I don’t know about you guys, but I am ready for summer! I know that we still have plenty of 50-degree weather and rain ahead of us, but in Western Washington I feel like it is good to start planning your summer trips early since all the good spots tend to book up incredibly fast one warmer weather starts showing up.
We are super into the PNW outdoor scene, and like to make sure we plan at least a few trips to Eastern Washington each year so we can enjoy the feeling of a nice, hot summer. This trip was our first summer with a baby, and we were feeling a little nervous at the idea of camping with a 5-month old. I’m sure were we were mostly nervous because we were new parents, but there are still so many variables at that point. I don’t know if it will get too cold at night, we have no idea if she is allergic to anything (bee stings, bug bites, etc.), so our confidence in a super rugged trip just wasn’t there.
My husband came up with a great plan to ease our first-time parent jitters – why not have fun and “Glamp” instead of camp? Glamping is super in right now, so what the heck, lets just jump on the bandwagon and try it out too 🙂
We decided to give Lake Chelan a break since it seems like we are always there, and try out a new location with a different drive. We settled on the Methow Valley which is near Winthrop, WA, after finding this cute chalet and campsite. They have two options: safari-type tents with cots, or raised condo-style chalets… the chalets were sold out so we grabbed a Methow Tent reservation and headed east.
The drive was incredibly beautiful. On the way, we passed by this gem called “Diablo Lake”, which we had never heard of before making this trip. It is a glacial lake that is ICE COLD, but the view is breathtaking. The water appears to be a bright, ice blue color. We stopped at the top of Diablo Dam to take a break from driving and snap a few photos.
We arrived at the Methow Tents, checked in and went to ‘set up camp’. It was a super quaint little cul-de-sac of these canvas tents, and they were all named so you could identify which one you were staying in. Something about the setup reminded me of the movie Moonrise Kingdom, so I was especially enamored by the location. There were cots in each, picnic tables out front, then a fire pit at the end of the strip of tents. There also was a big trailer that has been converted into bathrooms, with civilized toilets and hot running water for sinks and showers.
We headed into Winthrop that night for dinner, and to fill a few growlers that we brought with us. We decided on the Old Schoolhouse Brewery and were pleased with the results, with the staff being super friendly and the beers awesome. The “Uncle Big’s Brown” was my favorite. With our bellies full and a few growlers to sip off after kiddo went to bed, we headed back to the campsite.
Sadly, we were there during a burn ban so campfires weren’t allowed, but we still had a good time and the camp was well lit. The temps did drop pretty significantly overnight, so someone ended up crashing in bed with me 🙂
The next morning, we ventured back into town and had fun walking up and down the main street checking out shops. We brought the Ergo carrier which ended up getting too hot for us, so we just too turns carrying munchkin and playing tourist.
On the way back, we couldn’t help buy stop at Diablo Lake again to dip our toes in. There is a first-come, first-serve campsite there that we drove through so we could pick out of future favorite campsite for next year :). Lots of the sites are only a short walk through the forest to the lake, so we mingled down to dip our toes in. COLD! But fun. If we were to do this trip again we would stay longer in the tents and plan a day or two where we headed to the river or Diablo Lake for swimming and kayaking. Such a fun easy weekend and I recommend it to all you PNW-ers!
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