13-15 July: From southern B.C., we dipped south into eastern Washington to visit Amy’s sister Barb and her husband Dan in Chewelah and Amy’s brother Bill and his wife Deb in Spokane. When we visited Barb and Dan two years ago, they were living in central Nevada, but now they have retired and moved back to Chewelah, where they had lived for several years while their daughters were growing up. We went into town to have ice cream for lunch at Chataqua, the local fair. There we met up with Susan, who was introduced to us by our mutual friend Kathy on a cross-country ski outing last winter back in N.H. When Susan said she lives in Washington, we discovered that she lives only a few miles from Amy’s sister. Susan was able to arrange a resupply trip home during her long distance hike on the Pacific Northwest Trail to coincide with our visit with Barb and Dan.
The next day Dan and Bill joined us for a bike ride along the Spokane River on the Centennial Trail, a paved pedestrian and bike path. The part of the trail that we biked on winds through areas of grassland and scattered pine trees along the river, with one section along residential streets and then a dedicated bike lane as we got closer to downtown Spokane. Afterward we spent time visiting with Bill and Deb before returning to Chewelah.
