Heading for Missoula, Montana

This morning both Russ and I were awake at just after 5 am, ready to hit the road and see some more new, beautiful country. We have never been up in the Northwest part of the United States; but, since getting here, we are really enjoying it and the scenery is spectacular.

The past seven weeks have been spent in different parts of Washington State and it has been a wonderful experience. We did not know how diverse the state was until we started exploring. WOW!!! Thank you Washington for teaching us about your beautiful state.

We left Old American Kampground at about 7:30 am heading East on ID-2 and then futher East on ID and MT-200. We followed Lake Pend Oreille through Idaho and then the Bull River in Montana. The hills rising above each were spectacular even with the rain that began during the night. According to the maps, we traveled along the "Bitterroot Range."



We arrived at Yogi Bear Jellystone RV Park in Missoula, Montan about 1:30 pm Mountain Time. We got set up and off to lunch we went. Both of us were hungry so we went to "Famous Daves, as we ate very little for breakfast. We enjoyed our meals and decided with the rain we would just come back to our little house and veg for the rest of the day.

The Sights are Awsome

The past couple of days we have done a lot of driving and seeing some of the most outstanding scenery that we have ever seen. The weather has been great with temperatures at night down as low as 48 and as high during the day as the mid 80's. Just right for getting out and touring around.



On Monday the Leivas went with us up to the Albeni Falls Dam for a tour. Taylor, the young tour guide, was very knowledgeable and really enjoyed his job and it showed. He took us all around describing the works of the dam and how the people around the area were enriched by the workings of the dam. We spent about 1 1/2 hours touring and learning much about how dams work producing electrical power.

After leaving the Dam we went to the Village Diner for lunch. It was only okay.

We then drove up to Priest Lake along Hwy 57 from Hwy 2. (We had tried to find it on Saturday but did not find anything that people had been saying was so great. What the problem was we did not go far enough.) We did find the beautiful lake and are glad that we did persist in finding it. There was an information center, but was closed. We looked around outside and then walked down to the beach. OH, WOW!!! The view was gorgeous and the water was so clear. We then drove on down the gravel road looking for the public boat ramp. We found it and boy were there a lot of boats and people there. After looking around for a while, we headed back down to Priest River. It was then back to the campground and rest for the remainder of the afternoon.


On Tuesday morning, Russ and I got up and went down to Coeur d'Alene. What a wonderful little town and the beauty all around it to die for. We first went to see the floating boardwalk that passes in front of the Coeur d'Alene Hotel. We walked the full length just awed by the sights, water and beauty. We then walked up into town and then over to The Shoppes just to see what was there.



We then headed to Hwy 95 and went south toward Plummer. Just before Plummer, we saw the Coeur d'Alene Casino and of course we had to make a stop. We went in and got more "Players Club Cards" and they gave us each $10 to play on. Well, as usual, I lost my $10 plus $20 but Russ saved me by winning a jackpot for $32+. It was time to continue on our ride. We went down to Hwy 5 and headed east to St. Maries. It was then to head north on Hwy 3 up to Hwy 97. It was a total of 38 miles but took close to 2 hours to complete because of the winding roads and slow speeds through the little towns. All in all it was a great adventure and very pretty.

Old American Kampground

Posting from Old American Kampground in Newport, Washington

We left Moses Lake on Wednesday morning 8/6/08 at about 8:30 AM heading east on I-90. Our tire sensor began showing that we had low air in the rear driver side tire on the Honda. We were near a rest area so pulled in there and Russ checked all the tires. He decided that he needed to move the monitor and that helped.

As we were preparing to leave the rest area, I told him that I would drive until we reached the next one. That was about 50 miles, so I am slowing getting back into practice.

We got into Spokane and stopped for fuel at the Petro Center. If you used your ATM card the $4.799 a gallon. If you used credit, it was $4.869. Had to do the cheaper one this time. From the center we continued on I-90 until we reached Hwy-2 and headed north-east to Newport, Washington. It is right on the Washington/Idaho border and very pretty up here. The temperature was a bit warm (98 degrees) but will only be lasting for a couple of days. After getting set up and letting it cool down a little, we took a ride up Hwy-2 into Idaho a little further and the scenery was magnificent.

Today we took a ride down to the Thousand Trails Park at Diamond Lake. It is a very nice park, spread out and some of the sites are very small but will do. The only other thing is that they do not have sewer at the sites. As we were coming back, we saw a SKP sign. We turned around and drove in to find out what it was. What we found was an SKP couple and they were setting up to have a garage sale and they are also trying to sell their property there. They had let people camp there when passing through. They showed us a lot of their wares that they will be selling this weekend.

We left there and headed back to the campground stopping at Safeway for a few groceries. After having dinner we went for a walk around the grounds and down to the river just to see what was there. I did make a couple of phone calls and now it is time to call it a night.

Port Ilwaco and Ocean Park

This morning Russ and I were up early and headed for the Port Ilwaco Farmers Market by 9 AM. We walked along the boardwalk looking at all the wares that people had out for sale. The only thing that we saw that we might have bought was a hobby horse for my great-niece Jenna but passed it up for now and will find her one when we get closer to the east coast.
We left Ilwaco and headed to Long Beach where we stopped at McDonald’s and got us a breakfast sandwich before heading to Ocean Park and the Garlic Festival. There were booths with people selling wares and some were selling garlic stuff also. Russ purchased a bottle of Garlic Ginger Sauce which he said tasted good on his pork chops last night. We enjoyed seeing what all was there.

We drove back down Sandbridge Road and found a Cranberry Museum. It told of how the cranberries are grown and picked. We took a self-guided tour of the field and learned much about the process of growing cranberries.

During the late afternoon and night we had rain. Not hard just gentle showers.
The weather has still been chilly and grey while we have been here. We have decided to change direction on Thursday and instead of staying on the coast we are going inland toward Chehalis where we will be able to see Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens. Hopefully it will be warmer also.

Thousand Trails Long Beach, Washington

This morning we took a walk with Jim and Nancy down to the beach. The path is lined with much beach grass and beautiful flowers of different kinds.
The walk is between a quarter and a half mile and a very easy walk. Once we reached the beach the tide was way out and Russ walked out to where his feet finally found the waves.
This beach allows dogs off leash so Buddy really enjoyed being able to chase the waves and check out all of the smells and things that a beach have to offer. Cars are also allowed to travel on the solidly packed sand.

Later in the day, Russ and I decided to go and find the lighthouses that are in the area. We headed to the right from the campground on Hwy 100 and found North Head Lighthouse that was built in 1898. The views through the trees to the ocean were awesome. Upon reaching the lighthouse we could see for miles and miles out in the Pacific Ocean. This lighthouse is one of the two in the area.

We traveled about a mile down the road to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center within Cape Disappointment State Park. We took one of the beach trails and could see Cape Disappointment Lighthouse from it.

This was a very fun filled day finding the lighthouses and information about the area.