A failed yet successful trip. Which doesn’t make sense. The whole point of this trip—to a random town in Washington—was to hit up the Gorge for the Lumineers concert. I went last year, to the Gorge to see the Lumineers. They’re one of my top five bands. And it was a really great concert, not to mention the views and location made it that much better. Which made me want to go back. For either the Lumineers or any other band I like. I check in on the Gorge often, to see if there are any bands I want to see. And that one day back in spring, when I saw the Lumineers were coming again this year, I immediately knew I would go. Karann was down also, and we quickly bought tickets.
It was my turn to book a hotel. There is one hotel in George. I quickly booked a room for us. The site said Only one room left! when I booked. I never know if the whole one room left thing is true or a marketing tactic. So after I booked, I attempted to book another room. Sure enough, there were no rooms left. Score. Because the next hotel options are a bit further, in either Quincy, Ephrata, Moses Lake, or Ellensburg—where we were supposed to stay last year after the Lumineers concert. But right as we checked in—just past midnight—they had given away our room. Annoying. We decided to drive home instead of trying to find another hotel after midnight.
The trip was set. I did get the okay from Blaise before finalizing everything. His birthday is the 9th and the concert was the 8th, with me planning on leaving the 7th and returning around noon on the 9th. I wanted to be sure he was okay if I wasn’t home when he woke up for his thirteenth birthday. He was cool with me going.
Thursday, September 7. Laine and Maive were off to school. Brian was working. And the other three kiddos had dentist appointments (we’re still in the no cavity club, for all five). We picked up Maive from school and went home to pack. Karann was coming about 3pm to pick me up for the trip to George. It was a quiet afternoon until I left. Then Brian had to deal with the all of kiddo activities. Thankfully Laine didn’t have gymnastics that week otherwise he would have been driving all over until bedtime.
Karann usually drives. Which is a nice change, because I’m usually the driver to all things. Especially every week, with the kids. I’m basically an unpaid Uber driver. We hopped on the 90 and headed east. It was a smooth drive with no traffic. I think my favorite thing on the 90 isn’t all the beautiful views of the mountains and lakes, but the wildlife bridge. It always makes me smile.
It was nearing dinnertime and we were close to Ellensburg. We figured we’d stop there for food. There isn’t much after Ellensburg until George, and there isn’t much in George. There’s a Mexican joint in Ellensburg that we found, and walked right in and were seated. It was a pretty large restaurant and pretty empty. But it was all good, the food was fine and the service was great. As we were eating dinner, I mentioned we should stop at the Wild Horses Monument along the 90 right before George. I’ve always seen it when we drive east for trips, and have always wanted to stop, but we don’t. Stopping with kiddos isn’t ideal because we lose the momentum of driving straight home. I’m no fun.
This time we stopped. No kids in tow. And I’m kind of glad I stopped without kids to know what it is all about, before eventually stopping with kids one day. The exit is only on the east side of the 90, which I only just learned looking up what it’s officially called, Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies. It was like being in California again, with the watch for rattlesnakes sign. We watched. Because it felt like rattlesnake territory. I’d rather run into a bear than a rattlesnake. Why do bears seem harmless compared to other wild animals?! I know they’re not harmless but they seem so timid and like, oops, sorry I’m in your way instead of like a cougar or rattlesnake, who would be like get the F out of MY space. We didn’t encounter any rattlesnakes. That we know.
The parking lot is awfully large for a random stop of the 90. We were the only car to park and then a few more came. Karann and I made the trek up the steep ass, rocky hill. I was wearing Birkenstocks. Not ideal. It was slippery with all the gravel and I was questioning if this was a good idea—it wasn’t—but I slipped my way up and we eventually were at the horses. The view! Almost more impressive than the horses. But the horses are pretty damn cool. I didn’t realize they are so hard-lined. Is that the right description?! From the 90, they seem softer I suppose. But up close and personal, they are rigid and rough, and being metal makes them seem even more harsh. I really like them.
There’s graffiti at the monument. I know it should be condemned and all but I like graffiti. There’s some on the horses and then below in the parking lot, on two places where it looks like there were once signs. Or maybe not having signs is why it’s not completed yet?! When I was a teenager, I had friends who were into graffiti. I had two bedrooms with a bathroom in the middle, and my parents let them go to town on my three rooms. It was probably my favorite paint job ever, to any of the spaces I’ve lived. One time, the guys copied an official spray paint job by SMUD that was near a manhole on the asphalt road. They did the same markings in a different spot, and then SMUD dug a hole. Hahaha. I know, so wrong, but also so entertaining.
We made it to George after the horses. It was dark now. The hotel is surprisingly nice for a middle of nowhere town. It’s fairly new; I don’t remember seeing it a few years back when we drove east. We checked in and went to our room to drop off our stuff, and then down to the hotel bar for some drinks. I drink now. Not often but after having my first drink in well over a decade back in Vegas, I partake when it’s available. There was a football game on that I couldn’t have cared less about but the bar was filled with a bunch of people who did care. The game eventually ended and some people left, and we called it a night not long after. The best part of traveling with Karann, is she likes to go to bed early also. That was the plan. To go to bed about 9pm. Except we stayed in the bar until close to 10pm, and then I got hit with the chatty bug. Probably the alcohol. Sorry, Karann. Haha. It wasn’t until after 11pm that I closed the pie hole.
Thursday, check.
Friday, September 8 was the big day. The Lumineers concert. And we had big plans before heading to the Gorge that evening. Blaise went to a two-night trip with his wilderness class last spring, to Ancient Lakes. When he came back, he told me I should check it out, that I’d love it with all the hiking. It just so happens that Ancient Lakes is about 10 minutes from the George hotel. Karann was down to check it out. After our free hotel breakfast, we ventured to the even more middle of nowhere, to the Ancient Lakes trailhead. I shouldn’t say middle of nowhere. Driving to the trailhead, there is a random golf course community with almost no trees and the homes are all manufactured. Not that there’s anything wrong with this, the homes were all nice and well-kept, it was just random to me. A whole lot of nothing, some cows, and then this golf course.
The road the the trailhead isn’t paved. We saw a dog lounging along the road without a care in the world. Must be nice! There is a main lot that looks like the parking area, complete with a large board for signage. But Google Maps told us to keep driving. We did. And we found another parking lot with an Ancient Lake[s] Trail sign. Not sure why the sign doesn’t say lakes?!
We set out on the trail. There is zero cover on this trail. And it was getting warm. I don’t love heat. Or sunshine. But I dealt with it because what else was I going to do? While there is a sign at the start of the hike, there are no signs once on the trail. And there are several trail options along the main one. We went for it and found some pretty lakes, a waterfall, wildflowers, animal footprints… all the things except trees for shade.
Not having signage and feeling alone out there, with no cell service, I was feeling odd. I don’t normally get bothered by these things but this day I was. Maybe it was post-drinking anxiety?! I rarely drink so who knows. We were down in a valley-ish area, and we couldn’t find a trail to keep going. There are several trails down there but none seemed to lead us out, other than the one we came in from. We’d find one, head down the sucker, and then run into water that wasn’t crossable unless we’d get wet. I’m sure we missed something. Me feeling nervous likely impacted my adventurous side.
Going back the way we came, we finally ran into a dad and two teenage gals. That made me feel a bit better, knowing more people were on the trail. And the we ran into another couple with two dogs and a teenager. My nervousness was fading. We found yet another trail that ventured off the main one, and found more lakes. We even found two fisherfolks in kayaks, fishing in one of the lakes. It was getting hot. It was time to head back to the hotel so I could start my hair washing process. Ugh, having ridiculously thick long hair is annoying.
The plan was to shower and then grab lunch around 2pm, head into Quincy to check it out, and then to the Gorge just before 6pm for the Lumineers concert. The concert started at 7pm and the Lumineers weren’t on until 8pm. Two hours seemed plentiful. Karann is easy, she showers and lets her hair air dry. I however, take forever. My hair is so damn thick that if I wash it and let it air dry, it would still be wet underneath 10 hours later. That one time in Hawaii, when I had my hair colored, the hairstylist charged me three times for extra color. And then proceeded to tell me he had never had to charge three times in all of his career (he was mid-50s). Which I’m not sure I buy he had never worked on thicker hair than mine. Then he wanted to charge me to blow dry. At that point, I said no. He probably would have charged me for the extra time it’d take. I’m still burned by that salon trip. Do they discount people with short, thin hair for using less than the standard amount hair color?! Anyway. I have to shower, leave it in the towel a while, then let it air out a bit (it doesn’t actually dry), then use my professional-grade hairdryer that still takes me 20 minutes to dry. Then I have to deal with the fluff, because I have a slight natural curl. It’s a freaking process. I commented to Karann how I really like the idea of shaving my head although I never will. My goal is to grow it long enough that it covers the goods if I didn’t have a shirt one. Not that I plan on going out and about anywhere like this, this is just my hair length goal.
What felt like two hours later, we were leaving the hotel for lunch. We found one of the very few places in town online, and decided on going there. Even though the reviews were mixed. It’s George. I doubt any place is going to be Michelin rated. The restaurant is cute. It’s an order at the counter and then sit place, and then they bring you your food. The restaurant inside is fun, clutter galore and Sharpie-covered walls. They encourage patrons to write on the walls by leaving Sharpies around. I could never exist in a place like this long-term but for the short time we ate, I appreciated the clutteredness. (Why does clutteredness have a d in there?) We ate, Karann wrote on the wall, and we left. It was time to check out George and Quincy. Fun fact: George is home of the 4th of July cherry pie. Whatever that means?! Haha, it’s a billboard on a property across from the restaurant.
We made the quick—maybe 10 minute—drive though all the core streets in George. There are some super cute homes! One was fairly new and painted a dark teal; I would love that color for my house. We found the older, more established neighborhood, the schools, and ice everywhere. Seriously, there are ice freezers everywhere in George. More ice freezers than restaurants. Even in our hotel parking lot, that’s shared with a few other businesses, there is an ice freezer sitting in the middle of the parking lot. The restaurant has an ice freezer out front. The gas station, of course they have ice freezers, but several—not just one. It’s like George is the ice capitol of Washington state. Maybe because so many truckers stop along their way?! Before heading to Quincy, we decided to make a quick stop at the hotel to get our stuff for the concert. I needed a clear bag. That way we wouldn’t have to backtrack to George from Quincy before the concert.
Quincy is fun. A bigger town than George but still small, and still in the middle of nowhere. I suppose it’s close to Wenatchee according to the signs. Maybe 30 miles if I recall correctly? Quincy at least has recognizable businesses. Like a McDonald’s and Napa Auto Parts. and a Dollar Tree. I know this because we decided to stop and nose about. Karann hasn’t shopped much at the Dollar Tree. There’s no reason she would. I found it back when Blaise and Laine were toddlers and Saige was an infant. I was killing time one day while the older two were at preschool. It was around Valentine’s Day and they had so much (cheap) fun stuff for kiddos. Like art projects, cheap decor, all that stuff. It’s basically buying trash, and for a dollar, worth it to entertain kids. Although it’s a $1.25 now. And it’s where I get all my wrapping paper and cards (still two for $1). I even learned if you go after Christmas, all the wrapping paper is 50% off. Buying wrapping paper is literally buying trash—for under a buck a roll, it’s totally worth going.
While we were perusing the Dollar Tree, specifically the wrapping paper aisle, our server from the restaurant turned the corner. I recognized her, she recognized me. I said hello and how much we liked the restaurant, and she said she had a question for me that she thought would be inappropriate to ask at the restaurant… she wanted to know if I had a professional blowout because she loved my hair. Haha, my freaking hair. I said no, nothing professional. That I had just done the whole hair process before we went to the restaurant. Then I told her how I had just told Karann I should shave my head because dealing with my hair is the most annoying process. As much as I bitch and complain about my hair, the older I get, the more I appreciate what I have. And I told her she totally could have asked me at the restaurant; it wasn’t inappropriate to ask at all. Fun story: back in the my Downtown Seattle working days, I was walking around downtown at lunch and this guy came running up to me to tell me I had the most beautiful hair. I think he wanted to touch it but he held back. He was a hairstylist. Enough about my damn hair.
Dollar Tree was successful. We each found a bunch of stuff we didn’t need. There was still time to kill. So we thought. We drove around a bit and found a corn stand in a random parking lot. The young gal was super nice and Karann asked her if she has any good corn jokes. She told us one that I forget but it was cute. The corn stand was cash or check only. Neither Karann or I had cash on us (The Gorge is cash-free) but I randomly had a checkbook on me thanks to having to pay gymnastics assessments the week before. Sold. We bought 12 ears total. Now what?! More time to kill.
Next we found the Quincy Indoor Market. It’s a cute building with a few stores inside; there’s a bakery, coffee shop, knick knack store, and maybe a restaurant? The center of the inside is open with seating options. We hit up the bakery. They had the best looking baked goods. I bought a cookie for each kiddo, and attempted to buy bread pudding for Brian but it would need to be refrigerated and we were heading straight to the concert. No go for the bread pudding. Outside of the market is a grassy area. It was the most beautiful plot of grass. Well-kept, no weeds, and as green as could be. Maybe they set stuff up on there during the summer months?! Because we couldn’t figure out the point of the grass; there’s nothing that opens up to the grass. It’s lined between a fence, the sidewalk, the parking lot, and a row of hedges. Lining the sidewalk on the other side of the grass are beautiful flowers. I love color.
It wasn’t even 5pm. Even more time to kill. After driving around Quincy a bit, where we found farm roads, more businesses, a newish housing development that I was surprised has homes in the $400-600K range. In Quincy?! With about an hour left to kill before heading to the Gorge, we decided to get pedicures. I didn’t really need one but I never liked the color I got when I went to Portland, so I was down for a pedicure to change the damn color. Luckily, we walked in and were able to get treated right away. The next few women who walked in were turned away until a later time. We were pedicured within an hour, and it was time for the concert! We loaded up for the 20 minute drive to the Gorge. We had plenty of time, a whole two hours before the Lumineers started.
NOPE. We in fact, did NOT have enough time. We made it to the country roads within 20 minutes. We turned down the road on the way to the Gorge, and we were trucking along until we came to a line of cars stopped. Fine, no biggie, there’s probably several cars heading to the parking lot. It didn’t seem off. Until we sat in the same spot for 15 minutes. Then we moved, score! We moved a car length, if that. Then we sat for 15 more minutes. Only to move a smidge after another 15 minutes. It was getting to the point where Karann would turn off her car when we’d move six feet, knowing we’d be sitting for 15 minutes. The line of cars behind us got longer. Sitting there with the car off, people were starting to get out of their cars and walk up the road. The sun was setting. It was now past 7pm, and the time the concert started—with the opener. Whom I sure is wonderful but we didn’t care if we missed them.
It was now past 8pm, 8:46pm to be exact. I remember looking at the clock. We had moved maybe a quarter of a mile in two-and-a-half hours. There was no cell service so we couldn’t look online to see what the deal was. We were still six miles from the Gorge. We called it and turned around. Others did also. It was funny, as we were heading back up the road on the side that didn’t have a line of cars stopped, we should have been able to drive without stopping. But the car two cars up from us kept stopping to talk with cars waiting in the line. After having to stop like five times, Karann got out and went up to the car and told them it’s cool of they want to stop and talk but pull over, that the cars behind them wanted to get out of the mess. Karann said it was a young gal and she looked mortified, and started apologizing. Even the people whom she was stopped talking to apologized to Karann. Haha! Karann was nice about it but the young gal needed someone to call her out on constantly stopping. Sure enough, after she stopped stopping, we were out of the mess in no time. Driving back up the road was INSANE. All the country roads were a parking lot. The main road had lines of cars on both sides waiting to turn.
It’s hard to find a picture to show how insane it was, a parking lot along the fields. Of course TikTok’s algorithm is on point and this popped up in me feed the next day. It shows all the cars better than any picture I took. When we made it out of the mess, we went back to the hotel. To drink.
The concert traffic was all the talk. The bartender, the waitress, the patrons at the bar… they were all talking about how awful the situation was and how they felt for concertgoers who wouldn’t get to see the show. It really did suck. Still does. I wasn’t happy but Karann made a good point, she felt for all the young kids who were going to their first concert. We saw several young folks walking along the road as we were parked in the line of cars. Whether this would have been their first concert or not, we felt for them. We’re old and have been to several concerts, and we’ve been burned in life plenty of times to know this isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things. I mean, it sucks we missed the Lumineers, but we’re also in a position to go see them somewhere else if we really wanted to get our concert on.
Sitting in the outdoor bar patio, enjoying our drinks, I started looking online to see if there were any answers as to why the hell there was so much traffic. We had heard rumors while parked on that country road, that every single car was being searched by cops and police dogs, which was taking forever. Not only the cars waiting to park at the Gorge but all the campers waiting to get into the camping area. The Gorge had two concerts back-to-back Friday (the Lumineers) and Saturday night (some guy whom I’ve never heard of before). And they had opened camping for the Saturday night guy at the same time they opened camping for the Lumineers concert, creating a massive amount of traffic. In fairness, they had sent an email to prepare for heavy traffic. Which we thought two hours would cover anything deemed heavy. The posts online seemed to verify that was the hold up, with some information different here and there.
Most comments and posts on the Gorge’s were calling them out about the hold ups, and missing the concert all together. Some asked for refunds. Others posted how it was going to be their first concert, people saying how they had to take the day off from work or school to travel there, even arriving with four or more hours to spare. We sat outside reading the comments, talking about how crappy the situation was, and looking across the 90 at all the brake lights lining the country roads. We must have sat outside for two hours before calling it a night. The next day was Blaise’s birthday and I wanted to be home about noon. We had a teenager to celebrate!
Saturday, September 9 was an early one. I woke up on my own just before 7am. I quickly texted Blaise happy birthday! before trying to quietly sneak out of the hotel room for the free breakfast. I’m not even a breakfast person but they had these biscuits the day before that I really wanted again. Thankfully they had more. I sat in my jams, eating hotel biscuits, while doing all my standard morning routine of checking the news, doing Wordle, and now thanks to Karann, the NYT Connections game and mini-crossword. Back upstairs, Karann was up and we both got ready and packed up. On our way out of the hotel, I kept getting amused by their handicapped spots. They have three handicapped spots but no ramps up to the sidewalk. It’s so odd, like how did they mess this up?!
The plan to head back included two stops. Technically three. We decided to drive to the Gorge just to say we made it there. Wide-open roads. So annoying, that’s how it should have been the night before. Ugh. The next stop was Wanapum. I had been looking on Google Maps the day before and found this random small area along the Columbia River that I was interested in checking out. Karann was down. We left the Gorge and went to Wanapum. Maybe 10 minutes away? The road down is steep and switchbacky. When we made it down to the small community, we realized it’s a private community. Thanks to the signs all over. There’s a riverfront park that is for the community only. We may have stopped for a few minutes just to check out the river.
It’s kind of a creepy community?! Like The Truman Show. And a strange mix of houses. Some large modern, newly built, beautiful homes. Next to small manufactured homes. Next to traditional homes that looks like they were built in the ’80s. And golf carts everywhere. People were outside playing tennis. More people were outside on their front porches sitting with friends. People exercising around town—running and walking either solo or in groups. All normal things. But it felt so odd. And of course, everyone was white. It just felt like a fake movie set. And everyone seemed the same.
We got the hell out of that creepfest before we stayed too long and were indoctrinated. Haha. Nah, it was time to hit the road. There was one more stop to make before getting back home. The fruit stand along the 90 with the giant American flag we comment on every time we pass the sucker. Does a bigger flag make you more American?! It’s so weird, the flag culture in America. Even more weird post-2016 when flags represent right wing nut jobs. Wait, that was redundant. Not that I’ve ever flown a flag but if I ever wanted to, I’d be worried we’d be labeled republicans. Kind of like that time that lives in my head, when I was talking with a mom at the playground. I had mentioned how I like Washington more than California, politically. In my head, I meant that it feels more liberal here than where we lived in California (and it was liberal there). Like here, in our small bubble. But I know she thought I probably meant I liked the more conservative side because California is known for being super liberal. And, I had four kids at the time. Total Mormon vibes.
The giant flag is in Thorp, at the Thorp Fruit and Antique Mall. I’ve always wanted to stop but kids and all. I think we will next time; it was worth it for all the fruit. Overpriced fruit but they know their market and what they’re doing. The downstairs is a market with so many things worth buying. I found a few rubs for Brian to smoke with, along with several fruit options for all the kiddos who are fruit fanatics. It was overwhelming with how much stuff they have for sale. I nosed about for a while before making my way upstairs to the antiques. I don’t get antiques. It’s people’s junk they no longer want. I think the word antique has lost its meaning. Granted, there are some fun things to see and reminisce from back in the day—I saw glasses from McDonald’s, back from the ’80s. And they had old toys from my childhood that were fun to see. But most things were musky and needed a good dusting. In fairness, I don’t do well in cluttered environments so maybe it wasn’t as bad as I remember?! I could only look so long before I needed to remove myself from the clutteredness (there’s that d again, which makes clutteredness look cluttered).
Karann bought a jar of picked asparagus. She was trying to get it open and couldn’t, I couldn’t, so she asked a man who had parked next to us for help. He popped the jar open and she thanked him, and offered him a pickled asparagus. He said sure and proceeded to say it was really good. In the car, Karann munched on a pickled asparagus as we left for home. It was time to get the birthday celebration going.
Karann dropped me off about 12:30pm. Nobody was home; it was so quiet! No complaints. I quickly wrapped Blaise’s gifts knowing everyone would be home soon from the first round of Saturday sports. Soccer and gymnastics. Cheer and football were still on tap, and we had a friend arriving, cupcakes to pick up, and a sleepover that night. It was about to get busy. It’s always busy.
The failed yet successful trip to George was a nice getaway. I’m sitting here on a Friday night during another failed but NOT successful trip. I’m supposed to be at my annual yoga retreat in Leavenworth right now. Instead, I’m sitting here, totally symptom-free and feeling fine, positive with Covid. Thanks to Brian’s mom who visited us sick and messed up everyone’s week. I’m not a happy camper. Common sense is that you don’t visit anyone sick. Whether it’s Covid or just a standard bug.
And about the Lumineers, the Gorge didn’t acknowledged the Lumineers mess. They ended up turning off comments on their social media posts. But a week later, they sent an email without any explanation but saying sorry in a corporate way:
Our goal is to always provide a best-in-class concert experience at The Gorge Amphitheatre and unfortunately, we fell very short of that last Friday. We apologize for the traffic and the difficult time you had arriving for the Lumineers show.
We understand the frustration you experience, and we are issuing a full refund for your entire Ticketmaster ticket order. The refund will be processed by Ticketmaster within 5 business days to the credit card used to purchase the tickets.
The also gave a $50 credit for each ticket purchased. But what is really annoying—and why Ticketmaster is forever the worst—I bought our tickets from Ticketmaster but apparently they were someone else’s who was reselling them. Guess who got the ticket refund? Not us! But we did get the $50 credit so I don’t understand the logic there. I’ve read online that it’s actually cheaper to see concerts in other countries, because tickets are reasonable without Ticketmaster to screw everyone over. And then the cost savings from not using Ticketmaster can be used for travel costs. Maybe that’s girl math but makes sense to me!
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