No alarm clocks and a quiet lake setting led to sleeping in this morning. People awoke at different times and congregated on the deck for morning coffee, awaiting the rest of the group to join the early risers. The agenda for the day was somewhat undefined, other than a walk up the road about one block to tour the lake home of Betsy & Allan Rand. Betsy is also a niece of Judy Jensen and the sister of our daughter-in-law, Julie Bishop.  Allan & Betsy bought their Lake Chelan home a few years ago, excited it was only a short distance from their relatives. Betsy was not due to arrive until Thursday night but was eager for us to tour their home to see what modifications they have done to it. So after a leisurely breakfast we walked the short distance  to the Rand compound and got a tour of their getaway home. It is lovely, made more so by the renovations that are underway.

On the walk back  a mandatory tour of the garage that Jim Jensen built was included in our tour. It is locally known at the “Garage-Mahal”. It is every man’s dream-big, well laid out and stocked with all the necessities, although I did not see a recliner or TV! Jim also proudly gave us a tour of his most recent addition to the compound- a high class outhouse he built about six years ago. They certainly do not need one; I guess he simply needed a fun project to occupy his time.

It was now late afternoon and  time to leave the Jensen compound and do some local sightseeing. Luckily Chrissy had a vehicle large enough to carry the six of us so she graciously offered to act as chauffeur. She drove us through the town of Chelan, pointing out items of interest, then to Manson with its more elegant homesteads.  She also wanted to show us one (or more) of the local wineries and we suggested we visit Succession Winery as it is owned by the son of one of Yvonne’s local gym group. It turned out to be much larger and elaborate than I had imagined.  Rather than doing a wine tasting we simply did the Billy Joel “a bottle of red; a bottle of white” routine and sat on their veranda enjoying the ambience of the locale.

Soon it was time to head to a second winery which also features a popular outdoor restaurant. It is called Tsillan Cellars. Education aside: It is pronounced “Chelan” and is the Native American language spelling for Chelan. It was named the 2020 Washington Winery of the year and is the home of Sorrento’s Restorante, our destination for dinner. It is spectacular- vineyards overlooking Lake Chelan, landscaping to be envious of, and a marvelous open-to-the-outdoor restaurant featuring an Italian menu and white table cloth table settings. It is one of the prettiest locations I have ever seen. And luckily the food (and wine) lived up to its reputation.

It was a marvelous way to end our visit to Lake Chelan, as we head home tomorrow morning. Many thanks to Judy Jensen for planning this fun trip for everyone.