I spent this weekend on the road. It was absolutely great! I wanted to get out of Seattle, listen to some live music, ride, smell the forest, write, think, etc. etc. It's sooooo liberating to be on the road. It's refreshing to meet new people, dance, philosophize, and put life into perspective 🙂

In all my travels, I make a point of not going fast, of not getting stressed about seeing everything, of not falling into the "tourist traps". I take my time, I walk, I observe. I try to create a 360 degree view of the place I visit, of the culture, of the people, of their day-to-day lives. I found a parallel earlier today while riding. I realized that sometimes the best views are those that you see in the mirror. One has to stop and look back. The experience might be surprising. The planned road ahead may not be the one that you want to capture in a photograph 🙂

Isn't this absolutely what we need to be doing with our lives as well? 🙂 Turn back, examine our past, cherish it, absorb every single aspect of it, learn from it, and then continue to move forward? :-)))

Anyway...

The Saturday ride from Seattle took me west on highway 2 towards Lake Chelan. I'd done that route before and, as always, the views were amazing. Some red colors are starting to appear in the forest. It's going to be gorgeous in few weeks (I am going to visit Leavenworth with friends for their Oktoberfest celebrations there, once I get back from Europe :-).

I was planning to eat at Leavenworth but due to a detour, I ended up continuing until I reached Lake Chelan. The sun was absolutely gorgeous. I sat on the grass at a park, overlooking the little harbor and the lake, and absorbed as much of it as I could 🙂 Then on to lunch... while the ciabata burger was nothing special, I enjoyed one of my favorite appetizers (shrimp cocktail :-).
 

Then, I set to find the "Wild Rose Bed and Breakfast". Despite my GPS's best attempts (it took me to Chelan Falls... 3mi away), I finally found it 🙂 A gorgeous, 1800's small house. It was a very pleasant stay but the breakfast was poor in the morning 🙁
  

I walked around the town a bit. It was funny to see the locals playing a "wedding game" out in the open.

Then, it was about time to find and spend few hours at the "Rhythms of the Lake Music Fest". It was very disappointing to see that there weren't many people around. Apparently the night before it was packed and even though the price included both days/nights, people didn't return. I was told that the wind had scared people away. I could barely notice the wind but, apparently, that's not the norm so many decided to skip the second day of the festival 🙁 Too bad really because the music was excellent.

The setting was amazing... a small, natural amphitheater and the lake in the background.

The bands I saw...

• Champagne Sunday: They were awesome. They gave up their lives in LA to tour and try to make it big. I wish them all the best. They have great energy and cool songs. I bought a couple of their CDs to support them. Their mashup of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" with Pink Floyd's "The Wall" was fun 🙂
• Red Means Go: College kids. Extremely good energy and I think very very promising. I got their CD and even have all their autographs on it 🙂
• Debra Arlyn: Incredible voice. She and her band were indeed professional musicians, one could easily tell. They were headlining. We all danced to their music 🙂

I met few people there and we danced for about an hour at the end. It felt sooooo good! 🙂
  

And here are a couple of evening photos from Lake Chelan...
 

On Sunday, I just wanted to enjoy the long ride back home. I was mainly on highway 20 going west. I stopped many times to enjoy the landscape, to smell nature, to take it all in. It was fab!

On the way, I stopped at Winthrop and even though I wasn't hungry, I just had to eat at the "Duck Brand Inn" 🙂

 

 

Here's the route I followed.

I am sooooo doing the Cascade Loop again 🙂