DAY 2 AT WAPATO LAKE

At least two thirds of our group opted for the Lady of the Lake boat tour from Chelan to Stehekin. All reports indicate a fine day on the water, though a long two and a half hour boat trip, and a good viewing of the Rainbow Falls. The wind was mild enough to not be a bother, and the sun not too hot to be uncomfortable. All had a great time. Susan and I have done the trip to Stehekin a few times, including being dropped off from the boat for a two day backpacking trip to town, so we opted out of the trip this time.

The other third of us stayed back at camp with six of us taking a bike ride together.

We chose the Manson Scenic Loop from the book of bike rides provided by the Chamber of Commerce. There are several fairly easy rides for visitors to the area. And no one complained when I (apparently) took an incorrect turn to the left instead of the correct turn to the right. To be fair to myself though, the road had no roadside name so I continued in what seemed to be the correct direction. It was, but would shorten the ride way too much. We at least got a few of those miles back by turning around to the road we had passed.

However, had we not taken this road we would have missed a couple of lake and vineyard scenes, and would had definitely missed Kari’s friend’s winery!!! And THAT visit was a highlight.

I stopped for a photo and thought maybe I was holding people up, but when I turned to find others taking photos or finding their cameras (phones), I knew this was the right thing to do.

Of course just a short distance more, Judi would be the one to spot a pickleball court so we made a stop to inspect that.

Then came our highlight of the winery. The grounds are of course pristine and afford another fine view of the lake and mountains.

We enjoyed some time in the little gift shop, bought some little “gifts”, used the restroom and continued back down the steep hill we had climbed to get here.

At the bottom of the long downhill drive way we thought it appropriate to get a photo of the Pedals part of Pedals and Pinot (the title of our event).

As we were milling about, trying to figure out how to take a selfie of everyone of us ‘pedlars’, along came the hostess from the winery who offered to take our photo.

Now, half way through our route, it was time to move on to complete our ride of the day. Our wrong left turn we had taken gave gave Kari and Stephanie the opportunity to shortcut the ride and return to camp to care for their dog Cally Girl. The remaining four of us maneuvered through some road construction in Manson, including dirt, bumps and crevices that had us walking our bikes. Once back on the road, with Susan now leading, we took what seemed to be an optional road that would lead to our destination in a shorter distance.

Here is what we found, rode on down that path, found it dead ended, (this might be considered a second wrong turn) and returned to our original route.

Along the NO DUMPING road where there has definitely been some dumping.

We thought we might get lunch at a winery close to camp, but the choice was limited to a charcuterie board and not what we were interested in for lunch. Camp was less than a mile away so on we went.

None of our riders had any complaints about the wrong turn(s), or the dead end No Dumping road 😊, so all was well for our little journey.

Potluck dinner in the evening. Only a partial photo at the lake with Cally Girl, Kari’s pup, having leaped into the basket. That was one of the prizes for the gift game that includes stealing someone’s gift you prefer to what is on the blanket to choose from.