The majestic Methow
Don’t tell anyone else.
Everything I knew about the Methow Valley I’d heard on the KPBX-FM arts calendar. I was aware, for instance, that they have a little art gallery up there and they put on some plays at the Merc Playhouse.
Nothing prepared me, however, for the valley’s startling beauty or its utterly exuberant spirit. I suppose nobody mentioned any of that to keep people like me from rolling into town and spoiling a very fine thing. So please keep it under your hat.
Sad to say, my brother Forrest and our friend Teresa have latched right on to the valley’s charms. And they’re not exactly staying quiet.
The raving began the minute we checked into Sun Mountain Lodge near Winthrop.
“The view just calls you. It looks like a painting,” Teresa said. “It has an instant calming feel to it.”
Forrest, never one to let the little things escape notice, couldn’t stop admiring the room long enough to look outside.
“The detailing is amazing,” he said. “The metalwork, the woodwork, the nuances of the colors and the textures – all of it – it’s very well thought out.”
When we finally managed to direct Forrest’s attention toward the windows, he did get quite excited – but only because they’re wood clad, whatever that means. The short story is this: Sun Mountain Lodge does things right.
And we’re not the only ones who think so. Joe Gaskins, a guest we met on the lodge’s deck, was back with his family for his fourth visit.
“It’s a gem. You just don’t want to leave,” he said.
“We like to hike. A lot of the lakes have paved paths and you can go on your wheelchair,” he added, gesturing to his own.
I took two long, hard hikes during our visit and saw maybe three other human beings, several not-particularly-concerned deer and a veritable chipmunk convention.
With 3,000 acres to work with, Sun Mountain provides access to a bounty of well-marked trails — more than 100 miles’ worth — maintained year-round by the Methow Valley Sport Trails Association, the Okanogan National Forest, the Wolf Creek Reclamation District and the lodge itself. Summer hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding give way to cross-country skiing when the snow falls.
The lodge’s stable rents horses for trail rides and organizes “Cowboy Camp Dinners” and “Buckaroo Breakfasts” for groups. Rates start at $30 for an hour-and-a-half ride.
Sore cowpokes can limber up with a hot river rock massage in the spa, which also offers facials, manicures, pedicures, hair care and something called “Sun Mountain Citrus Serenity.” The latter runs $85 for a 60-minute treatment, but if that’s all it takes to achieve serenity, why not?
Having exhausted their exploration of our room, Forrest and Teresa tackled the rest of the lodge, nudging their noses behind closed doors and grilling everyone they came across. This is how they met Hector Garibay, Sun Mountain’s director of food and beverage, and shortly thereafter dragged me to the wine cellar to hear what he had to say.
The cellar seats 14 for wine tastings, rehearsal dinners, winemaker dinners and other special events. More than 5,000 bottles from about 500 different labels lie in wait along the walls in iron racks made at a local forge. The room’s stonework and hefty cherry wood table also came from valley craftsmen.
Originally from Spain, Garibay has been in the Methow for five years. “We support the local people,” he said. “Sixty-five percent of what you see here is Washington wine.”
Sun Mountain’s advocacy for the homegrown — right down to the three small paintings outside the lobby restrooms, produced by area children and titled “A cat,” “A butterfly” and “A person having big feet” — reflects a community-wide sentiment.
The Twisp Farmers’ Market, held on Saturday mornings from April through October in the parking lot of the Methow Valley Community Center, burgeons with fruit, vegetables, flowers, baked goods, juice and crafts all made or grown by the seller.
“The vendors are all local,” said Katie Bristol, co-owner of Cinnamon Twisp Bakery. “We buy our grain from Windsong Farm in Okanogan Valley. It’s all organic dry land wheat. We feel strongly about organic farming methods and it appeals to our customers as well.”
I can’t speak for the rest of their customers, but what appealed to us were the thick slabs of artichoke heart and feta pizza. It appealed to us so much, in fact, we made a pilgrimage to the bakery’s storefront operation and stocked up on granola, bagels, little mushroom-filled pastries, and some sort of fudge and oatmeal bar. It’s the kind of place where the staff knows all the regulars by name and remembers just how everyone likes their coffee.
Right down the street, Confluence Gallery & Art Center serves up another brand of local feast. The community’s artists cooked up this nonprofit venue 18 years ago as a place to show their own work and see that of others.
Its seven exhibits a year are entirely conceived, organized and hung by a committee of volunteers. Sybil Macapia, the gallery’s coordinator, said many of the shows draw inspiration from the valley itself.
“People come here for the environment, to be in this kind of space. We keep coming back to it,” she said.
“The serenity of it is extremely important. We’re so struck with this environment.”
Confluence Gallery isn’t the only venue where locals can express their relationship with their surroundings, Macapia said.
“Many restaurants, offices, tons of places, exhibit the work of local artists,” she said. Then she sent us to the nearby Fiddlehead Bistro to see Steve Ward’s metal pieces.
Ward, a cook in the back under self-taught chef and co-owner Traci Day, started exploring his artistic side about a year ago. Today, Fiddlehead Bistro displays both of his talents to good effect.
“Life here is good,” he said.
Before launching Fiddlehead Bistro with host and co-owner John Bonica, Day ran a breakfast and lunch joint.
“John was a customer and he would come in when I was baking bread at 5:30 in the morning and have coffee,” she said.
The two got to talking and before long they were in business.
“It was so exciting to begin to imagine what a great restaurant would look like,” Bonica said. “It really is the best job I’ve ever had.”
And Day and Bonica do it well. The Fiddlehead’s plank-floor, exposed-brick decor, live music and fabulous food blend together beautifully.
We assembled a dinner of appetizers including Asian pear salad, shrimp curry with grilled pita, and hot garlic potato chips (“They’re making junk food really, really tasty,” Forrest said).
Teresa went for a dessert that left even her almost speechless. “The chunks of blueberry. The lemon cheesecake,” she sputtered. “Oh, man.”
At the end of the night, the dishwasher came out and sang a few numbers, further delighting us and proving what Katie Bristol of the Cinnamon Twisp Bakery had told us earlier: “People have an adventurous spirit here. They’re up for anything.”
We couldn’t leave the valley without exploring Winthrop, Twisp’s thematic next-door neighbor. A “Westernization” ordinance passed in 1972 requires the town’s storefronts and signage to hearken back to the Old West.
The Ol’ Miner, an animatronic fortuneteller, sits near Sheri’s Sweet Shoppe, a candy/caramel corn/ice cream/hot dog/miniature golf outfit in the grand tradition of the Wild West. It’s run by Doug Mohre, president of the Winthrop Chamber of Commerce.
“Our whole mission in life is to save people’s lives with candy and ice cream,” he said, as he tended the popcorn machine. “Anything that’s bad for you, we’ve got it. We make 28 of the 43 ice cream flavors we serve. We don’t have time to make them all. We go insane as it is.”
It isn’t busy all the time, Mohre acknowledged, which explains why the Methow Valley keeps a light on in the window for visitors.
“When Stevens Pass is closed, it gets very, very quiet here,” he said. “In the spring, we’re kind of happy to see people. We try to let people know they’re welcome. It’s a very friendly place.”
Remember. This stays between us.