Changing Leaves, Zeke's Drive Inn, and Raindrops Falling on Our Heads!

Larry had a photo assignment today in Skykomish. Usually he rides his motorcycle to the location, but since it was raining pretty hard this morning, he decided to drive the car, and I went along for the ride.

These through-the-windshield photos don't usually turn out very well, but I wanted to get the clouds over the mountains and the colors of the changing leaves...

 Nice shot of the crack in my window!

Crossing over the bridge to Skykomish...

  I could live in this little town. They have a library, after all...and a cute one, at that!

SKYKOMISH HOTEL

 Built in 1905 to accommodate the men working on the Great Northern Railroad, with the depot and roundhouse it helped make Skykomish a railroad center for over sixty years.

This is a view of 1905 Skykomish, including the hotel. It would be fun to have enough money to purchase the building and turn it into a restaurant/bookstore/antique shop. 

Heading  back towards home, we passed through this tunnel. I love the trees growing out of the ledge over the entrance.

The light at the end.

 I have told Larry the stories of stopping at Zeke's on our way to the cabin years ago when Matt and Rachel were little. Phil and I and the kids would often ride with Willa and Delmer, and I doubt that there was a trip over the pass that didn't include a stop at Zeke's for deep-fried mushrooms. I'm sure some of the others had burgers, but I always order the mushrooms and munch on them between Gold Bar and Leavenworth. Well, I'm sure they were gone long before we reached Leavenworth, as delicious as they were. I've often wondered if they are still on the menu, so today we stopped to find out. 

They were indeed still on the menu, but it was a little early for a snack, so we drove on to the Big Eddy River Access and stretched our legs a bit.

Duchess enjoyed walking along the river bank, but she didn't want to get her feet wet today.

We walked back up the hill to the car and stopped to admire the gorgeous leaves on the ground.

We even got to see a train go over the bridge!

We headed back down the road and Larry decided that it was not to early for a snack after all, so went back to Zeke's!

I'm not supposed to eat these breaded things, what with my wheat allergy, but I decided that the consequences are worth it. I can pass up a doughnut or piece of pie, but a deep-fried mushroom? No way! I had to have one....okay, I had at least half the basket! I can deal with a little itchiness.

Larry ordering the mushrooms...large, please! 

They came with both ranch and tarter sauce, along with ketchup, which we didn't even open. We began with the tarter sauce...

Larry's first taste of a Zeke's mushroom!

and switched to ranch, which was actually better! Yummy! 

So many things have changed since I moved away from Washington ten years ago. Half the time I don't know where I am when we're driving around, because so many of the old landmarks are gone, and there are so many new buildings that have appeared where trees were before. But it's nice to know that some things, like the mushrooms, haven't changed. They taste exactly the same! I love it!

Duchess even liked them.  She is so used to sharing our fish and chips with us, she most likely thought she was eating a piece of fish. Or maybe she just loves mushrooms like I do!

The receipt... memories.

We'll be coming up with excuses in the future to drive through Gold Bar just so we can stop at Zeke's again!