Rainbow Beach Resort, Washington

We arrived at Rainbow Beach Resort on Wednesday afternoon.   We're not talking a resort with mani/pedis or drinks with little umbrellas.  Instead it’s a lovely place in the forest on western Washington's Colville Indian Reservation with rental cabins, vacation homes, tent and RV sites, a little store and two beautiful lakes.

The drive from Spokane was pretty.  It started out with those golden farm fields we’ve seen since we left Wisconsin, then turned into pine forests and views of Lake Roosevelt, the lake created when the Grand Coulee Dam backed up part of the Columbia River.

At Rainbow Beach we met up with Jim’s high school school friends Pat and Cindy and Buddy and Nancy, who we spent time with last year.  It was talk, eat, laugh, repeat, plus a trip to a brew pub in Kettle Falls.   

Jim and I also paddled on the Twin Lakes.  Jim said he thought it was our best paddle yet.  We saw two bald eagles, six osprey, a kingfisher, two herons, assorted ducks and fish.

Thank you Pat, Cindy, Buddy and Nancy for a wonderful time.

Jim drinking coffee on the north Twin Lake.  He says his kayak needs a cup holder. 

North Twin has one of the few loon nesting areas in Washington.  Here we're in a channel that connects the two lakes.

Floating through the lily pads on Twin Lakes.  Nearby we saw small fish that Pat later told us were bass.  They moved across the surface of the water like skipping stones.

An osprey. From the back they can look like an eagle because of the big, white head. Two of them circled around and around above us for about ten minutes of our paddle.

The rental cabins at Rainbow Beach as seen from the lake. The power went out at the resort on Thursday for nearly 8 hours, which turned out to be a very good thing because the folks at the resort store gave us free (melting) ice cream. I can personally recommend the huckleberry.

Jim and Pat in the back.  Buddy, Nancy and Cindy in front.

Same group at the dock, this time with Buddy taking the photo so it's Jim, Bev, Nancy, Cindy and Pat in the back.

At the Northern Ale Brew Pub in Kettle Falls, Washington.  From L to R:  Nancy, Buddy, Cindy, Pat and Jim.

The guys, who graduated from Davis High School in Yakima, Washington in 1968.