This past weekend was a blast!!!!! After a sporadic work week and the turn in cloudy weather it was a great break to head out to Eastern Washington on our normal Banks Lake boating weekend. Friday at 2 pm Bryan and I headed out on 90 for Grand Coulee, WA to beat the weekenders and snag two fabulous campsites at the primitive Osborn Bay campgrounds of Steamboat Rock State Park. We had great neighbors, great privacy, and enough room for our 5 tents and 12 campers. We set up our tent and waited for the others arrivals. Once most were there we headed into Grand Coulee to get dinner at the Pepper Jack Bar and Grill and then our car went to finally see the Grand Coulee Dam laser light show, explaining the history of the the dam and how Banks Lake formed. Our first night was rather tame and we longed for a campfire but due to the Level 4 burn ban in effect we settled for citronella candles in the fire pit instead.
Saturday morning we woke early, made breakfast of eggs, fruit, and donuts, and waited for the sun to break through the clouds. Unfortunately the sun didn’t come out in full force until about 1 pm and until then we had light sprinkles and heavy cloud cover. But once the sun did come out it was hot and wonderful for boating. Bryan and I shared driving duties about 30/70%. We had the boat running the full 8 hours we had it for rent and used up nearly the full tank of gas. The morning was spent skiing and wakeboarding and we had two first timers get up and three other first timers attempt to get up, unfortunately unsuccessful. After a quick break for sandwiches on the beach we spent the rest of the day tubing, in which everyone had a blast with two tubes tied up for maximum competition and fun.
At the end of the day everyone was content, sunkissed, and tired. Six of us rode in the boat in the lake the 7 miles back to the city where we filled up with gas and then returned the boat. We met the others back at camp to get started on dinner. We actually had to haul someone’s gas grill in someone’s truck due to the burn ban preventing camp fires or charcoal grills. With potatoes, corn, and a ton of steak and chicken kabobs to cook we had teams working the grill and the mini camp stove to get it all cooked and everyone fed. It was a great team effort and we had a delicious dinner. We sealed the deal by celebrating Stephan’s birthday with three bottles of champagne and a birthday brownie around our fake campfire. Saturday night was a lot more rambunctious to say the least, in only the best way a camping trip with friends can be.
Sunday morning we awoke early to the sun and started on cooking up a bunch of eggs scrambled with leftover veggies and sausage from dinner. We packed up and were in the car by 10 am. However, my car of Bryan and Polly had plans to stop 2 hours on the way home at our housemate’s boyfriends cottage on the Columbia River in Entiat, WA. Their cottage was gorgeous with hot tub, nice deck, and a great ski boat. We did a round of skiing and Bryan even almost got up on one ski this time. The river’s current allows for several areas on the river to be extremely glassy which was like heaven. We docked, hot tubed and then had some tacos with their family before completing our drive to Seattle.
Traffic tied us up a bit but we still made it back just around 7pm. We quickly unpacked and then Bryan and I headed straight to Tutta Bella for their seasonal pizza, and pizza straight from the Gods that I had tried last year. We shared a family size salad that we usually get and the Calabrese which is indeed the best pizza ever. We both were much happier and completed the weekend by picking up Cookie Dough ice cream from the store and crashing on the couch. Great, great worn out weekend!!!
More pictures to follow once I get them from friends.
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 