The atmospheric river that had hit western Washington in recent days made its way to the Colville area by this morning, Monday. We drove southeast starting around 9 a.m. and it rained the whole way to our first stop, Mount Spokane State Park. I didn’t take any pictures because of the poor visibility and miserable conditions from rain, wind, and low-hanging clouds on the mountain. We didn’t stay long.
We hoped to hit two parks at once at our next stop, which was closer to the city of Spokane. The Centennial Trail and Riverside State Park overlap each other over a stretch of mileage, so we looked to take advantage of that overlap. As Dave reminisced about the years he lived in Spokane and the weather cleared, we drove to the part of Riverside Park called Bowl and Pitcher for the rock formations in the Spokane River. In that campground is a suspension bridge, the Swinging Bridge, that lets you off at the Centennial Trail. We walked to that spot and celebrated checking off the final two parks from the trip list by eating our lunch at a table next to the trail overlooking the river.
Afterwards, going into downtown Spokane, we found a reasonably priced hotel called The Centennial by Davenport that’s on the riverfront opposite from the main part of town. It was early afternoon and the weather was partly sunny and quite windy. After registering, we dropped our stuff and walked through the riverfront area where Expo ‘74 had been held, a nice park that stretches along the river.
We ambled through the park enjoying the views, then walked a few blocks into the downtown business area. Dave found a restaurant that he remembered from his youth, The Onion, where we dined on the onion rings that it’s known for, plus salads. Then we headed back across the river to the hotel.
Tomorrow will be our return trip home, straight across the state via Interstate 90.
Lori's Travels 