A FEW MORE DAYS IN SPOKANE July 2017

Since we'd come to western Washington state for Zach's wedding, I knew we had to continue east to Spokane, my Mom's birthplace. I really didn't have much information about where she was born or how long she lived here, but it did make me feel connected to the area just knowing she and my grandparents had once lived a piece of their lives here. How I wished I'd asked those questions years ago, but just being there was special.

And, as we travel the country I'm always on the look out for Trader Joe's stores. Spokane had two store locations and both about the same distance from us, so I tried them both. I stocked up on all my usual supplies and as I was leaving I noticed they had a liquor section in the store. We have learned that not all states sell beer and wine in their grocery stores as we do in California. Instead, many states have state run liquor stores separate from the grocery store. In Washington, it was a bit different. The Spokane Trader Joe's did carry wine, beer and some spirits but there's a hefty tax added in grocery stores that sell the products; a $9 bottle became $17 with the tax added! Not sure that's a change for the better.  But, picking up my Washington state TJ bag was fun, I now have a collection of grocery bags from the states we visit. Here's Washington's:

With really hot temps daily, we did most of our activities in the morning. Within a half mile from the Elks lodge was the Centennial Bike Trail along the Spokane River. Beautiful ride with enough shady spots to take a rest or cool off. We loved it so much we did it each morning that week.

 On Friday that week we left early for a day trip to Couer d"Alene, Idaho. It was only a 45 min drive across the border to the town, so a day trip was perfect.  We started with a bike ride along the lake and then took the 12:30 boat ride for 1.5 hours. With a half price Groupon it was a perfect way to see the lovely area surrounding the town. One of the sights pointed out was this house on a rock. The lady came out and waved to the boat as we passed by, as she does every day.

 And this beautiful dandelion sculpture down at the park

 Every city we visit have these fantastic bouquets hanging from lamp posts! I think it's a lovely custom here in the northwest. Now, how they keep them watered and constantly blooming in the heat, I really don't know.

 A small farmers' market on Saturday in Spokane, with their favorite fruit this time of year...huckleberries. I guess it takes a lot of huckleberries to fill a gallon bucket, $45 isn't spare change.

 After checking out the Spokane Farmers' Market, we drove downtown to find another beautiful bike trail at Falls River Park. Loved this enormous slide/sculpture as we entered the park.

 The view of Spokane's Convention Center from the across the river.

 These falls must be amazing when the spring run off comes through these rocky boulders as the river flows through the middle of the town.

 We stopped for lunch at the red brick building in this photo, the Clinkerdagger, a longtime local favorite.  It's inside a former flour mill, with great views of the river.

 The clock tower where there once stood the central railroad station.

 After lunch we got back on our bikes and rode over to see Gonzaga University.  Beautiful campus, and Bing Crosby's childhood home was open for tours so we had a look. It was the family home for 23 years, including the years Bing attended Gonzaga High School and Gonzaga University, and is filled with Bing Crosby memorabilia.

 Our last stop on our city day tour was to the Japanese gardens in Manito Park, absolutely beautiful. There was much more to see in the botanical gardens but we were hot, tired and ready to get back to the RV and Foster.

 Driving through some of the nearby neighborhoods we found this sweet family and their lemonade stand. Had to stop!

 Sunday we returned to Spokane for a visit to the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. Interesting art work in the museum along with a working television production studio of the Syfy TV series, Z Nation. Never being much of a zombie fan we took a look and then decided to spend more of our time at the historic Campbell House, circa 1910, also part of our museum admission.

As this was our last day in Spokane, we needed to do a little grocery shopping at TJs and then hit the laundromat. 

SPOKANE and BOISE July 2017

From the fun of Zachary's wedding we drove east to Spokane, a long day but pretty drive over hills and dales and past the Grand Coulee Dam. Since we were on a mission to get to the Elks Lodge in Spokane, we looked but didn't stop at the visitor center. Arriving at the Elks in Spokane Valley in the mid afternoon we were lucky to get the last site open. Nice location on a hilltop over looking Spokane Valley, electric and water sites, and friendly hosts. We did move after a couple of days to a more shaded suite as the days were in the high 90s. And, we ended up staying for 2 weeks.

Paul had a repair to get done on our jacks so he was busy getting removing the parts and getting them to the repair shop. I did some local sightseeing and found this darling Blackbird Cafe for lunch outside. 

 

We left the RV for a 4 day trip to Boise, ID to visit Paul's college roommate, Steve Dyer and and his wife Sherry. Flying bright and early, we were in Boise at 8AM. Steve and Sherry and their beautiful poodle, picked us up and after breakfast at the Trolley House we were off to the tiny mountain town of Atlanta, ID.

The 4 hour drive goes east from Boise and north on paved road to Idaho City before turning onto a winding graveled road for 40 miles. Though the distance isn't much, about 80 miles from Boise, the terrain slows the car but such beautiful views of the the surrounding mountains. Atlanta sits at an elevation of 5300'. The roads are the biggest problem in getting access to Atlanta, but that also helps maintain its charming personality and discouraging it from becoming a tourist destination.  We definitely would never drive the RV down the dirt and gravel roads, even though there is a lovely forest service campground along the river.

Atlanta was once a vibrant mining town in the 1860's and somehow was never completely deserted  as so many others. The town is actually named after Atlanta, GA. Many of the early settlers were from that area and came west when gold and silver was discovered about 1863. Today a small community still resides in this township; cabins, a library, a local bar and small homes being rebuilt with original materials from the surrounding area. This home, and many others, was deconstructed on its original site and moved to its new location in the town.

As we entered the main street this sign on the side of the local hangout caught my eye.

With a couple days to see the area, we started Friday morning with a visit to the local cemetery,  dates and stories of the folks who once lived and mined and walked these hills.

Many headstones are individually surrounded by picket fencing, with the older weathered ones and some newer painted sites.

Time for a few photos of the 4 of us.

This cabin is the local shop to find just about anything...a thrift store of sorts with an interesting character who opens the store for just a couple of days each week.

The area is also dotted with hot springs. This one was perfect for a little sit and relax time.

From the hot spring to the Middle Fork of the Boise River our tour of the area continued.

Steve and Sherry purchased their darling home a year ago and love spending quiet days there. I'm pretty sure its the only home in the town that is newly built and the delight is in seeing the recycled materials used in its construction. Plus Steve and Sherry have made the interior so wonderfully cozy and inviting with all their personal period pieces. It IS the only white painted building in the town. The rest resemble their neighbor's house above.

This was the view from our bedroom window on the second floor.

Paul and Charli, their dog, resting inside on the hot afternoon.

View of Steve's cabin from the street.

Front porch time, shaded by a wall of hops growing from the ground to the roof.

Steve and Sherry

We ended our stay back in Boise Sunday afternoon and a fantastic dinner with the whole family! Such a wonderful four days.

HEADIN' TO A WEDDIN' July 1-9 2017

I was amazed at the gorgeous days we had driving the coast of Oregon! Brilliant blue skies in early July isn't the usual weather pattern for the west coast, I was expecting our foggy coastal mornings, but so happy to have this view. 

We love staying at the Elks Campground north of Florence, Or and had reserved a couple of days there just to relax and stay off the road. We had been pushing pretty hard for the month of June and this gave us a chance to get some house keeping things done, I even stated a sewing project.

After our 5 days we packed up and continued the drive north turning inland at Lincoln, Or. Our next few days were spent visiting friends, Alan and Sue, just south of Portland. It was one of our first times parking the RV in a residential neighborhood, but Paul managed it well.

After getting settled in on their driveway, we caught up on life with a beautiful hilltop view. We were up early Monday morning for a day's outing to Mt. Hood east of Portland. Another fabulous day, stopping for a picnic in the woods before driving on to the lodge at the top of the mountain. We sat in the sun with views south towards Bend, Or and behind the lodge the beautiful snowy Mt Hood.

We spent one more evening together and were up early the 4th of July to continue our drive but first a visit with Jan Omara who had moved to a new neighborhood last year and was now only 15 minutes away...I couldn't pass up a chance to see her new home and catch a little time together. 

Leaving the Happy Valley area south of Portland we followed the Columbia River Gorge with a stop to see the Maryhill Museum of Art built on  bluff overlooking the eastern end of the gorge and on the US National Register of Historic .

Built by Samuel Hill, it was begun in 1914 but in 1917 Hill decided to turn his unfinished home into a museum. It was dedicated in 1926 by the Queen of Romania, a friend of Mr. Hill's and opened to the public as a museum in 1940. The eclectic collections include an entire lower level of Native American basketry and a large gallery of Rodin scupltures. 

One of my favorite temporary exhibits was the Theatre De La Mode, fashion mannequins in miniature  crafted by top Paris fashion designers after WWII. Not sure if the summary below is readable, but what a fascinating collection.

The view back towards the gorge was stunning, but extremely dry and as we walked back to the RV we saw a huge plume of smoke on a field nearby.

We weren't sure if we'd be stopped or rerouted, but the fire had gone up the hill and the roadway was still open, a bit scary!

We wanted to get about 8 miles further east to see the second part of the Samuel Hill creations, the Maryhill Stonehenge, a memorial to those who had died in World War I. Such an interesting character, Sam Hill, a businessman, lawyer, railroad executive and strong advocate for good roads in  the Pacific Northwest, even building roads at his own expense along the gorge.

But with still lots more miles to drive and days disappearing we drove later than usual that evening and stayed at the Yakima Sportsman State Park., not our favorite state park by any means. Even though it was July 4th, we were too tired to seek out the local fireworks though we heard the booms for hours!

Finally, one enormous drive north following the Columbia the whole way we reached our destination of Winthrop, Washington that Wednesday afternoon and WE had a wedding to attend on Saturday!!! I was so excited, our nephew Zachary was getting married!  Zach and Amanda live in Bellingham about a 5 hour drive over the Cascades. Having once driven that road in an RV, we had chosen to drive the eastern route this time and stayed at the darling Pine Near RV Park about a block away from the little western town of Winthrop.

We were back to the really hot days but such a beautiful area and pretty enough to sit outside to do some of my finish work on the lavender sachets I was making for wedding favors.

Mama of the groom, my sister Emily, arrived the next day and we started the fun with dinner at the Methow Valley Cider House.

The property where the wedding would take place on Saturday afternoon was lovely.

Most of the family and friends were staying at The Rolling Huts of Methow Valley, a combination of these huts, a large cabin and tent cabins. Interesting...

Friday evening Kurt and Ali arrived just in time for a fabulous salmon dinner after flights from Denver and Minneapolis, plus a really long drive from Seattle.

And, as it turns out we had our one family group photo together.

Zach and his mom, Emily

The wedding fun began about 10;30 that morning with a bike ride to the nearby town on Mazama, which is actually a little gas station and a fantastic general store. The 6 mile ride through the woods and along the river was beautiful!

Though we had started out with the whole group we soon found ourselves pulling up the rear, too many stops along the way, plus...we were the elders on the ride! Amanda came back a couple of times to check on us and then

she and Zack both came to see how we were doing and make sure we found the trail markers>

This was the perk of being last!

After a delicious lunch at the store everyone headed back, and since Kurt and Ali had driven over to join the lunch time fun, we traded vehicles...they rode our bikes and we took the car back for them.
With time for us to get back to the RV to change, the wedding venue was taking shape. Amanda's sisters had been busy with food prep and decorating!

In their wedding details, Z&A had asked friends to bring blankets or chairs to enjoy the picnic style wedding! And what a perfect afternoon! The day was warm but not too hot and the mosquitoes left us alone all evening!  

So, here in this gorgeous setting of the Cascaade mountains, woods and bright blue sky, Zack and Amanda exchanged their loving vows, through tears and giggles, surrounded by friends and family.

Then the party fun began! My happy sister Emily, with her 3 guys!

Family photo time.

Zack and his Best Man and brother, Lars.

A quick and blurry photo of Zack's stepmom, Gina, Emily and me.

Kurt and Lars as the evening changed from dinner to dancing and the lights started coming on.

Sunday morning everyone was up early to clean up the yard and the rental properties with return destinations to drive. We stopped by to get a last hug from the newlyweds.

We still and two more nights at our campground so Kurt and Ali joined us there and we spent Sunday afternoon at the lake nearby and then dinner and tent camping for them at our park.  They headed out early Monday morning for their flights out of Seattle, while Paul and I had one more lovely day in Winthrop.