Last night we decided to go off-script from our itinerary today since we had visited two more state parks yesterday than planned. We decided to make today a no-park day and instead take the Lady of the Lake ship on Lake Chelan to the far north end of the lake and see the tiny town of Stehekin. So after breakfast at the hotel, we drove the short distance to the dock and bought ourselves tickets for a day tour to Stehekin and back that left at 8:30 a.m. It was a beautifully sunny morning, although cool and windy.
A smaller and faster boat then the Lady of the Lake was scheduled to run today, named the Lady Express. It was a 2.5 hour ride north to Stehekin with several stops along the way to pick up and drop off passengers. There was great Eastern Washington scenery along the way.
Once at Stehekin, a town of about 85 people that swells in the summer season, we took a short bus tour to Rainbow Falls about 3 miles from the dock.
There’s not too much in Stehekin: a general store, post office, lodge, national park office, and then some houses in the woods, some of which are rentals for tourists. The bus drove past all those, dropped a few people off at a bakery and gift shop, then stopped at the waterfall. We had 15 minutes to take it in, then the bus returned us to the bakery where we had another 15-minute stop where we could buy food, drinks or gifts. Dave and I ate the lunch snacks we had brought along while sitting in the sunshine there. Then the bus drove us back to the dock to reboard the Lady Express for our return. We spent a total of 90 minutes in Stehekin.
The return boat ride was a little faster, since we only made one intermediate stop along the way. We were back in Chelan before 3:30. The temperature had warmed up to nearly 70 degrees and the wind had ceased, so it was a pleasant afternoon. We picked up a couple dinner items at the local Safeway and went back to the same hotel where we had been last night.
Tomorrow we’ll be back to the planned state park itinerary.
Lori's Travels 