Summer resorts and vacation guide

For those already on vacation or looking for a summer getaway, Eastern Washington and the surrounding area feature a variety of resorts, casinos and vacation spots that can be enjoyed.

WATERVILLE – Jack’s Resort in Waterville will be back up and running in full swing this summer after five years of rebuilding. 

“I can’t say it enough, we just developed such an incredible support system prior to this catastrophic event that I don’t think a lot of people would have made it through.” said Ginger Merritt, who owns the resort alongside Anna Schlegelmilch. “It’s just unreal still today how much support that we still have.” 

In September 2020, the resort got caught in the Pearl Hills fire where they lost about 99 percent of their business, said Merritt. That year was their 20th season of operation and COVID-19 had already pushed their celebration into later in the year which was cut short by the fire. 

For about two months the resort had no way of making any money as they began to rebuild. Despite this, Merritt and Anna Schlegelmilch said that they began the process of rebuilding immediately with the help of their friends and family.  

“We had the most amazing support system,” said Merritt. “There was no not coming back from that.” 

The fires had taken out their restaurant, a few cabins, storage buildings, power and their pumphouse, but had spared their home on the property. Merritt said that for two years they worked out of a food trailer with a tent set up while they waited for the new restaurant to be built. 

October of 2022 marked their first season back in a building for operations. The building had not been fully completed at this time, but there was enough that they could start make their way back into normal operations.  

“We had to redo all the power, all the sewer, all the water, everything,” she said. “We had to do that straight out of the gate and so just in the interim we worked out of a food trailer.” 

Through the struggles of rebuilding during COVID and changing county codes, they were able to finally come back into full operation. Their new restaurant was finished and opened in the Spring of 2023 and Merritt said that by last year they had completed their work on rebuilding the resort and were ready to open back to full capacity. 

Today guests can go to Jack’s Resort to enjoy their full RV Park with access to water, power and sewer, stay in a cabin, rent a boat or a kayak to take out onto Jameson Lake. Their restaurant bakes homemade pies and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner where they source their meat from Rays meats in Yakima. 

“We typically do prime rib on Saturday nights,” said Merritt. 

Merritt said since the restaurant has been back up and running, they have been seeing customers from all around the state visiting the resort.  

“They’re travelling for an hour-hour and a half to come out here and eat,” she said. “The support, the word of mouth and the reviews have been very positive.” 

The resort has more plans in the future to add even more events and activities onto their agenda. Recently they’ve been working on rebuilding an area that was for group camping and venues that got destroyed in the fire and bringing back festivals at the resort.  

Jack’s Resort is mostly operated by family and friends of Merritt and Schlegelmilch as well as locals who come to camp and offer their services wherever necessary.  

“It’s kind of just like a big old family atmosphere,” said Merritt. 

CHELAN – Echo Valley Resort and Cabins is another family-owned business located at 1800 Cooper Gulch Road near Chelan that seeks to offer a unique outdoor experience. 

“Our motto is ‘a quiet private outdoor cabin experience,’” said Collee Giampapa, who owns the resort alongside her husband Paul. 

This resort offers 16 cabins across 30 acres of land with eight of those cabins featuring private hot tubs. The area offers views of Lake Chelan and the Echo Valley and an emphasis on avoiding light pollution allows campers to bring their telescopes and enjoy star gazing. 

“We’re more about getting that authentic outdoor experience that you can’t quite get these days, especially for those living in the city,” said Giampapa. 

Echo Valley Resort operates year-round with different activities throughout each season. For the summer, vacationers can enjoy their pool, outdoor barbecues, lawn games a basketball court and take trails for hiking and mountain biking. 

They sell wine, beer and hard cider on site which are all locally sourced from Chelan and are close enough to both Manson and Chelan that vacationers can go to either city to find boat rentals and enjoy the local restaurants that are around. 

ELLENSBURG – Canyon River Ranch is a riverfront resort located at 14700 Hwy. 821 by Mile Marker 15 near Ellensburg that offers vacationers the opportunity to experience the Yakima Canyon. 

“We’re looking forward to having people come here that are part of our ownership and we’re also looking forward to new guests regionally and outside of the state coming here and learning how to flyfish,” said Brenda DeVore, Marketing and Events Director at Canyon River Ranch. 

Canyon River Ranch is made up of three different businesses that work together to create the resort. These are Red’s Fly Shop, the Canyon River Grill and the Canyon River Lodge. 

The resort is primarily a destination flyfishing resort but also offers a variety of other adventure opportunities for those who don’t fish, said DeVore. The resort also offers river float services where people can take one of the resort’s custom-made boats down the river for a guided tour to learn the history of the canyon and see the local wildlife. 

During the winter, fall and spring the resort offers upland bird hunting alongside a clays course where people can come out and learn how to shoot. 

DeVore said, they have ten condos that are open to the public to rent. They also host private events such as birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations of life, book clubs, and programming for local communities to be used for public education. 

One of the main clienteles that they see at Canyon River Ranch are people from corporations looking for a venue to hold corporate events, said DeVore. She said they pride themselves on their ability to create itineraries for these meetings and even created their own tagline being, “This is not your average BORED meeting.” 

“What we contribute here is lodging as well as our award-winning restaurant here,” she said. “We employ quite a few people, I think we’re close to 68 people here between the fly guide service, our retail service, our restaurant and our lodge.” 

The restaurant’s chef Kevin Davis has a kitchen garden on site where he grows most vegetables and herbs that are used in meals. Davis also forrages for local mushrooms and has close relationships with local farmers throughout the valley where he gets the rest of their supplies, said DeVore. 

“Our entire valley, from Kittitas County to Yakima County, is filled with local agriculture and farmers, so he sources locally,” she said. “The menu changes every day based on what he finds in our local farms, but he also travels to Seattle every week to pick up fresh fish from Pike’s Place Market.” 

ELECTRIC CITY – Sunbanks Lake resort is located at 57662 HWY 155N in Electric City. The resort is next to Banks Lake near Grand Coulee and features a natural environment that is used for camping, watersports, fishing, or other types of outdoor activities such as a minigolf course. 

“Just getting people in and enjoying themselves and keeping us full during our summer and our festivals” said Jerry Jones a General Manager at Sunbanks.  

Sunbanks features lodging from RV, tent camping, cabins and one-bedroom full houses as well as a restaurant, a store and a bar on site. The restaurant features a variety of foods and specials that change out every week. 

“Our average menu is you’re going to have your homemade macaroni and cheeses, hamburgers, lots of appetizers, shrimp,” said Jones. “It’s a little bit of upscale bar type food.” 

This year the resort is going to continue their focus on making sure they fill up on festivals that people can enjoy. Typically, they host a variety of music festivals such as blues fests and rock festivals which happen around Labor Day. 

The rock festival will feature the headliner Hysteria, which is one of the biggest Def Leppard Tribute bands from Seattle. 

Jones said Sunbanks Resort is the biggest supplier of revenue to Electric City from the tax revenue they bring in. Their customers will also visit local restaurants and bars and even move outward to areas such as the Grand Coulee Dam. 

“We probably have 70 to 100 thousand people come here every year,” he said. 

The Resort operates mostly on seasonal workers during their busiest time of year from May to October. They are still open year round, but will see less traffic during the winter, said Jones. 

Resorts 

Apple Tree Resort
8804 Occidental Road, Yakima, WA 98903
(509) 966-5877
appletreeresort.com

Abendblume
12570 Ranger Rd, Leavenworth, WA 98826
(509) 548-4059
9 a.m. -7 p.m. daily
abendblume.com 

Bavarian Lodge
810 US Hwy 2, Leavenworth, WA 98826
(888) 717-7878
bavarianlodge.com 

Canyon River Ranch
14700 Hwy. 821 Near Mile Marker 15,
Ellensburg, WA 98926
(509) 933-2100
canyonriver.net 

Coeur d’Alene Resort
115 S. Second St, Coeur D’Alene, ID 83814
(209) 209-5031
Cdaresort.com 

Columbia Gorge Hotel & Spa
4000 Westcliff Drive, Hood River, OR 97031
(541) 386-5566
Columbiagorgehotel.com 

Columbia Point Resort
530 Columbia Point Drive, Richland, WA 99352
Lodgeatcolumbiapoint.com 

Cooper Spur Mountain Resort
10755 Cooper Spur Road, Mount Hood, OR 97041
(541) 352-6692
cooperspur.com 

Cozy Rose Inn
1220 Forsell Road, Grandview, WA 98930
(509) 882-4669
cozyroseinn.com 

Crystal Mountain Resort
333914 Crystal Mountain Blvd., Enumclaw, WA 98022
(360) 663-3050
crystalmountainresort.com 

Desert Wind Winery & Inn
2258 Wine Country Road, Prosser, WA 99350
(509) 786-7277
desertwindwinery.com 

Echo Valley Resort & Cabins
1800 Cooper Gulch Road, Manson, WA 98831
(509) 687-8467
10 a.m. -4 p.m. daily
echovalleycabins.com 

Grandview on the Lake
322 W. Woodin Ave., Chelan, WA 98816
(509) 761-4648
Grandviewonthelake.com 

Icicle Village Resort
505 US Hwy 2, Leavenworth, WA 98826
(509) 548-7000
Open 24 hours
iciclevillage.com 

Jack’s Resort on South Jameson Lake
425 South Jameson Lake Road,
Waterville, WA 98858
(509) 683-1095
8 a.m.-8 p.m. daily
jacksresortonjamesonlake.com 

Kelly’s Resort
12800 S. Lakeshore Road, Chelan, WA 98816
(509) 687-3220
9 a.m. -5 p.m. daily
kellysresort.com 

Lone Point Cellars Resort
6 Lakeview Way, Brewster, WA 98812
(509) 689-1010
Thursday and Sunday Noon -8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday Noon –9 p.m.
lonepointcellars.com 

Mirabeau Park Hotel & Convention Center
1100 N Sullivan Road, Spokane Valley, WA 99037
(509) 924-9000
mirabeauparkhotel.com 

Mountain View Lodge & Resort
25 Wapato Point Pkwy, Manson, WA 98831
(509) 687-9505
mvlresort.com 

Oasis Cabin Resort
609 US-197, Maupin, OR 97037
(541) 395-2611
Open 24 hours
oasiscabinresort.com 

Skamania Lodge
1131 SW Skamania Lodge Way, Stevenson, WA 98648
(509) 314-4177
skamania.com 

Sunbanks Resort
57662 WA-155, Electric City, WA 99123
(509) 633-3786
9 a.m. -5 p.m.
sunbanksresort.com 

Suncadia Resort
3600 Suncadia Trail, Cle Elum, WA 98922
(509) 260-4225
suncadia.com 

Sun Mountain Lodge
604 Patterson Lake Road, Winthrop, WA 98862
(509) 996-2211
Open 24 hours
sunmountainlodge.com 

Soap Lake Natural Spa & Resort
236 Main Avenue East, Soap Lake, WA 98851
(509) 246-0462
soaplakeresort.com 

Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort
7375 Icicle Road, Leavenworth, WA 98826
(509) 548-6344
sleepinglady.com 

Timberline Lodge
27500 E. Timberline Road, Government Camp, OR 97028
(503) 272-3311
timberlinelodge.com 

Trouvaille Guest Inn
244 Swartout Road, Manson, WA 98831
(509) 433-9100
trouvaillelakechelan.com 

The Lodge, Lake Chelan
168 Wapato CT, Manson, WA 98831
(509) 888-4191
lodgelakechelan.com 

Warm Springs Inn & Winery
1611 Love Lane, Wenatchee, WA 98801
(509) 662-5683
9 a.m. -8 p.m. 

Casinos

Legends Casino
580 Fort Rd, Toppenish, WA 98948
(509) 865-8800
Open 24 hours
legendscasino.com 

Northern Quest Casino
100 N Hayford Road, Airway Heights, WA 99001
(509) 481-6000
Open 24 hours
northernquest.com 

Spokane Tribe Resort & Casino
14300 US-2, Airway Heights, WA 99001
(877) 786-9467
Open 24 hours
spokanetribecasino.com 

12 Tribes Casino Chelan
455 Wapato Lake Rd, Manson, WA 98831
(800) 648-2946
colvillecasinos.com 

12 Tribes Coulee Dam Casino
515 Birch St, Coulee Dam, WA 99116
(509) 633-0766
Open 24 hours
colvillecasinos.com 

12 Tribes Omak Casino
28968 US-97, Omak, WA 98841
(800) 559-4643
Open 24 hours
colvillecasinos.com 

*List is not comprehensive and does not feature hotels without vacation amenities

    A picture taken from the shore of Jameson Lake. Jack’s Resort allows vacationers to go out and enjoy recreation such as fishing.
 COURTESY PHOTO/JACK’S RESORT   

    A picture from one of Echo Valley Resort’s Adventure Cabins. Echo Valley Resort prioritizes a quiet and natural outdoor experience.
 COURTESY PHOTO/ECHO VALLEY RESORT + CABINS   

    A photo of people rafting on the Yakima River. Canyon River Ranch offers guided tours down the river where people can learn the history of the area and see local wildlife.
 COURTESY PHOTO/CANYON RIVER RANCH   

    The marina at Sunbanks Lake Resort is where people can bring their boat to have fun on Banks Lake. Sunbanks offers a variety of activities that people can enjoy throughout the year.
 COURTESY PHOTO/SUNBANKS LAKE RESORT