Patched

Completely ignoring common sense and with no consideration whatsoever to expense, at 11:30 am Thursday, September 8th by one 60 second phone call the decision was made to go shopping in Bothel, Washington - only 800 miles away.

No problem - just a quick jaunt by our standards. I secured Friday and Monday off work and we hit the road at 4:30 pm.

Doreen is renovating her kitchen and her basic theme is roosters. Surfing the internet, she found a unique store in Bothel, Washington that she just had to visit. By the time we got back home, we had shopped at the Weed Patch in Bothel, the Pumpkin Patch in Wenatchee, and the Huckleberry Patch in Hungry Horse, Montana. We were definitely patched!!

• Bothel
• Columbia River
• Country Village
• Edmonds
• Glacier National Park

• Huckleberry Patch
• Hungry Horse, MT
• Lake Roosevelt
• Leavenworth

• Pumpkin Patch
• Roodie
• Village Roosters
• Weed Patch

Doreen was planning the trip to Bothel but not until the following week. Originally, when she asked me if I wanted to go my answer was no. Then I guess the idea grew on mer and I phoned her on Thursday morning with "let's go today". A quick clean of the car, grocery shopping, a fuel up and we were ready to go. We knew we were pressed a bit for daylight but figured we could reach Fernie or Cranbrook easily.

It was almost dark when we got to Fernie but we decided to do the extra hour to Cranbrook, get up early in the morning and hopefully reach Bothel by the next night. We stayed at the Best Western and set the alarm for 6 am. Yikes!

Unfortunately there was no malfunction. The alarm went off at 6 am. Doreen was up and off to Timmies while I had my shower and make myself beautiful for the long drive. We were on the road before 7 am.

We stopped for gas and and breakfast sandwich in Salmo and that's where our plans got derailed. We were going to stop for borsch in Grand Forks (well, Doreen anyway) and drop down to the States from there. After eating the breakfast sandwich, we knew we wouldn't be hungry by the time we got to Grand Forks so took hwy 22A through the Waneta crossing south of Fruitvale into the States instead.

Columbia River

Travelling along the Columbia River is not new for us but along Highway 25 was new territory. The highway is a beautiful twisting drive following along the Columbia River ending at Davenport at which point we connected to hwy 2.

Lake Roosevelt

Grand Coulee Dam was created in 1942 and the water that backed up behind it created Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake. The lake is 154 miles long with 660 miles of shorline. The water level was very low. The docks were completely out of water and the shoreline was at least 20 feet down.

We are used to (flat) wheat fields but these fields covering miles and miles of rolling foothills were a new sight for us.

The east/west prairie drive was flat and boring but went by fast enough not to get annoying. We continued on Highway 2 and turned north west into the mountains at Wenatchee.

Leavenworth

We passed through Leavenworth, Washington mid afternoon. Leavenworth looked really interesting and we actually debated staying there for the night. However, with the short time available to us, we decided to put Leavenworth on our ever growing "to do" list.

The next area was a fruit tree belt. The closer we got to the coast the, lusher the vegetation got and we could "smell" the moist air - a unique experience for us. The sun was shining. It couldn't get better.

Bothel, Washington

We arrived in Bothel area around 6:30 pm but spent the next half hour looking for the Country Village. Finally we pulled over and let GPS guide us there. It turned out that we were actually on the right road about 4 blocks shy of where we needed to be.

The Country Village was everything we could have imagined plus some. A huge chicken at the gate greeted us and the entire village was just screaming " come spend your money - this is the place to be". We were only too happy to oblige.

Country Village

You know you are at Country Village when you see a 15 foot chicken off the Bothell Everett Highway! This famous roadside chicken and egg built by the 83 year old owner of Country Village, Rod Loveless, stands at the entrance to his Bothell shopping center.

"Chickens have long been a corporate symbol for the family-owned shopping center that's as different from a strip mall as an omelet is from a bowl of cereal. There are no chain stores among the 40 shops in the 26-year-old Country Village that's like a quirky little town perched between I-405 and downtown Bothell."

Seattle Times

The Weed Patch

To our delight, the Weed Patch was still open and we had a heyday shopping for the next hour. By the time we were finished, the stock was drastically reduced. They definitely saw us coming.

The Weed Patch

Roodie

Just as we were leaving the Weed Patch, I noticed a (ceramic) rooster laying on top of a bale of hay. I got back out of the car to see how much it cost thinking I might want it for a door stop.

I just about jumped out of my skin when the rooster actually moved!! Meet Roodie!! The next day Doreen bought a rooster at the Cranberry Cottage and named him Roodie. We ate supper at the Italian restaurant in the Village - a good end to a totally relaxing day.

The Village Roosters

We found out more about the Roosters the next day. There were a lot more than our animated Roodie. The roosters, along with ducks, free run through the village and were giving us quite a show when we arrived the next morning - each outdoing the cock-a-doodle-do of the other.

"Someone gave me three roosters at a garage sale. I brought them here and let them go. They became pets." Rod Loveless

The three roosters were joined by chickens, ducks and geese and other fowl — a playful addition he thought would add to the farm like charm. His daughter, Leeann Tesorieri, who manages Country Village says they're constantly discouraging animal donations. Over the years the family has had to find homes for a pot-bellied pig, a number of rabbits and even a guinea pig in a cage left outside the office.

Several of the store owners feed the roosters and we arrived at feeding time.

We shopped for about 3 hours then said good-bye to our new friends at the Weed Patch with promises to return.

Edmonds, Washington

Edmonds is a sea port 15 miles north of Seattle in Snohomish County. The population was 39,709 in 2010.

Logger George Brackett came to the future site of Edmonds while paddling a canoe north of Seattle, searching for timber. When a gust of wind hit his canoe, Brackett beached in a location later called "Brackett's Landing".

The town was named Edmonds in 1884, but was not incorporated until 1890 as an official "village fourth class" of Snohomish County. In that same year, Brackett sold 455 acres to the Minneapolis Realty and Investment Company. The town was plotted and a wharf was added along the waterfront. Modest houses and commercial structures sprouted up with a row of shingle mills dominating the cityscape. By 1900 there was regular passenger ferry service available by the steam-powered "mosquito fleet" of private ferryboats from Edmonds to Seattle. Edmonds suffered major fires in 1909 and 1928.

The Pumpkin Patch

Just south of Wenatchee we saw a unique store. After a quick about face - we stopped for a while, shopped for souvenirs, fruit and smoothies and headed on our way.

It was beginning to look like another day lost messing around but we would be in I-90 soon and could make up some time.

The Huckleberry Patch

The Huckleberry Patch is Montana's original huckleberry cannery. First known as Willow's Wildberry Farm, the business has operated as The Huckleberry Patch for nearly 20 years. The Huckleberry Patch produces quality, made-from-scratch products in it's canning facility located on-site in Hungry Horse, Montana, only miles from Glacier National Park!

The Huckleberry Patch has been using the same recipes for our quality preserves, jellies, and syrups for over 50 years. The made in the USA products start with wild huckleberries which are hand picked and processed without any artificial colors or flavorings.

The Huckleberry Patch

Glacier National Park

This was the last weekend before Glacier National Park would be closing for the season. Fortunately for us, the weather was perfect as we sailed over the top. The snow measuring poles were already in place at the Visitor's Centre.