Wenatchee offers visitors breathtaking dose of tranquility

I‘m always telling my husband John that when I “buy the farm” – i.e. croak – I hope that besides people thinking what a nut job I was as they sift through my journals and personal belongings, they also think: “What a beautiful garden she left.”

I have a long ways to go. We’re still trying to figure out the best routine for watering, and motivation is lacking on my part when it comes to weeding. It’s really hot out there.

But dogged determination – and hard work from lots of green thumbs – have made Wenatchee a beautiful, bountiful land of contrast.

Amid the hot, dry desert, blocks of green orchards line the Columbia River. From its lively downtown to its shady parks, Wenatchee combines warmth and coolness. And being home to art, apples and cool aqua make it a place we’ve purposefully roamed to on many occasions.

Driving east on U.S. 2, you pass through miles of golden wheat in Central Washington before reaching Wenatchee, dubbed the Apple Capital of the World.

It is here that the landscape begins to change and all around is a constant contrast of green and brown. Apple, pear, cherry and apricot orchards line the banks and cover the benchland above the river.

Before dams on the Columbia, people struggled to bring water to their orchards and hayfields. According to my favorite travel book, “Exploring Washington’s Past: A Road Guide to History” by Ruth Kirk and Carmela Alexander (University of Washington Press, 1995), settlers in the mid-1880s began digging irrigation ditches, building vertical water wheels and even hauling water “a bucketful per tree” to parched orchards and gardens.

Jacob Shotwell built the first irrigation ditch capable of watering a large piece of acreage. Irrigation development continued and in 1908 a bridge was completed that took people, wagons and water across the Columbia. From these early efforts, as well as railroad and steamboat construction, Wenatchee began to grow.

I think of today’s Wenatchee as a “small-big town.” It’s growing and bursting with new retail and restaurant chains. Yet the town’s park is full of friendly people and several downtown cafés and eateries are locally owned and operated.

The air was hazy and temperatures were sweltering during our most recent visit. Locals flocked to the water’s edge at Riverfront Park. John followed our dog, Kah-less, down a steep bank to the river.

A young man who looked to be in his early twenties asked me if our dog bit. I said no.

“Well, I hate to cut in here, but I’ve gotta cool off,” he said. He pulled his T-shirt over his head and joined John and Kah-less in the water.

We ate lunch in the humid shade near an old barn that sits beside a small creek that feeds into the Columbia.

The location was once home to Ed and Josephine Lindston. Ed settled in the Wenatchee Valley and wed Josephine in the early 1900s. He built the barn in the 1930s.

The lower level, dug into a bank, served as hay storage and a stall for a Jersey cow. The first floor was a workshop and blacksmith shop that Lindston used to make home repairs and to build boats and inventions, according to a plaque that now hangs on the exterior.

Historical photos show where the home once stood; public restrooms are there now.

People walked, ran, biked and rollerbladed past us as they followed the Apple Capital Loop Trail, a 10-mile, paved route that runs along the shores of the Columbia and includes the 1908 irrigation bridge.

Not far from the Lindston Barn lies downtown Wenatchee, where historic buildings still stand and many are used by a variety of modern businesses. Interpretive signs and pictures describe the history of the community, local industry and transportation.

Terra cotta bricks laid in the 1930s remain on some side streets. They replaced creosote-soaked wooden bricks laid in 1913, which merchants thought would be quieter than carriages and horses clomping across terra cotta.

The wooden bricks posed other problems: In winter, they sometimes popped out of place and caused motorcars to overturn.

Stone and bronze sculptures are scattered about the town and the riverfront – part of Art on the Avenues ( www.artontheavenues.org), a project to secure and share art in public spaces. Some pieces are on loan; others are permanent installations.

During a previous visit to Wenatchee, Kah-less investigated a statute of Coyote reading a bubble gum wrapper outside the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Kah-less concluded Coyote, who often played the trickster in Native American legends, meant him no harm.

After lunch, we headed to Ohme Gardens north of Wenatchee. High on a bluff overlooking the river, the gardens are a lush collection of trees, flowers and other vegetation.

They were originally the beginnings of a yard for Herman and Ruth Ohme, who married in 1929 and purchased 40 acres to become orchardists.

After a day in the orchards, the couple would enjoy the view from the high bluff and decided it would be a good locale for a house. However, because of the Depression, banks weren’t loaning money. The Ohmes decided to start on their yard while they waited for the economy to improve.

From the nearby Cascade Mountains, they hauled trees, ferns and bushes up to the bluff for transplanting. They drove truckloads of water in five-gallon milk cans up to the arid spot. Rock found along the Columbia River and on mountain outcrops was quarried and lugged to the “back yard in progress.”

Ten years later, residents’ curiosity stirred about this patch of green on the hill. Word spread and folks began stopping by to check it out.

Five hundred people showed up one Sunday after an article in the local paper. Finally in 1939, Herman opened the gardens to the public, charging 25 cents a carload.

Their son Gordon took an interest in maintaining the gardens, expanding them and installing a sprinkler system. Today, Ohme Gardens is part of the Washington state park system and the nine acres of alpine beauty is managed through an agreement with Chelan County.

John and Kah-less dropped me off at the gardens’ entrance; John had other business in Wenatchee and pets are prohibited. Not to hurt their feelings, but it was nice to explore the gardens alone and sit by quiet pools and waterfalls. The cool rock bench was soothing to my skin, which was beginning to tan in the sun.

On one of the lawns, Scottish natives Maggie Hamilton and Barbara Harvey ended their tour with a digital movie saying “hello” to people back home in Glasgow. They were visiting relatives Joe and Connie White of Cashmere, who have been to the gardens more than a dozen times, Connie guessed, including special events such as wine tastings.

Connie said she wanted Hamilton and Harvey to experience the magnificent view as part of their three-week holiday to the States.

“It’s very pleasing, and plenty of shade,” said Harvey – something we all were looking for that hot day.

“It’s quite tranquil; an oasis,” added Hamilton.

Stone paths lead up and down the hillside into groves of trees. Huge hostas bloom on the edges of fish ponds.

Before I left, I went back to some of my favorite spots for one last look. I wanted to remember the breathtaking scenes, the clusters of cone flowers and ferns, the vistas of the river valley below.

I heard Kah-less barking in the parking lot – the signal that my ride was ready. In the car, I scanned through gorgeous scenery on my digital camera, saying “Wow!” over and over.

The gardens were a stunning ending to a hot, summer tour of Wenatchee. Now I’m looking forward to my next trip in the fall for apple harvest and cooler temperatures.