Stehekin Valley Ranch

We live in an amazing state.  

We drove about 3 hours from Seattle to a picturesque Wenatchee valley with its orchards of pears, apples, and cherries and the lovely Lake Chelan.  Chelan is a very deep, long lake that is reachable by car, at least, the lower portion of the lake is.  But we took a 2-hour (express) passenger ferry uplake to reach the opposite end of Lake Chelan where this little village named Stehekin is located.  When we arrived, a shuttle bus met us at the ferry landing and drove us another 8+ miles upriver to the Stehekin Valley Ranch, where we stayed for 3 nights. We learned about the locals, hiked, biked, rode horses, ate amazing food, river rafted, played, swam, and ate some more.  

It couldn't have been better unless it didn't end.

 I can't take a photo. But it was gorgeous, wherever I looked

 Our home-sweet-home. Lovely cabin.

They were mostly great at taking turns on the horse swing.

 Joel tried to catch a butterfly in the meadow, without a net.

 It was a great meadow, but the butterflies weren't going to be caught that easily.

Of course, we were all there because of Nonny's 70th year. This lady knows how to live!

Rainbow falls. This was right before an uncharacteristic thunderstorm swirled into the valley and uprooted trees, rained hail on some of us, and a caused a mudslide.

 There were plenty of walking sticks, but sometimes it was just nice to share.

 The bakery. I know it says it on the sign, but this is _the_ bakery. Nobody was unhappy there. Gabby ate a cinnamon roll that was bigger than her head.

They let us take lots of pictures of them, 'cause they knew this was a big deal.

A seriously happy Jamie.

The kids had their first horseback riding lessons and were all grins the whole time. I'm not sure I've ever seen them so happy as when they each got up on their horses.

 The tire-swing horse that the kids rode when they weren't eating or sleeping or doing some grownup-planned activity.

 Playing in the lake while we waited for the ferry to take us downlake.

Waiting for a ferry was never this fun before.