Thursday, December 26, 2019: Today we drove 4 hours north of Sunnyside to the tiny town of Winthrop, WA. We packed up and left home at 10am. The drive felt somewhat lengthy and not especially thrilling. In the car, we listened to Ramona on audiobook as well as some Christmas music, and arrived in Winthrop at 2pm.
Right when we parked, we got out and went sledding on a steep, if short, hill. As we arrived, an ambulance was driving away, carrying a sledder with a broken bone. That put an anxious cast on the afternoon and I could barely stand to watch my family ricochet down the steep slick packed snow! I went down once and about broke my body with the high speed bumps and spins. Then I was satisfied with watching/photographing rather than sledding. After 45 minutes or so, we put the sleds away in the van and went on a short walk across the Methow River on the majestic pedestrian bridge. Then we drove 2 minutes to downtown western-themed Winthrop and walked down the boardwalk to take it all in. It wasn't very photogenic due to all of the cars parked on the sides of the roads blocking the quaint geometric wooden storefronts. But we were able to peek between the cars and see cute buildings. It was COLD: 23 degrees and dropping when we arrived.
I have wanted to see Winthrop for years, and after just over 5 hours here, Jeff and I have concluded that this is a great date-town, but not quite so kid friendly. The tiny Western downtown is cute with its interesting buildings and real wooden boardwalk, but not safe for kids to roam due to the busy road. The outdoor ice rink is big and amazing!! We are planning to go skating there tomorrow. Our children are not behaving quite as well as I'd like them to, sadly. They are acting all high strung and over tired from Christmas maybe? I don't know. Amber is the hardest (no surprises there), although she was also the funniest to watch on the sledding hill. She could barely get onto her sled before it took off down the hill, so she sprawled in all kinds of positions on the sled ride down the short steep hill. While we were walking the boardwalk, Jeff had to use his mean no-nonsense teacher voice to get Amber to stop running away around the corner and into oncoming traffic. Thankfully a seriously angry loud voice stops her when nothing else will. But still, her roaming and disobedience made the walk annoying rather than the pleasant sight seeing stroll of my dreams.
Now we are all in our snug Silver Star Bungalow Airbnb--we retired/gave up herding impossible children at dusk and checked in around 4pm. It is a studio with a low loft for Jeff and me to sleep on, and a big futon for the kids a four stair steps down below. For dinner, we left the kids in the bungalow and went to the Thriftway grocery store and picked up cup a soup ramen, fried chicken, and a random hot breakfast burrito for me. Not the fun dining experience I had hoped for!
After dinner, we tried connecting to the bungalow's wifi, but the main building was too far away so we couldn't get a signal. Jeff decided it was worth the cell data usage to stream a movie to settle our overtired over-emotional children down, so we watched The Muppet's Christmas Carol on Disney Plus. There was no TV in the bungalow, so we propped Jeff's phone onto Amber's suitcase, crammed onto the very firm futon, and squint-watched the movie on the tiny screen. Watching a movie that way was not nearly as immersive or compelling as on a regular TV, though, so the kids got restless and still took forever to fall asleep after the movie ended.
I think I will be more positive about this adventure when I get a bit more sleep? I'm not angry or anything, just worn out from the travel and corralling of children. And it's hard forging into new cold territory with a tired disobedient Amber in tow. Tomorrow is another day!
Weee!
Those exposed rocks plagued me while I watched the high speed sledding.
The fearless sledders! I didn't even want to be in the picture with them because I was the opposite of a fearless sledder!
Random and weird...
Taking a walk.
The Methow River
Amber loves snow so much.
This suspension bridge was pedestrians only! It seemed so big for such a tiny town.
We couldn't stop Amber from carrying clumps of snow and eating it while we walked. We just had to try and forget how many other people had walked on/spit on/shoveled the well worn snow she was consuming.
The only boardwalk picture I could manage amidst the stress and difficulty of kid management.
With Airbnb, you win some and you lose some. This place was super cute, but not very comfortable.
Watching a tiny movie.
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