slippery rocks as you enter the river.

Daddy did a double take as seeing something this dangerous was eye opening. It went between the three year old nearly slipping to the woman juggling the baby. We swam over and held the little girls hand to get her into the water. The woman replied that she was “Fine, no issues” not sure if she was cocky or stupid, maybe both!

As the river filled up, Daddy and the boys had a moment of inspiration silly play. What if we tried to dam the river? If we succeed then the Mayor of Twisp might give us the key to the town! That was all the inspiration that the boys needed to spend the next hour building our dam. Nate said he knew some of these rocks were fakes and needed to check each one. Elliott mentioned that double agents from the Mayor could be coming to stop us.

Turned out a man walked past and told the boys they should “probably stop and take the stones away” while Daddy was getting a drink. Daddy pretended the man was from the Mayors office and was trying to sabotage our plans! Mummy agreed with the man and we stopped the dam and dismantled. We did get a Hunter Boys photo before demolition!

Elliott wanted Mummy to take him across the river to the other side where a bunch of swim kids were jumping off the rocks. The river has many different parts and some are fast moving. Daddy and Nate stood eagerly at the water side awaiting a big jump.

We continued to wait…

Nearly there!

Made it across, now time for the big jump.

More waiting

Still not sure about it

He did it! Well done Elliott!

Mummy celebrated with a float down the river!

Tomorrow we are leaving our luxurious pad and heading to North Cascades National Park (our last of the trip) and further west to Rockport.