The Drive, Day 11, Mon, 9-7 Sacajawea State Park & Roslyn, Washington...

We left Lewiston, Idaho at 8:30am Pacific Time. We started our day with 2,953.3 miles on the Buick. 

Our first goal was Sacajawea State Park. This is the Confluence of the Snake River and the Columbia River. We began to suspect Google Maps had some kind of preference to my map settings that took us on back roads to get to places. We traveled some scenic and interesting roads to get from Lewistown, Idaho to Pasco, Washington. In several places we were beside the Snake River. 

I told Claude this was a haybale graveyard. These are old bales of hay that never got used. 

We saw several of this old abandoned buildings. They are often sitting on an open plain with nothing else around. They remind me of the dust bowl and the Depression days when people lost their homes and simply had to walk away. 

This wind turbine seems to have shorter arms than most!

After about 2 1/2 hours, we were at Sacajawea State Park. We figured out how to pay the $10 day pass to be there. It is truly an honor system. The Park sits on a point of land where the Snake River pours into the Columbia River. 

On October 16, 1805 Lewis & Clark arrived at this place during the height of the salmon run. They welcomed Lewis & Clark with music and gift. Having Sacajawea and her baby with them signaled to the Native peoples that this was a friendly group of people. 

Clark mapped the area with the help of some of the chiefs. 

Claude and I walked down to see the rivers. This view is facing the Columbia which comes in from the left side of the picture and goes out the right side of the picture. Coming in from that right side is the Snake River depositing its water into the Columbia River.

The next three pictures are a panorama of the Rivers. 1) Columbia, 2) Columbia with opening above post on the right where it flows onward and 3) Snake River flowing into the Columbia River. Can you imagine how happy the Corps of Discovery would be to have rivers flowing in the direction they wanted to travel. They fought the Missouri upstream all the way. Having navigable rivers flowing the way you want to go must have been a genuine blessing.

Time to go back to a place we love, Roslyn, Washington. This is the drive through an area with lots of orchards and fields of food. Parts of this drive would be along the Columbia River. 

It took about 2 hours 15 minutes to get to Roslyn. This was Labor Day. As we approached our exit for Roslyn, the traffic into Seattle got very thick and slowed to a crawl just as we approached the exit. At this point I was very grateful I made our reservation for a hotel that night in Cle Elum outside of Roslyn by the I-90. We could visit Roslyn and not have to be on the Interstate to get closer to Seattle. I had looked at hotels another hour down the road. So happy I didn't get one of those. 

Roslyn, Washington is the city used Cicely, Alaska in the television show 'Northern Exposure'. It aired 30 years ago and was one of my favorite of all times. Claude took me to Roslyn many years ago. We decided we wanted to go back one more time this trip and eat at The Brick, a bar that featured heavily in the television show. I have underlined on this map the places in my pictures. 

The first two pictures are not on main street (Pennsylvania Avenue). The first is Maggie's first home. The second is the church which used to be back away from the main street further up the hill. 

This is the top of the hill (an asterisk on the map) from which Dr. Joel Fleischman ran down from his cabin outside of town to his office in town. This gives you a view of the street where most of the businesses and action took place in the show. My picture are down the left side of this street and then up the right side. 

Roslyn's Cafe. Claude and I ate here the first time we went to Roslyn. The second picture Claude took of me outside the cafe. Note that the mural says Roslyn without the apostrophe 's'. The makers of the show made an apostrophe 's' and mounted it in the mural so it read Roslyn's Cafe. At one point a tourist was standing in front of the mural and the apostrophe 's' fell on his head. That was the end of the apostrophe 's'. I ate my first veggie burger in Roslyn Cafe. 

Next on the left side of the street was Roselyn Grocery. This was Ruth Ann's Store in Northern Exposure. We went inside and it is now definitely a more current store with lots of fresh things. When we visited years ago, lots of shelves were like Ruth Ann's Store.

Last on the left side was KBHR Radio Studio and Maurice's office. Chris was the DJ on KBHR. Maurice was the very wealthy former astronaut who had big visions for Cicely, Alaska. 

Now we crossed the street and went up the right side. The Brick one of two main buildings featured in Northern Exposure. It was the bar owned by Holling Vincoeur and his lovely significant other Shelley Tambo. The interior scenes for this bar were filmed in Seattle in a studio. The actual bar is the oldest continuously operating bar in Washington State. It features a 23 foot running water spittoon (look on the floor under the barstools) and a 100 year old English back bar. We htad a wonderful meal there this trip. I had avocado grilled cheese for my meal. Yum!

The final place on the right side of the picture was Dr. Joel Fleischman's office. His name is still painted on the door. A local purchased the building and has turned it into a little museum/gift shop affair. 

It was fun to return to Roslyn. There is a big resort built near here. Lots of tourist now come to town. The empty place with a totem pole not has a bicycle shop to rent bicycles. You must pay for parking on the street. There is a little hotel in town now. The focus more on the coal mining history and touch on Northern Exposure. Roslyn has grown up!

Back to Cle Elum to our hotel for the evening. 

We bought gasoline at $5.12. We stayed in the Mountain Time Zone.