Back to Idaho

Monday, we left Washington and headed to Coeur d'Alene, which is only about 30 miles east of Spokane. It is the largest city in the northern Idaho panhandle and is right on the Lake Coeur d'Alene or CDA as it is sometimes referred to.  It has become a big tourist area and has two major ski resorts in the area. The campground we are staying at, Blackwell Island RV Park, is right on the lake. Unfortunately we couldn't get a spot close to the water and are in the back with the entrance to the park in back of us. Oh well, we can't always get the perfect spot. The park is nice and has a nice beach area, including an area that dogs can go into if they want.

Got some nice pictures in the evening with a gorgeous sunset.

Tuesday we took a drive around the lake. We were going to check out another campground which I thought wasn't too far from where we were. It was about 45 minutes but we were on the scenic byway and so it turned out to be a lovely afternoon admiring the views of the lake. The lake spans 25 miles long and has 109 miles of shoreline. It is a great place for fishing and boaters to enjoy. A lot of the shoreline seems to be private with lots of vacation homes.

I took this picture of an old truck that was on the side of a road. I was reading that there are many old Ford Model T autos at the bottom of the lake as people would drive over the frozen lake in winter in the 1900's to save time getting to the other side and sometimes the ice would break. There are also some steamboats that were burned when no longer used to ferry people across the lake and these ruins are often explorer by divers.

                                                                                                                                                                                
                                                Terry and Nancy, whom we met at the Escapees Hop were staying here at the same time as us. We got together a few evenings for cocktails and conversation. One evening we went to the Cedars Floating Restaurant which is right by the campground. It is buoyed by 600,000 pounds of concrete encased Styrofoam and has awesome views of the lake and Spokane River. Picture below is from their website.

We all shared appetizers, including yam fries over Gorgonzola cream sauce sprinkled with Gorgonzola cheese and drizzled with honey balsamic vinegar. We love sweet potato fries but these were especially good. We also had calamari and a crab artichoke dip with crostini. Good food, good views and good friends

Nice weekend in Spokane

Saturday, we went to the Liberty Lake Farmers Market. This market has been around since 2001 and is very popular. It started with 8 vendors and now as around 40, including local produce, baked goods, and other specialty items. You can also listen to music and have a bite to eat. We bought some fruit, including some very yummy, very sweet apricots. We also bought some salsas after having some samples. Of course, we also went to our friends, Dave and Silvia's booths which are right next to each other Silvia makes beautiful jewelry and Dave sells Milano organic spices, dried fruits, and teas.

   We had a great pizza while we were there. Veraci Pizza has their own handmade portable wood-fired pizza oven and uses fresh and local ingredients.

 We made plans to spend the day with our friends on Sunday. They have a lovely home in the Spokane Valley. Their track is called Sherwood Forest, which is very appropriate as the streets are tree lined and you do feel like you are in a forest area. We first went to have a bite to eat at a well known hamburger spot and then came back to their house to spend the day. We sat in their beautifully landscaped backyard. They get snow in the winter and you can see the hard work they put in after winter to make their garden look so great. They have an awesome dog named Bentley, a Goldendoodle(golden retriever/standard poodle). Bentley and Savannah had a great time playing in the backyard together.

What an enjoyable day. We talked about our travels and theirs over the last years and shared pictures on our computers. They went on a three week trip to New Zealand, which sounded wonderful. Back in the 80s, we all went on a lot of trips together, including a ski trip to Banff, a number of Mammoth trips with them and all our kids and a Mexico trip with the 4 of us. There were also lots of fun times, visiting restaurants, going to plays and other events. What great memories. We just relaxed and enjoyed the wonderful weather. Dave cooked up a delicious stir fry dish after partaking of some fruit from the farmers market and cheeses and crackers. Dave and Silvia said they were envious of our life style. However, they seem very happy and contented in theirs, being part of the community in  this lovely area. We all promised not to let so many years go by again without keeping in contact. We will most likely be in the area again on our way to Alaska, which we hopefully will be traveling to next summer.                                                                                                                                                                                      

Spokane and Old Friends

Friday we drove straight to the Freighliner Repair shop in Spokane. After they worked on it for several hours, all they could determine is it might be just dirt, which they blew out. Hopefully that is all it is While waiting Joe gave our friends, Dave and Silvia, a call. We were great friends for a long time before they moved from So Cal to Spokane. We had lost touch over the years but our unexpected  detour to Spokane gave us a chance to reconnect. We made plans to meet them for dinner. First we drove to Alderwood RV Resort where we will be staying for a few days It is a nice resort with very pretty landscaping. However, they are the narrowest spots we have seen in a long time. Their tables at the sites are only half tables, with seating on only one side.

We met Dave and Silvia and some of their friends at Sushi.com, a Japanese restaurant in downtown Spokane. What a fun place. The sushi is wonderful, just fresh as can be, and they have great service. We sat at the sushi bar where we can  watch the chiefs do their thing. Dave and Silvia have been coming here for years and so know all the staff, who are very friendly. Silvia even has one of the sushi dishes named after her.  Silvia's roll has spicy tuna and cucumber with salmon, tuna and flying fish eggs with creamy wasabi sauce.                                                                                                        

We had several other selections and everything was just fabulous. We had a great time
catching up. Dave is still working full time as a sales rep but he also has a booth selling organic seasoning and teas at the Liberty Lake Farmers Market. Silvia also has a booth selling jewelry and has being doing it for about 10 years. We are planning to go to the Market on Saturday and will see them again.

To Washington State

Tuesday was our traveling day. We had a very fun week and are now headed to the Lewiston area to get our motorhome fixed before heading onto Couer D'Alene, Idaho. We actually are staying at Hells Canyon Resort, which is in Clarkston, Washington. Clarkston and Lewiston, which is in Idaho, are twin cities only a few miles apart. The park is right on the Snake River and we have a view from our site.

Lewis and Clark territory and so the metal sculptures here and around the area

       We took the motorhome into the Freightliner dealer in Lewiston and after a few hours, they weren't sure what was wrong and   referred us to the Freightliner repair shop in Spokane. Oh joy. Hassles of mtorhome repairs. We didn't do a whole lot when we were  here. We checked out Chief Timothy State Park which is on the water and looks like a good place to stay and to paddle from.
We also stopped at the Nez Perce Nationa Park vistor center museum. The Nez Perce tribe lived in the prairies and river valleys of north Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. In fact, there are still Nez Perce Indians in the  area.
We are on our way to Spokane on Friday to hopefully have someone fix the rv. We also hope to see some old friends of ours who moved to Spokane from California about 20 years ago. We haven't seen them in 15 years and would love to get back in contact with them.                                                 

Through the Trees

Saturday, we had a last day of Jeeping. Only 3 Jeeps went and Walt led us part of the way in his truck and then we continued up the mountain. Ernie and Tara, Nancy and Terry and us were the Jeepers. We drove along the Salmon River in the Carey Creek area. We turned onto one of the forest roads, on a narrow road with a shelve on one side that followed a creek that went down to the river and lots of trees to go through and rocks to maneuver around and over. Fortunately we did not meet anyone coming down as there were very few places to pull over to let another car go by.

     We reached a small meadow area to stop and have something to eat. Tara and Ernie's papillon Toby and our Savannah having been getting along great.

We headed back which was much faster than the way up.

                                                       
            The evening meal with the whole group was the last of the HOP and was the best of the three dinners catered. We had spaghetti with garlic bread, bread sticks and salad.

Sunday was the last morning of the HOP. Some of the people left though a number, including ourselves, are staying through the rest of the 4th of July weekend.
We spent sometime cleaning the inside of the Jeep which naturally got pretty dirty on our drives. We drove into town to a self wash to take care of the outside.  We also did laundry at the campground.
We had been talking about  pizza with Ernie and Tara the other day and decided to have a pizza "throw down". We made our favorite boboli pizza that has dijon mustard spread on it, covered with bacon, then cabbage which was cooked in a little of the bacon grease, along with caraway seeds and apple cider vinegar. It was then covered with fontina cheese. Tara's pizza, also boboli thin crust, had a tomato based sauce with olives,anchovies, jalepeno's and Italian cheeses, which consists of 6 different cheeses, including ricotta. The ricotta was an especially good touch as it gave it a creamy taste. We had to declare a tie as we loved both versions.
Monday was mostly just a relaxing day. The nearest fireworks show is in McCall and since it doesn't get dark until after 10, we decided to forgo that. We ended up going into town with Terry and Nancy for some lunch at the River Rock Cafe.  Terry and Nancy shared pizza and Joe and I had sandwiches. Everything was good. We then had a few drinks at one of the local bars and then went back to the campground and spent the evening in various discussions of travels and politics and such.  Independence Day and all it means in this great country of ours was also among the discussions. Tomorrow we leave for Lewiston to hopefully get our overheating problem with the RV fixed. It has been a great week and we met some great people who we hope to run into in our future travels.

White Water

Friday afternoon we headed into Riggins for our White Water Rafting trip which will be on the Salmon River.
We met at the Park in town to get suited up in wet suits and pfds and helmets for those who want them. We drove a short way to the boat launch. By the way, we didn't take cameras. Walt, our Hop leader, didn't go along but instead took pictures of the trip including along portions of the river. Thanks so much Walt!!

         We had four boats and a fifth boat was used by a trainey. They have to paddle a boat by theirselves for a number of months before becoming a guide. The trip was great. We floated down the Salmon "River of No Return"  for around 10 miles on this half day trip. We had calm waters as well as exciting tastes of the rapids. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

                                                                                                            

The wasn't over yet. We got back in time for a little wine tasting and then happy hour. Lots of good appetizers, including meatballs in barbeque sauce we cooked up in the slow cooker.

After Happy hour, we spent the rest of the evening talking and having a little more wine with Terry and Nancy Nichols. They are also from Southern California and have been full timing for about 6 years. They do have a place at one of the Escapee's RV SKP Resorts, in Jojoba Hills in Aguanga, near Temecula.