Thursday, September 17, 2015

Last Stop in Washington

On Sunday a very short drive took us to the Lake Sprague RV Park, in Sprague, WA. I had no idea what to expect other than a park right on the lake.

Sprague was a small burg with a downtown of large, lovely buildings, a neighborhood of bungalows and  two-story Victorians, a beautiful brick church on the hill, and a couple roadside stops on the highway.

Watching over what's left of the little town
The only thing left is the gas station and burger stop on the highway, the old market downtown, about two dozen houses, a bank, and the church. All of downtown is boarded up, half of it closed to any street access, it feels more like a movie set.

This lot had about 30 very cool, old cars and trucks
Remember little places like The Viking?
Dying downtown
We had the park to ourselves with the delightful woman who lives in her house on the property (ring the doorbell if you need anything), and maintains everything on her own. She is a delight and one reason we would stay there again.

The other is how pretty it is. After our off-ramp location for the last week, this grassy site beside the water was perfect. Quail, duck, geese and pelicans entertained us while the sunsets were beautiful.

Lake side in Sprague, WA
So funny looking
Serene evenings
The geology of the area is unique and we spent our one day driving around the rock outcroppings and through the rolling hills of plowed wheat fields. It is all fenced, private range land so we could only enjoy it from the car with almost no places to pull off for photos. The tall rock walls in the distance looked like rows of large Tootsie Rolls - very different!





We are taking Hwy 395 to SoCal and could have driven into Oregon on our first leg. Most would have.

But we are living this life because we want to see things we haven't seen before. We would have missed this pretty little lake, the interesting landscape, and the small dying town looking like it has so many stories to tell.

12 comments:

  1. I love your lakeside spot. It's not often we get the perfect spot but when we do, we've learned to appreciate the view. You've certainly done a lot in Washington. It'll be interesting to see where you go from here.

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    1. I thought I'd really blown it when we drove through town, but the park was a winner and we loved it. We feel like we did a lot too :-) Would love to give that much "attention" to every state eventually.

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  2. Love these unusual off the beaten path stops! That sunset shot on the RV is beautiful!

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    1. They're our favorites too :-) We always say "I bet this isn't on anyone's bucket list!" Thanks Lisa :-)))))

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  3. What a gorgeous sunset shot. Love your site. You find the most interesting out of the way sounding places? Any idea why the town is doing so poorly? Surprised some antique car buffs aren't towing those oldies off and restoring them.

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    1. Couldn't find any info on the demise, the area is mostly rangeland and grain fields. The cars were so cool, I thought the same thing about a collector having a field day. There was another lot with maybe two dozen old dodge one ton trucks that were cool too! We love these quirky little spots :-))))

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  4. I love places like that, Jodee. I'll bet you could sit outside your rig and just listen to the wind. Nothing better, in my book.

    Jim

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    1. Absolutely! Love the sound of the wind in the cottonwood trees. It is a pretty magical spot with so many birds to watch as well.

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  5. Looks like my kind of town especially with a place to park at the lake. Something mysterious about the golden rolling hills in that part of the country.

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    1. I agree, they are so different than any place I've seen.

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  6. That's exactly why we're traveling this way, too -- so that we can discover interesting and little-known places far off the beaten track. That looks like such a lovely spot you found by the lake! Wonderful sunset shot reflecting off of your home.

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    1. Thank you Laurel. We do love finding these gems :-)

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