Suncadia Sunday

We decided to go for a little drive on Sunday. The weather was fantastic, we were at loose ends and the dog needed a walk. All great reasons to get out of the house. We are still kind of in awe of the fact that we can drive less than an hour an be somewhere fun. In Houston if you drive less than an hour you are still...IN Houston. 

Our plan was to do a little hiking, view/take pictures of the fall leaves (since we are so unused to seeing them) and pretty much lazing around. When I say "plan" I don't really mean a real plan, it was more like a "let's do anything except housework" plan. 

We drove up to the Cle Elum farmers market but didn't stop. Why didn't we stop when we are avid farmers market goers? Because their market is all of three stalls. It might be the time of year. Our farmers market has gotten smaller since we got here in September. It stands to reason since the season is winding down. I want to go back up to Cle Elum in the future to check out their old buildings. I can never get enough of old buildings.

We made our way up to Roslyn. Do any of you remember the TV show Northern Exposure? It was shot in Roslyn. Yes, the Brick tavern is still there. I hear their cemetery is amazing. We'll be heading up there again before the snow flies. As I've said in the past (maybe not to Y'all but definately out loud) I seek dead people. (name that movie reference)

We ended up back in Cle Elum at the Suncadia Resort. We had never been there before since it has only got started after we left the state almost 10 years ago. It is funny how things change but also stay the same. We'll have to explore that existential thought later. Suncadia is built on an old coal mine site. It is a very nice use for what was in the past a very ugly place. 

Let me give you a little tour. 

First thing when we drove in we saw this sign. It tickled our fancy that they were very specific about how fast you could drive. FYI, this is the fastest speed limit in the whole place. All the rest of the signs say 15 miles per hour.

We were looking for the lodge but what we came across was their winery and restaurant. We had to stop. It was a moral imperative. After inquiring as to whether Nessa could sit on the patio with us while partook of food and drink and getting a resounding YES! We stayed for a little late lunch.

This is the view for the patio. Golf course to mountains. I'll take it any day.

JR got all relaxed. Which isn't hard for him these days since he has embraced the retiree lifestyle with a bit more gusto than I would like. That beer in his hand was $3 dollars. Turns out during football season they specials on flatbread pizza (1/2 price) and libations.

So we ordered away. I ordered red wine, of course. Next time, I plan to order beer thus saving us $7. While the wine was good I just didn't think it was $7 better than the beer JR had. We also ordered two different flatbread pizzas, one was a heirloom tomato drizzled with balsamic vinegar. 

Declaration: Let it be known all across Princess Micheleland that all tomato pizzas will be drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

The other pizza was roasted vegetable with a white cream sauce. It was good but there was a fight brewing as to who was going to get the last pieces of the tomato. 

 The whole time that we were basking in the cool fall sunshine Nessa was resting at my feet. It was amazingly bucolic. So much so the JR has announced that we will be doing it again this weekend if the whether permits.

After our repast we went for a little walk. Along with the golf course Suncadia has miles of walking/biking trails. We decided on the art walk because a. it is short and b. it was supposed to take us to the elusive lodge. No lodge was found but we loved the walk. 

The fall foliage was in full color.

So we'll be heading up there again this Sunday for half priced food and beer. Then maybe we'll take Lacy and Josh (friends in Alaska but moving to Hawaii) up there for fun. 

How did you spend your weekend?

Stay groovy,
Michele