The Freestone Inn, Mazama, WA

Ben and I have been going to the Freestone Inn for weekend getaways and special occasions since we moved to Seattle. We absolutely love it. We don't really know exactly why. It's probably because it allows us stay in a little cabin surrounded by mountains, yet its as nice as a hotel and really cozy. And of course they allow dogs! So, we thought it would be the perfect place to make our engagement official! We are very excited to be getting married! I am not usually big on traditions and most things about our process of getting married will be outside of the norm, however I did want a real engagement ring. We had a ring custom designed by Amber Hill from Green Lake Jewelers. The diamond is from Canada (so hopefully no blood) and ring itself has a relief engraving of gingko leaves and flowers. I think its beautiful (I'll post photos later).


More about our trip to The Freestone Inn:
The wooded area around our cabin was still mostly brown and dormant from the winter, but there were two types of flowers blooming on the forest floor

yellow glacier lily (erthyronium gradiflorum)

I'm pretty sure this is Western Spring Beauty (Claytonia lanceolata)

I love this area of the Cascades because the little towns are not like other mountain towns. Mazama, Winthrop and Twisp are all super cute. We went into this little old fashioned all-purpose store in Mazama for gas (after we almost ran out and were planning what we would do if we got stuck). It definitely wasn't the typical gas station store, they had locally baked breads and pastries, locally made dairy products, eggs & meat. I could have spent a long time checking out all of the artisanal foods.

After getting settled into the cabin we ventured out to Winthrop, which is cute but a little too artificial old-fashioned. The store fronts have fake "Old West" motifs, but it is always fun to walk around and check out the galleries and candy shops. I was tempted by the outdoor ice cream store with homemade ice cream.


Ari and Indigo enjoying some water from a gift shop, cute!
I bought a loaf of fluffy white bread from this bakery with no sign of any whole grains. I never buy white bread, but thats all they had and it was perfect for French toast. Now that I eat dairy and eggs, I am on a mission to find the best scones. This place had some with chocolate chips that looked really good, but I didn't buy any because I already had a scone and two in one day is a bit excessive. Next time!
The grocery store that looks like a general store, but has nothing too special inside.
The outdoor ice cream shop!

Later we went to the Twisp River Pub for dinner. They advertise as serving "Real Food". The place was packed and the food was quite good. I had a home-made veggie burger with french fries and Ben had his favorite fish and chips. I wanted to check out the downtown area of Twisp, it seemed like there were some fun stores including a Natural Foods Store...everything was closed when we got there though


The inside of our cabin
Outside the cabin at dusk

After deciding to make French toast for breakfast we found some raw milk and local eggs. The milk is from the Methow Creamery. They welcome visitors and I plan to take them up on that the next time we are in town. Our breakfast was perfect despite not having a recipe especially since we had mimosas!


The drive home....


On the way there and back we passed through Marblemount, Wa where they were doing a civil war reenactment. It was really weird. I couldn't get any good photos, but there were cannons and horses and people in crazy costumes.