Exploring Winthrop, Washington

Last week we had the opportunity to stay at the Sun Mountain Lodge located in Winthrop, Washington. We had received a gift certificate and decided to take advantage and celebrate our wedding anniversary. It was quite a distance from where we live but well worth the drive and we had fun exploring Winthrop, Washington.

Winthrop, Washington is located in the Methrow River Valley, along the North Cascades Loop Highway 20. It is known for the Old West design of all the buildings in town. Judging from all the people it is a popular tourist destination.

There are all sorts of places to stay but our gift certificate was for the Sun Mountain Lodge and it was a perfectly wonderful place to stay. The lodge is perched on a mountaintop overlooking Winthrop. The views from the lodge were just incredible.

The one thing we really enjoyed was that none of the rooms had a television! If you did want to watch TV there was a TV Room but we didn’t notice anyone watching television. Instead people were swimming in the pool, enjoying the hot tub or just relaxing in other areas of the lodge. There was a game room and a library. You could borrow books or replace a book you took with one you had read, sort of a lending library. There were also board games available that you could take to your room. Outside there were numerous trails to explore.

We enjoyed seeing all the families busy enjoying the surroundings and taking advantage of all the area had to offer.

We spent an entire day exploring Winthrop, Washington. There was a fantastic museum of the Old West called Shafer Museum , that is supposed to be one of the best. It is a village of historic buildings which all display the history of days gone by.

There are two bridges, one at either end of the town. They are only for foot traffic. We walked across both bridges. The Sateekhwa Bridge, on the north edge of the downtown leads to a wonderful hiking trail with some great interpretative signage. The trail meanders along the river and through the woods.

We finished up the day with a private tour of the Winthrop National Fish Hatchery. It was fascinating to learn all about the three types of fish they raise and release into the rivers.

All too soon our time was up and we were heading back to Oregon. Winthrop is a wonderful town in an amazing part of Washington. Hopefully we can return again someday. We love road trips and we certainly enjoyed exploring Winthrop, Washington!