Day 2 - Alta Lake

Leavenworth to Lake Chelan State Park would make the shortest drive on our trip as I had planned it, but things don't always work out the way you expect, so now I will say- Leavenworth to Lake Chelan State Park would have made for the shortest drive, but...
Upon leaving Leavenworth I didn't want us to feel rushed to get to our next destination. I thought we should take in a few sights on our way. Our first stop came at Wenatchee Confluence State Park, where the Wenatchee River meets the Columbia River. To get there we had to drive through an industrial park which made me question whether we were going the right way. Eventually we found it and, initially, we were going to just spend a little time at the playground and eat some sandwiches- until we saw the beach. We went back to the car, grabbed our swimsuits and beach gear, and headed for the water. The temperature outside was in the 90's though the water was pretty cold. Felix had his fun in the water and even dunked his head, but eventually the call of the sand was too much. Felix and I built a mountain range in the sand including a few volcanoes. We even played out a mock scenario where one of the volcanoes erupts and wipes out a town. It was fun, we had our sandwiches and hit the road. On to Lake Chelan State Park.
Sometimes on a road trip something catches your eye that you didn't notice on your map. Something right off the path that makes you say "why not, it's right here", and after you do, you are really thankful you did. That didn't happen to us. Yes it did, and that spot was the Rocky Reach Dam up SR97 on the Columbia River. When I saw the first sign I thought "cool, that might make an interesting picture as I drive by", the next sign indicated a visitor center and I thought "why not, it's right here". On the approach you come to a security booth were a very friendly guard asks why we are there (I'm not being sarcastic, he was very friendly), I explain that I'm on a little trip with my son, I saw their sign and thought "why not, it's right here". We park, walk through another security checkpoint, and enter the visitor center. Not only is Rocky Reach Dam a dam, it is also a fish ladder and hatchery.
We headed down to the hatchery and saw young Tiger Troutfish, and then the fish ladder viewing room and got to see several Chinook salmon pass by. I "know" they were Chinook salmon because a kindly fellow told me so, as he had been fishing this very river just the other day. Felix was fascinated and got very excited as a salmon passed by, following the fish through each corresponding window to the step in the ladder that we could see. After the fish ladder viewing room, we headed back upstairs and walked across the dam to a museum and a viewing area that allowed us to see the water coming out of the dam. We finished with, what has become our ice cream treat of choice, ice cream sandwiches, headed back to the car and hit the road.

By now it was past 3pm when we reached the Lake Chelan State Park and consequently all 100+ campsites were taken. I was a little shocked, I did not anticipate this. Felix was not happy, he wanted to camp, gawd dammit! With a little disgust in his voice he said, "I told you we shouldn't have stopped". A realization struck me, "what do I do if I can't get him camped?", I thought, "where do we go?". I checked my map and saw Lake Alta campground. We got to Lake Alta about an hour later, the fellow manning the booth was surprised that I was there without a reservation, though, he said, they had five empty sites as long as I'm staying just one night. He instructed that I drive to one of the sites, plop down some gear, and then come back and pay. Only the fifth site I checked was open, which meant I got the last available campsite. After a tense drive, Felix was now at ease because we had a spot to camp.
After unpacking our gear, pitching the tent, and playing on the two large boulders in our site, we headed down to the small beach area. The sand just beneath the waterline was more like gravel. My feet are kind of tender and standing in the water was very uncomfortable to me. Felix wasn't as affected, though without me to carry him around the deeper parts, he soon lost interest in the water and it was more volcano building in the coarse sand.
We decided it was dinner time and discovered that Eastern Washington was too dry and a ban on campfires was in effect. Luckily I brought our Coleman stove. We then took a little hike where we came across a couple of quail. This caught Felix's interest and he soon went from observer to predator, chasing them through the bushes. If you blow up the adjacent picture, you can see one of those quail on top of the table.  Later on, I drew a circle in the dirt and from our chairs we threw rocks, trying to make into that circle. We then just sat in our camping chairs while Felix asked me about all the earthquake stories I had. Yes, he wanted me to tell him about all the earthquakes I have experienced over the years. By then it was getting dark and he was getting tired. We went into the tent and kind of recapped the day. We looked through the pictures he had taken on his camera and then I read to him books that we brought.
We had the misfortune of being camped close to a couple of RV's who's occupants decided to drink quite a bit and be fairly loud, though it did not wake Felix. I thought they had passed out at around midnight, but it turns out they only went for a walk. I'm not sure how much later it was when they returned as I had fallen asleep, but it seems they picked up where they left off. I'm not one to ruin other people's fun, especially those on vacation who are just having a good time, but this was too much and I had to ask them to keep it down- which they did almost immediately, I think they all just went to bed at that point.
The next morning Felix and I were both up pretty early. We had breakfast and quickly packed up our gear. I felt a little guilty about allowing Felix to continue to be very loud, as some of those RVers slept in tents close to ours. I could see them stir when Felix would make a particularly loud shriek as he entertained himself jumping off the boulders in our campsite. I only felt a little guilty. But it was now time to say goodbye to the desert and up to SR20 in the North Cascades.