Snowmageddon
All things considered, I think you'll agree by the end of the weekend of posts that I dodged the worst of the weather for the weekend. The West side of the state got slammed with half a foot to a foot of snow in most places, and . . . we're never really ready for it. The hilly terrain, and the infrequency of snow set up a situation where people are in dangerous spots, waiting for roads to be plowed, and lacking the experience that helps make winter driving manageable. Many of my friends and family who heard I was taking this weekend to head over were a little worried, but I honestly may have been safer on the other side of the mountains for a few days.
Snoqualmie Pass traffic was running at a very lackadaisical 20 miles an hour for several stretches. 2-3 cars had found their way off the road, slowing traffic as it narrowed around the scenes, and people did the compulsory rubber-necking. I did my best not to look, and in retrospect may have kept my eyes straight ahead 90 percent of the time during the weekend. The once or twice where I looked over and saw a vehicle off of the road . . . it's hard to call it a silver lining. . . and I'm not really calling anything about this silver. BUT, it was an opportunity to stop and recall how fragile it all is, an opportunity to be thankful for any time I have available to walk around this amazing Earth, and to be thankful for all of the friends and family that are likewise alive, healthy, safe, and well.
And if nothing else, it was a reminder to keep the eyes on the road, and not to "drive like a birder", which is rarely a good way to drive.
Safest Approach
As I'd sorted out on my January trip, getting to Douglas County through Grant, rather than through Chelan, is not much of a loss in time. In these circumstances, it also felt a little safer. I can't say for sure that Blewett Pass is any more dangerous, but the changes in elevation, and the blind, winding turns just didn't seem like the best choice for my trip over. I cruised down to the Columbia, and up through Quincy to Rock Island.
Rock Island Ponds
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| Mallards and Wood Ducks (67) - Hammond Lake |
The ponds around Rock Island were easy, productive birding during my stops in January, so I was happy to head back and make them my first stop. Wood Ducks had been seen here, and they were definitely on my needs list. I have tracked this in different ways in the past in other blogs, sometimes making the needs list a regularly updated post. I'm going to see if there's a way I can do it that captures my current needs, my current list, and some sense of how those have changed during the year. Another note for the reader - the parenthetical numbers will just be my running total for the year in Douglas as I find new birds for the list.
A couple of other new birds popped up here, Bald Eagle (68), and Red-winged Blackbird (69). Neither of these were birds I expected to be difficult for the year, and Bald Eagles showed up on numerous stops during the weekend. Plenty of other ducks were on the lake, including Ruddy Duck, Mallard, Canvasback, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, American Wigeon, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, and Common Merganser. This is such an easy stop off of the highway, and so productive - definitely worth a stop for anyone passing through.
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| Hideaway Lake |
Hideaway Lake was the next stop. It was starting to ice over a little - perhaps the very thing that pushed the Wood Ducks closer to the Columbia. It was a little quieter this time than it had been in January, although I was able to find a Hermit Thrush (70). The thrush, and numerous other birds were munching on fruits from Russian Olive trees:
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| Russian Olive |
The camera and I had a slight disagreement about where to focus here. but instead of calling this blurry, we'll call it an "artistic" shot, and I honestly don't mind the effect, even if it was a little unintentional. These trees were planted to provide food for wintering wildlife in Eastern Washington. While they have certainly overrun some places, there's no doubt that they have at least succeeded in providing some calories. The Hermit Thrush, at least would agree.
Warming Up
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| The Rock Bar and Grill - Rock Island |
When I arrived in town, there was no snow coming down, and the roads were pretty clean. It did start to sprinkle some flakes down, and it was awfully cold. I stopped at The Rock, a local bar and grill, unsure of whether I was just doing take-out, or sitting down for a bit. When I expressed my lack of certainty, the owner smiled and invited me to The Porch.
It had taken a while, of course, to complete the set-up, but this open air seating was a comfortable 70 degrees, and had 4-5 busy tables spread around. It was just what I needed before I made my way off to my evening "lodging". I took a seat, and ordered the double BLT, a decision I regretted not at all.
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Even with the noise from other tables, the television, and the repurposed solid rocket booster from the Space Shuttle program, I was able to strike up a conversation with a guy from the adjacent table. It turned out he was a trucker, stopping for a meal while his co-driver finished up her day of sleep. The two of them traveled a good bit of the country, trading off shifts like that to basically drive around the clock.
On this trip, they had just arrived to pick up some apples across the river in Wenatchee. But this was one of his favorite stops. This was interesting to me. It's a big country, and a pretty big state! With all of the traveling, it seems like all of the different stops could make the food stops blur. But Fernando (my conversational partner for an hour or so of my evening) had noted that a lot of truck stop diners were just full of fast food, greasy food, etc. This stop (and another stop in the state - a Mexican restaurant in Spokane) stood out for him as having Actual Good Food, and friendly service. I can personally attest that if you like a good BLT, a warm place to sit on a winter day, and waitresses that call you "Hon", The Rock is not a bad place to stop.
Conversation ran from parenting to birds to politics to career choices before I decided to head up the road. I got an elbow bump from Fernando on the way out, and realized how infrequently I've enjoyed this ridiculous replacement for the handshake during quarantine. Most people have fallen into the category of in-my-bubble-hug-please or out-of-my-bubble-stay-away-thank-you. But after an hour of chatting, we wandered into that middle ground where. . . I mean it would be rude not to bump an elbow.
"Lodging"
I had plans to meet up with Matt, a birder from Grant County, near Bridgeport the next morning. Frugality, comfort, and logistics had come together and held palaver on this. Having stayed two nights in a hotel on my previous trip, comfort had to take a back seat in the discussion - and I decided to take a back seat for my lodging - specifically the back seat of my car.
The nearest state parks to Bridgeport would have added to my trip, and I wasn't sure how well plowed they might be, so I made an unexpected (well. . . to anyone but me?) decision to park at the Wal-Mart Supercenter just outside of Chelan. They offer their parking lots for this exact purpose, and I was not the only car there as I rolled in around 8.
Tucked into my sleeping bag I stayed nice and warm despite the temperatures outside the car, which reached the teens. I can't say what the temperature was inside my car, but it wasn't toasty! Still, a slightly cold nose was a small price to pay for an expense-free night, especially given my plans to get up pretty early the next day.
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