ISO: Recommendations along the North Cascade Hwy

[daves]

I'm planning a short roadtrip for a bunch of guys from Seattle to the North Cascade Highway, east through the Methow valley, south to Chelan, and then back to Seattle through Stevens Pass. This might be 2 days, but it is likely to be compressed into a single long day of lots of driving, eating, and looking at the Cascades. It will also be on a weekday if that makes a difference.

We're looking for food or picnic ideas along that route. If we do this in the single day, we're thinking lunch will be somewhere Winthrop or Twisp, but we'd like to avoid the touristy thing (even though we're tourists). Dinner will probably be in Leavenworth.

Any recommendations of interesting places along the route, and even places to avoid? Everyone is adventuous, everyone loves great food, and I'd prefer that we be chain- and touristy-free.

[kiliki]

My favorite food on this route are the ice cream and shakes at the Cascadian Farm stand near Rockport (you can't miss it). They make the ice cream from the organic berries they grow there. I like the Cinnamon Twisp bakery in Twisp as well. Neither of these fit the bill for a lunch stop but I can't really recommend

anything else in the area (I've had tons of meals at different places that were okay but nothing I'd point anyone too). It's too bad the food at the Duck Brand Inn isn't better since they have such a nice deck area. It's okay, just not great. I have friends that always make a stop at the Twisp Brewing Company after a hike in the area, and say they have decent dinners, but I haven't been. Lol, there is no way you'll avoid tourists in those places (though the brewing company is a local hangout too).

Edited June 24, 2008 by kiliki (log)

[daves]

Thanks for the suggestions.

We ended up doing the trip in a single long day midweek. Total time: 14 hours (8.5 hours driving). 411 miles. Very cool to go from Seattle weather to the passes (still snow on the side of the roads at Rainy, Washington, and Stevens passes) to the desert on the east side of the state.

As noted, there wasn't much of a selection of food on the route. We ended up buying picnic supplies in a grocery store in Darrington, and then stopped at one of the lookouts on the way to Rainy summit. Lunch in the middle of the Cascades overlooking Diablo lake was pretty cool (both view-wise and temperature-wise).

Dinner in Leavenworth was pretty good for our yearly ration of Bavarian food, although I'm still trying to find a place that serves potato-and-bread dumplings (Kartoffelkloesse?) instead of spaztle.

We passed the Cascadian Farm stand just past the 530/20 interchange, but we decided not to pull over. They had quite a crowd there already, but we didn't want to stop again before lunch.