The Elk’s Lodge in Grand Junction was our next landing spot. The lodge itself is an old historical type building with a very cool lodge meeting room. They had electrical hookups in the parking lot for a few RV’s, but otherwise it was a dry RV spot.
Welcome to the Colorado Springs Elk’s LodgeOur home at the Elk’s LodgeA cool meeting room at the Lodge.
We found the Grand Mesa National Scenic Byway just outside of town, so the roadtrip was on. We got some scenic views of the valley floor as well as a curious Bambi who stared us down while I took pictures. The loop was about 63 miles in length.
God’s countryCool rock formationsViews from the topBambi watching usMore views from the topI think this lake was named Island Lake. I wonder why…
A walk down Main St. (just around the corner from the Elk’s Lodge) showed off some of the local art work scattered along the street. We also noted this area of Grand Junction, besides being near the police station, was home to numerous homeless folks. Not a great selling point for any possibility of landing here when we retire the full-time life.
A couple of days and it was onward and upward, more like eastbound and down, to the town of Glenwood Springs and our stay at Glenwood Canyon Resort. This was a very nice RV resort right on the Colorado River in a tight little canyon with great mountain views and a whitewater rafting business run right out the back of the resort.
Our home at Glenwood Canyon ResortRafters behind the resortLooking over some of the cabinsThis is a view from some of the tent sites at the resort. Willy Wonka’s chocolate river is actually the Colorado River after heavy rains.Some of the cabins are right on the riverDefiance Rafting Co.The clubhouse on the riverThe bicycle path along the riverMore of the cabins
Jeanne found the Hanging Lake Trail in her list of things to do. The trail requires a $12 permit per person to hike to the lake and they regulate how many hikers are on the trail at any time, a preservation effort by local government. We hit the trail bright and early one day with very little hiker congestion. The trail, a little over a mile to the lake, gains a lung-busting 1,100 feet in elevation, going straight up the mountain. Once we got to the top, we found the beautiful lake and a side trail further up the mountain to another waterfall with a feature called the Spouting Rock. Spouting Rock was directly below the waterfall and is a large volume of water spurting out of the rock creating a secondary waterfall. We relaxed in the serenity, had some snacks and recharged our batteries (so to speak), then enjoyed the all-down-hill return hike to the Jeep.
On another day we fired up the bicycles and headed out on the bike trail that runs next to the RV park. It follows the river east to the Hanging Lake Trail area and west into Glenwood Springs. Again, we enjoyed some scenic views in both directions, then I had a little “run-in” with a local chain link fence. It bit me pretty good and unbeknownst to me I lost my cell phone in the confrontation. But the good people of Colorado, at least one good samaritan, saved me by turning it in to the front desk of the Spa of the Rockies, a large mineral springs resort for which the aforementioned chain link fence was providing security.
We found another short adventure in downtown Glenwood Springs, the trail to Doc Holliday’s grave. It was a very short walk up the hill to the old Linwood Cemetery and the adjacent Potter’s Field (a cemetery for indigent and unknown folks commonly known as a pauper’s graveyard.) Besides Doc Holliday’s “gravesite”, Kid Curry was also buried, in the Potter’s Field. Kid Curry was associated with Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid & their Wild Bunch. And I say Doc Holliday’s “gravesite” because they are not all that sure where, exactly, he IS buried within the cemetery.
A few days in Glenwood Springs and it was off we went. Our next stop…(?)
Out of Provo it was northbound for a couple of nights stopover at the Idaho Falls Elk’s Lodge. I had some toilet repairs to complete and they had a Camping World (yuk!) store with my parts in stock. We spent one day showing Max the town’s namesake Idaho Falls which are smack dab in the middle of downtown. Coincidentally, the Snow Eagle Brewing & Grill was right across the street from the falls. We gave Max another shot at a brew pub meal, of which he availed himself another of his newfound favorites, bacon cheeseburger (plain). We tried to talk Max into a walk along the falls path/trail, but he was having none of that. Oh well…
Mr. Pool Shark demonstrates his world-famous “no-look” shot at the Elk’s Lodge…Max schooling Oma on the grueling sport of ping-pongMax mugs in front of Idaho FallsIdaho Falls
Ryder Park Lake is a small fishing “lake” (more like pond) in town and Max wanted to try his hand once again. We spent about 3 hours at the lake fighting some healthy winds, but alas, it was not to be. It settled our disappointment to later find out from locals that catching fish in that particular lake is about as productive as sighting a Sasquatch.
Max, the fisherman…“Yeah, I got this!”He started out on 2 feet……then moved to a seated position……then, “Hey Max, wake up!”Fishin’ off the boardwalkLots of these guys around……a whole lot when there’s food involved!
From Idaho Falls it was onward to our base camp stay for Yellowstone N.P. We lucked out, sorta. Originally we were to stay at the Livingston KOA north of the north entrance to YNP. But severe storms and snow melt at the beginning of June caused catastrophic damage to Hwy. 89 into Gardiner and the north entrance, as well as cutting off Gardiner from the world. Initial thoughts were that the north entrance into YNP, as well as the entire northern “loop” (Mammoth Springs, Lamarr Valley, Tower Falls et al.) would not be able to be repaired for opening to the public for the rest of the season. However, word being spread is they may be able to save some of the season with timely repairs, it is always best to call them or check the nps.gov website for current conditions and closures. In the meantime, the west, south, and east entrances are open to the public and the entire lower loop is available for use. Due to the severe partial closure, the park has initiated an even/odd system by license plate numbers for even/odd day access to YNP.
Needless to say, we cancelled Livingston and found space at the W. Yellowstone KOA. Outrageously expensive, but a good base for the park and surrounding sights. This was a great family campground with lots of things for the kiddies to stay occupied and had a very nice indoor swimming pool. It also sports a good sized office/camp store with a fudge shop, a small restaurant with outdoor tables, a coffee & snacks shack, clean laundry, and propane for sale. The knock I have to say is the pull through sites are skinny and between thick pine trees with tight turns to get into them. And with all the kids at the park, the bathrooms absolutely need more regular visitation by janitorial staff.
We made (3) every-other-day trips into YNP, one of which we drove through to Grand Tetons National Park, all in a quest for Max to see the wild critters. We did manage to stop off at some of the scenic features; Old Faithful Geyser, Grand Prismatic Springs, Fountain Paint Pot Trail, Dragon’s Breath Spring, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Lewis Falls, Gibbon Falls, the Grand Tetons viewing, just to name a few. Spectacular viewing they all may be, but Max’s highlight was seeing a couple of bull elk, a mama bear with her (2) cubs, a couple of coyotes, a boatload of bison, a bighorn sheep, and the one non-highlight where Max slept through seeing a golden eagle while on a road trip. Max did get to make good use of the pool on our non-YNP days, and got to meander through the many shops in W. Yellowstone.
We finished our visit to YNP and decided to meander over to…well, you’ll just have to stay tuned, until next post…
Bozeman, Montana in our rearview mirrors, it was westward ho as we inch our way toward the Republic of Kalifornia. Our next stop was in Idaho Falls, ID, at the local Elk’s Lodge. We spent a few days in the area, coming to the conclusion that Idaho Falls is a bit too much “Back To The Future-ish”, aka: not real modernized yet. We did check out Jalisco’s Mexican Restaurant for a little sustenance, and found it to be right on top of the town’s namesake “Idaho Falls”. They have a walking/biking trail that runs along the Snake River that traverses the area right in front of the restaurant and at the “Idaho Falls”. Due to inclement weather, we were not able to partake of the bicycle trail while we were there. And by the way, if you are ever in the area, Jalisco’s is very good Mexican cuisine. And in our travels around the area we encountered the Eagle Rock Fountain, a touristy photographic opportunity inside the traffic circle at the intersections of S. Utah Ave. and Bridgeport Rd. Of course, we had to snap a few…
Onward and upward, it was off to the area of Twin Falls, ID. We made a couple of days stay home at Anderson’s Camp, right off the freeway in the area of Eden, ID. We used the time to check out Hansen’s Bridge over the Snake River and the reason for the name “Twin Falls”, that being Shoshone Falls. It was a bit underwhelming with the low flow water and all, but still very scenic.
Our home at Anderson’s Camp
The pavilion at Anderson’s
Typical campsites
The pool area
Anyone for cabins?
Welcome to the Hansen Bridge
That’s a big gorge…
The Snake River
From Twin Falls we were off for a return trip to the Boise area some housekeeping chores and a short rest from our recent frequent moves. It was very nice not being in heavy Kalifornia/Oregon smoke. In our many forays into the Boise area over the years we are finding it is getting progressively more congested each visit, no doubt thanks to the influx of all the Kalifornia escapees. Driving anywhere is a chore in and of itself. And let’s talk about those rising real estate prices…well, maybe later in another post. Wow, this was a shorty. Until next post…
You get the picture, right? Circle? We basically left Idaho, “circled” back down to Kalifornia then back to Idaho (with Jeanne’s mom Yvonne in tow) to give Yvonne a little break/vacation from Anderson, CA. The “circling” went like this…
Our first stop after leaving the Cd’A Casino was the Columbia Sun RV Resort in Kennewick, WA for a few days. This is a very nice RV resort in the tri-cities area. We managed to make time for some drive around exploring as well as a bike ride along the Columbia River on the Sacagawea Heritage Trail and the Columbia Park Trail. During our bike ride we rode through a section along the river where workers were setting up for an upcoming event. In a unique response to the current bull$hit China virus hysteria, the workers were setting up assigned spaces right on the river for the upcoming annual air show that was about to be held over the river. The assigned spaces were for spectators to park their cars on (in good ol’ American “drive-in” fashion). We got some nice river views, including highway bridges and the Gateway Arch, Tower Beacon lighthouse. On our local drive we found the Bombing Range Brewing Co. which we just HAD to check out. The beers were OK, as was the rather large taco salad, and it is definitely a pro L.E. outfit.
The Columbia Sun RV Resort
Our home at Columbia Sun
Some of the Columbia River views
Gateway Arch, Tower Beacon
More river views
Heading out on the Columbia Park Trail
Mostly a nice, paved trail
One of the bridges over the river
Signage for these trails was a bit hit-n-miss, they need to work on it.
Smoky view toward the other bridge
A little history snippet carved into the rock
Welcome to Bombing Range Brewing Co.
Beer & taco salad…breakfast of champions!
Definitely pro L.E.
Cool wall art
From Kennewick we returned to Caldwell, ID to offload our bicycles, then continued south toward Anderson, CA. We overnighted at a brand new (in fact, still in progress) RV park in Burns, OR, called Quail Ridge RV Park. Quail Ridge is not much of what I would call a “vacation destination park”, but it does have FHU’s on a large open gravel lot. Since we had left Caldwell, we were plagued with smoky skies from all the left coast wildfires. We sucked it up and drove straight on through to Anderson, taking Hwy. 395 down to Alturas, then Hwy. 299 into Redding, smoky skies all the way. A couple of nights at the Win-River Casino and then it was back toward Idaho, trying to escape the ever-increasing burnt skies, with Yvonne riding shotgun. We initially wanted to drive up through Klamath Falls, OR into Bend, then over back to Caldwell. Those plans, like most well-laid plans, changed on the fly due to wildfires and road closures. We were forced to backtrack the way we came into Kalifornia. “$%#&*@!”
Our home at Quail Ridge RV Park
One big gravel lot…
We were unable to find much relief from the intense smoke. Here is a bit of a montage of what we encountered all the way back into Idaho.
We overnighted at the Desert Rose Casino in Alturas, CA. This is a small, hole-in-the-wall casino but they do have a large flat back lot area on which they allow free overnight RV parking. Then it was on back to Quail Ridge RV Park for a 2 day rest, and finally back to Ambassador RV Resort in Caldwell.
Our home at Desert Rose Casino. Not a lot of neighbors…
Welcome to the Desert Rose Casino.
Our whole time, so far, here in Caldwell has been cursed with smoke filled skies. With just a few days left, we will be making the return trip into Kalifornia. And right now, as it stands, our plans are in perpetual change mode. You’ll just have to wait…until next post.
The start of this post will be a bit boring for all you non-blogger types out there, I give you fair warning. So if you are so inclined you will probably want to skip forward to the photos. And to top all of my incompetence off, I see my photo captions are not appearing in the blog itself. Great! More headache to deal with, so bear with me. At least you can see the pictures!
I am the furthest from being computer savvy that a human can possibly get, so why I let Jeanne talk me into doing a blog in the first place just boggles my mind. But I had managed to fake my way through it for the past almost 8 years, so there’s that going for me. We started with Blogpost, but quickly switched over to WordPress and chose to let WP be our hosted server. When we wanted to access certain effects (fonts, schemes, colors, etc.) we had to upgrade to the WP business plan which was running us $300 per year plus having to renew our domain name independently (another $18 for the year, through Wild West Domains). I put up with all the occasional “upgrades” that WP kept putting out, having to decipher and relearn how to do some of the simple stuff (managing media-photos, learning the new “block editing” style, etc.). Now, we are thinking hard about coming off the road and “landing” somewhere, maybe going part-time instead of full-time RVing. We’re not in much of a hurry, but are giving serious consideration to a couple of particular areas. In anticipation of all that, I wanted to capture my entire 8 year blog onto some type of printable format. My computer advisor (Jeanne) found a plug-in at WordPress, “Print My Blog”, and looking into it, I thought it just might work. Alas, how I was wrong! I fiddle-farted with it for days trying to get a successful result, but all I got was a haphazard mish-mash of text and photos that were cut in half between pages and it threw me into a cyber rage! I wasn’t able to figure out if or how to edit the mish-mash into something usable. Again, my computer advisor (cooler heads always prevail!) hit me with something she found while surfing the ‘net called blogbooker.com run through WP. Blogbooker turns blogs into a book format, at least for those that really are savvy. In my exploring Blogbooker, I took a chance and $30 later had the standard plan loaded up. It did not take long to complete, however the PDF version that appeared was a mess as well. My photos were no longer in their original arrangement, there was a fancy table of contents page that had a strange numbering system for my “chapters”, there were long spaces, sometimes entire blank pages between posts and pix, and the pix were of a large variety. Again, I don’t know how to edit a PDF, but I figured out enough to copy & paste what I wanted into a Pages document, then spent a couple of weeks editing that document into something that makes sense and is manageable. Because of all that hassle, and after consulting my computer advisor, we decided to change our WordPress hosting over to Bluehost shared hosting. That just created a whole ‘nother series of cyber-rage-blowouts with me schooling Jeanne on my vast vocabulary of 4-letter words. I transferred my domain registration from Wild West Domains to Bluehost (many hours spent on hold with their tech support getting secret codes and whatnot to unlock MY domain name and allow the transfer), then signed up for the Bluehost Choice Plus plan. In some circumstances, you can actually migrate your entire existing blog over to Bluehost, and after another few hours on hold and talking with tech support, I found they offer to migrate your blog (for a $150 fee) for you. That would be handy to a skilled computer expert such as I (NOT!), but then the tech also clued me in that they do not recommend migrating WordPress blogs such as mine due to loss of certain functionalities and possibly some material (great, just my luck). So I sucked it up and decided to start off anew, having the peace of mind that I captured my previous 8 years onto something printable. That does no good for any of you who wish to go back and visit some of our past haunts, and for that I sincerely apologize. Also, I apologize if the “notify by e-mail” function has been interfered with or deleted for those of you who actually signed up for it. So, that brings us to current events, ending all this breathless bloviating.
Southern Idaho is our current focus on possible landing zones. One, it IS NOT Kalifornia. Two, it is within a doable striking distance to all our family still residing in Gavin’s Autocracy (aka: Kalifornia). Three, the weather is tolerable. And four, it IS NOT Kalifornia. We spent a few busy days back at the Ambassador RV Resort in Caldwell, getting some chores done. While there we had a local outfit wash & wax Rosie the MH. We also had just completed moving our stuff from a little 5×5 storage still in Santa Rosa, CA ($103/month), up to a 5×10 storage unit in Star, ID ($63/month), so we needed to get things organized and arranged. We also downloaded some unnecessary “ballast” from the bus (stuff we don’t use or need on the road).
One shiny beast, at home at Ambassador RV Resort.
Gittin’ ‘er done, one shine to go!
A sheer wall of mirrors…
Back the blue, baby!
We wanted to check out the area of Moscow, ID, so it was north on Hwy. 95 from Ontario, ID. We picked Canyon Pines RV Resort for an overnight stay in the area of Pollock, ID. This is out in the middle of nowhere right on the Little Salmon River. It was a very nice RV park just south of Riggins, ID. One of the reasons we chose the area was we really wanted to go see the Hell’s Canyon area, however in talking to the locals, every which way we turned it was a spread out area with just enough driving time to get to for us to be discouraged enough to cancel that thought.
Our home at Canyon Pines RV Resort
The bath/showers at Canyon Pines.
Nice, clean, small laundry
The Little Salmon River behind the RV park
Some sites backed right up to the river
Some of the wild west themed landscape decor
Lewiston, ID was next on the itinerary. We found the Clearwater River Casino & Resort to spend a few days at while exploring the area. The RV lot associated with the casino is really a dump, but at least it had FHU’s. The location was good for us, what with Lewiston ID and Clarkston, WA right there at the confluence of the Clearwater River and Snake River (which acts as the border here between ID and WA). We got to get some shopping for supplies done (Walmart, Costco, etc.), and we chose to do the short roadtrip into Moscow in the Jeep, sans Rosie. And of course, we had to donate to the local economy of the Nez Perce tribe…
Our home at the Clearwater River Casino
The bathrooms were replaced by portables & the garbage cans only looked like this the first day…
Makes you feel safe parking in the casino parking lot, don’t it?
Like most of Idaho, the casino likes it’s water features. It just forgets to take care of them…
Here’s our garbage dump the last 2 days…
Driving to Moscow, overlooking Lewiston, Clarkston, the Snake and Clearwater Rivers
Sunrise at the Clearwater River Casino.
Having already inspected Moscow, we drove on past and landed back in Core-dee-ay-lean, ID (OK, aka: CD’A or Coeur d’Alene). We stuck out a few days at the Elk’s Lodge there (nice weather, by the way!), then spent 5 days at the Blackwell Island RV Resort right on the Spokane River at Lake Coeur d’Alene. This is a very nice resort park with both human and dog beach areas, boat dock, and even a small dirt BMX track for smaller kids. We spent some more time checking out CD’A (we thinks maybe a bit more snow than we would like to see in wintertime, and talking to some locals it appears Fall time the sun tends to disappear 3-4ish in the young afternoons). We also tried out a few more of the local breweries, this round “Daft Badger Brewing” and “Trail’s End Brewing” both had some tasty offerings. Daft Badger had a half order of nachos that was absolutely huge (very tasty) & we ended up boxing up about 2/3 of it for take-home!
Our home at Blackwell Island RV Resort
How ’bout it, CA, had enough of that smoke yet?
The RV park’s beach area
Yard art at the park
More yard art. Do you ever get that feeling someone is always watching?
Kid’s BMX track out back
Our bicycles have been feeling neglected for quite a while (inanimate objects “feeling”?????), so we hit the Prairie/Centennial trails that follow along the Spokane River. We meandered along the path for a 3-hour ride, then took a short jaunt into the marina area of CD’A and McEuen Park. After our bicycle trek, I needed to fabricate some type of bicycle rack we could carry with us in the bus (I forgot and left our old store-bought one at one of our stops in Montana). So a run into the local Lowe’s scored me some PVC pipes & joints. 30 minutes of manual labor and voila!, one bicycle rack in hand.
A look out to Lake Coeur d’Alene
Jeanne leading the way…
Not all trail ran along the river
We enjoyed seeing this!
…and enjoyed seeing this even more!
We happened upon this cool underpass mural…
Both sides of the trail were painted
Very cool…
Jeanne, still in charge
OK, gotta take that gratuitous bicycling selfie along the river!
Another look out onto the lake toward the marina.
McEuen Park
More McEuen Park
One portable bike rack, to go…
The weather was very pleasurable in CD’A, clear skies, 80-90’s in temperature, and our Sea Eagle kayak was yelling out our names from it’s dust gathering position in our storage bays. We launched from the RV park boat ramp/beach area and cruised up the Spokane River for about an hour, cruising through some pretty fancy riverside homes, before discovering our inflatable floor section was losing air. So we turned around and returned to the park. An inspection of the air valve for the floor section revealed a nick in the plastic rim was causing the leak. Hello again, Lowe’s! No luck finding some type of rubber seal/washer that I could use to seal the leak, good ol’ Google to the rescue sent me to the local Ace Hardware establishment. They had a plethora of different types of seals & washers. I picked a few different types and found the good old-fashioned O-ring did the trick. Good to go for the next ocean voyage…
“C’mon dear, row, row, row that boat!”
Jeanne mugging for the camera
I hate to see people having to live like this…
More riverside tenements
Livin’ in the lap of luxury
Parasailing, anyone?
Finished at Blackwell, we made the arduous journey (OK, 30 miles away) over to the Coeur d’Alene Resort & Casino near Worley, ID for a couple of days of boondocking (free) in their parking lot for RV’s. They do have numerous 50A hookups for which they ask $20/night, then refund some of that onto a Player’s Card if you so choose to get one inside the casino. And yes, again, we donated to the local economy of the Coeur d’Alene Reservation. This is a nice Casino/Resort which has an 18-hole golf course which I guess is used in the LPGA tour (or so their signage tells us).
Our home at Coeur d’Alene Casino & Resort
The RV 50A hookup area
“Fore!”
So, our plans are to kinda circle back on down to Caldwell, ID through Kennewick, WA, where we are going to do some more sorting through the storage stuff and prepare for a run into Redding, CA to pick up Jeanne’s mother & bring her back to Idaho for a couple weeks or so. It’s all tentative, never know when something attracts our eye…Until next post!
****OK. So this is an edit added at the end. I’m trying to solve my lack of captions and thinking maybe the artsy-fartsy mosaic type of format isn’t supporting the use of captions. So here I will add pix into the standard “gallery” block in WP. I can’t cross my fingers any more than they are now, they look like one big Gordian Knot. I see the captions appear at the bottom of these pix in the edit, I’m assuming they will show up on the blog once I update the post. If you find no other edit additions in the waning seconds after I publish this one, I have solved that issue, WHEW! But now I am disappointed I cannot caption my pix in the mosaic mode. Baby steps…
****OK, so I lied. This addition to the addition is to inform y’all that I went back and changed my artistic mosaic format of my photo blocks into a standard “gallery” block and added the captions back in, it drove me nuts having certain types of photos with no explanation (aka:caption). I will reserve my future use of the mosaic style for those series of photos that need no caption…Now, I really mean it, “until next post…”
Welcome to Daft Badger Brewing
The offerings at Daft Badger Brewing
How ’bout some o’ dem nachos & a couple of cold ones?
A look across the Spokane River from the college to Blackwell Island RV Resort’s beach/dock area
China virus… Riots all around… Goofy politicians. Unneccessary societal closures… & tons of new RVers out there making it a little tougher to find spaces at RV parks…like I started out, life goes on. Sorry, it’s been a little while since my last real post, but we’ve been floating in limbo pretty much all year, as have most of you. A big change for us has been our decision to change this blog over from WordPress hosting to Bluehost shared hosting. The big drawback was we could not bring the entire 8 years prior worth of posts over to Bluehost, so we are basically starting from scratch here. So be it…
I am still trying to get acclimated to Bluehost, so this post functions as a test procedure, as well as keeping y’all up to date on our limited activities. From Kalifornia, we headed up to Idaho. We are still looking for a possible landing zone to come off the full-time road gig, and the southern part of Idaho is currently on our radar. Jeanne wanted to do some boondocking, so one of our first excursions was to some Forest Service land near Sun Valley, ski area to the stars. As it turned out, someone mentioned that to get to the area we stayed at, we had to drive past Arnold Schwarzenneger’s fancy digs. Not sure if that was true or not, no sightings of the Terminator. While here we walked Woody around the area of our site, checked out the ski lodge area, and took a drive to Stanley to see the valley below the Sawtooth Mountains.
Our home at the Lake Creek Rd. NFS area of Sun Valley.
Seclusion in bliss!
Woody taking us on a walkabout…
This little creek flowed until…
…it didn’t flow no more!
The lodge area at Sun Valley.
Great time for lift tickets, all lines, no waiting! But for the lack of snow…
Pick your run
Looking across the valley at the Sawtooth Mountains
We stopped off for a couple of days to stay at the Mountain Home RV Resort. We ran into a little plumbing issue with our kitchen sink drain hose (OK, a leak!). Unfortunately, I found trying to find some replacement one & a half inch flex hose to be a daunting task. In the tiny hamlet of Mountain Home, I hit every plumbing, hardware, and ranch supply store they had – not a one had what I needed. They all pointed me to the tiny local RV parts store, which just happened to be closed that day. I called the big boys, Home Depot & Lowe’s in Boise (50 miles away) and neither of them had it either. I lucked out and found Dillon’s RV, Marine, & Powersports in Boise that just happened to have my hose. Yippee! A short road trip and wham, bam, fix was done!
The pool/spa area at Mountain Home RV Resort
Mountain Home RV Resort
A playground for the kiddies
We had to make a side run back to Eugene, OR, to get some body work done on Rosie the bus and once finished, we headed back toward Idaho. Ourt next stop was the Elk’s Lodge RV lot in Bend, OR. There, Jeanne found the Deschutes River Trail, about a 3-mile loop trail that followed a section of the river from Farewell Bend Park. We left Woodrow Wilson at home for that one. It was a nice, easy, scenic hike on well kept dirt trails. I felt like we were living out the sci-fi movie “They Live”, what with all the goofballs using the trail while wearing the stupid face masks and getting nasty stares from some of them because I absolutely refuse to wear one outdoors.
Our home at Guaranty RV Park
Sights along the Deschutes River Trail
Nice, easy trail!
Some folks have to live with views like this? You have my sympathy…NOT!
River views
Signs of the times, unfortunately. China virus eyesores…
The trail never did get much worse than this.
Hey, where’s your mask!?
The Deschutes River
Nice clear skies to boot!
We also took a short drive up to the ski lodge area of Mt. Bachelor. There, we found an RV area on the paved lot, some sites (20, I think) with power, and a large area for boondocking. They did have a nice shower/restroom building but I found they want $50/night for the power sites, just a bit way too much for the location.
Welcome to Mt. Bachelor
Camping at the electric sites
From Bend we returned to the Boise area. We are planning to spend a good part of this winter in this area, provided we can get a monthly gig at one of the local RV parks. But in the meantime, we spent a very busy couple of weeks scouting, checking out properties, sub-divisions, and the area in general, everything short of contacting realtors. No decisions made, but as I started out, life goes on… Until next post.
We’ve not been real big on reservations thus far in our near 7 years on the road. But Florida, the northeast, and now the northwest are demonstrating that we may need to start relying more on reservations. The northeast and northwest have such short recreational seasons that we are finding it harder and harder to just show up and find space for Rosie the bus pretty much any time we like. So, we plotted out our course towards Anacortes, WA, location for our next meet up with friends Bud and Meredith, and the Butte KOA was next up on our list. This was a return trip for us, nothing new to see in the big town of Butte, but we stayed 3 days anyway. The KOA is kinda run down; grass dead, trees/shrubs needing the services of a “barber”, and interior dirt roads tight in some spots. It fits right in with the town of Butte, Butte being kind of an ugly, dirty little town. We did manage to find a Costco in Helena, about an hour’s drive away, so we took advantage and stocked up on supplies.
Our home at the Butte KOANot much green grass here…Playground for the kiddies. This stay they had a lot of biker/tenters float through on their way to or from Sturgis SD.Butte KOA has a very small pool for a family oriented campground.
Butte in our rear-view mirrors, it was on to Missoula where we decided to stay at the Gray Wolf Peak Casino just north of town. They have 50A E with a communal water spout for 8 RV sites. They charge $20/night, but if you get one of their player’s cards they waive the $20 fee. Wow, since I have quite a collection of casino player’s cards already started, “Where do I sign up?!” We stayed 2 nights here and ended up relieving the casino of a few hundred dollars making it well worth our while. Montana has a strange casino system, to say the least. They have “casinos” at every street corner it seems. These are small buildings/businesses that are basically a bar with a few dozen slot machines. No card games. No table games. Just slots. Gray Wolf Peak is an actual Indian casino, quite larger than most Montana casinos with restaurant, bar, hundreds of slots, but this one differs from most Indian casinos in that it has no card games or table games either, just slots. We had a good time anyway.
Welcome to the Gray Wolf Peak Casino!Our home in the back lotThey got space for 8 with E hookups, but others dry camped in the fairly empty lot nearby.
Next on our itinerary was Haugan, MT and a place called Lincoln’s 50,000 Silver $. They have a dirt RV lot behind the business with 30/50A pedestals scattered around and a communal water spout for RV’s, and it is free for short term stays. Lincoln’s 50,000 Silver $ is an unabashed tourist trap of a business which touts itself as having Montana’s largest souvenir shop. There is a restaurant and bar, as well as a detached hotel and the RV lot. The bar has the walls covered with silver dollars mounted in boards, with an ongoing count total of over 75,000 of them. The restaurant is unremarkable and well not worth your time, effort, or gastric discomfort. And the “casino” consists of about a couple dozen slot machines only. The gift shop offers a strange mix of merchandise; some of the normal clothing, jewelry, knick-knacks, art, wall hangings, plus a variety of weaponry from knives to swords to battle axes to blowguns, metal “gladiator” style helmets, coins & silver, oh, and all the dope pipes you could ever want. The clerk tells me weed is not recreationally legal in Montana, only legal for medical purposes.
Welcome to Lincoln’s 50,000 Silver $Not a lot of business at this particular time…Our home out back at 50,000 Silver $. No frills living at its finest!Upon first glance, it looked like a typical souvenir shop.The walls of the bar are covered with silver dollars… Here’s a closer look…Their total count as of our stay…The bartender pointed this one out as the oldest dollar here.Silver coins for sale…..or maybe you’re looking for a gladiator helmet……or perhaps a battle axe, dagger……or even a Knight’s sword… …but maybe just a little ol’ knife… …no, no, I get it. You’re looking for a dope pipe!
The main reason for our stay here was the Hiawatha Trail (RideTheHiawatha.com), a stretch of the old Milwaukee Railroad line converted for bicycling/hiking. Our friends Stacy and Jim Camara turned us onto this bicycle trail which meanders through the mountains of MT/ID border. It is considered the Crown Jewel of the nation’s Rail to Trail system and covers 15 miles with (10) tunnels and (7) high steel trestles, plus all the scenery you can handle. The St. Paul/Taft Pass tunnel is 1.66 pitch-black miles long and would definitely be a rough go without the required lighting instrument of your choice. The bonus here is that from the East portal trailhead to the Pearson trailhead (that covers 15 miles) it is about a 1.6% downhill grade. You can choose to do the round trip (the downhill half took us a little over 2 1/2 hours), or you can catch the shuttle bus back to the top. We did not have the time (Woody back in the bus) for the round tripper, so shuttle it was. You need to pay a fee of $12/person to use the trail, a booth is set up at the trailhead. The shuttle use is an additional $10/person. Even on a hot day, you may want to consider carrying a sweatshirt with you, the longer tunnels are a bit on the chilly side. The trail is gravel but plenty wide and in few places is a shared-use road with vehicles. Thank you, Stacy and Jim, it was a good time.
The East Portal start of the Route of the Hiawatha.Right at the start we were thrown into darkness…1.6 miles of frigid pitch blackness… Jeanne getting ready to do battle with the St. Paul/Taft Pass tunnel…Coming out the other end of St. Paul/Taft… And what greets us at the other end of St. Paul/Taft? A nice little waterfall…Some of the shared use road as part of the trail.All kinds of tunnels along our route.Some tunnels darker than others… I gotta hand it to the folks who maintain this trail. Nice signage! Still, more nice signage, even if it is only an arrow in a tree!We had nice views coming out of most of the tunnels.Hey, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!Bambi here just walked right up to us…Reminds me of a slightly different take on an old joke, “Why did the deer cross the road?”…One of the trestles we crossed on our trek…The trail never got much skinnier than this…Horrible views of trestles!Some of the tunnels were short. Jeanne thought we were a little high up here!The trail took us right by this unmarked grave…This sign explains the grave, allegedly the only fatality in the big fire, 1910.Tired of all this greenery yet?A slightly different angle/take on the trestles…Well, we just HAD to stop for a break and snacks…Jeanne clowning around during the break…OK, so I get to clown around too!Jeanne cruising along on a trestle, she resolved herself to just not look down…Another critter paying us no mind as we pass on through…Hey, Alvin, is that a wad of tobacco in your jaw or just some nuts?Yippee Kayayyyyy! We made it! Lining up for the shuttle ride back…
Bikes packed up, it was hasta luego to Haugan and onward to the Coeur d’Alene Elks Lodge for a 5 day stint. Unfortunately for us, parts of Idaho were experiencing wildfires northeast of us, so we got to enjoy the smoky skies that we miss oh so much from the past couple of years in the west. We used the 5 days to get chores done (had to perform that rare task of hunting down a laundromat for laundry), but we did squeeze in time to walk around the downtown/marina area and also take in the Kootenai County Farmer’s Market.
Welcome to the Coeur d’Alene Elks Lodge.Our home at the Elks… A view of the Elks Lodge.Gotta love ’dem smoky skies! NOT!!! Lake Coeur d’AleneThe marina. It was an overcast day with light rain when we were there.Let’s go to the Farmer’s Market! They definitely jammed the booths together here.All things veggie…The veggies all looked about as fresh as could be. Jeanne bought some greenery including a monster stalk of celery, only to see 2 days later that it wilted into a rubbery mass…
Jeanne discovered a special event at the Mad Bomber Brewing Co. They do occasional collaboration with local first responders to create original recipes and subsequent brewings, and one night they were having a release party for the latest brew, on behalf of the Kootenai County Deputy Sheriff Association, appropriately named KCSDA IPA. Live entertainment included a young man named Jacob Maxwell who I’m told was on a TV show called “The Voice”. The Mad Bomber Brewing Co. is a rather unique establishment. It was started by some EOD Army soldiers after their return from deployment and is extremely patriotic, pro-military, pro-first responders. It definitely packed ‘em in on the night we were there. God bless America!
Welcome to Mad Bomber Brewing Co.It looks like the army EOD motto is “Initial Success or Total Failure”A look toward the brewing vessels.Tributes line the walls.More photos/tributes.How ’bout a little bomb suit decor?We did our part, we had some of the KCSDA IPA. Sorry, never heard of young Master Jacob…
Moving day took us to the Wenatchee River County Park for a 3 day stint. This was a fairly nice park alongside the Wenatchee River. It was, however, a bit noisy since it sits between Hwy. 2 and a very active railroad track (I particularly enjoyed the 2 train runs between 0300-0330 hrs…NOT!). We took advantage of this stop to give the bicycles another workout and ran a stretch of the Apple Capital Recreational Loop Trail (about 12 miles worth anyway). It was a fairly scenic ride through the Wenatchee Confluence State Park and along both the Wenatchee River and the Columbia River.
Our home at Wenatchee River County Park.We had lots of space here.The park was right on the Wenatchee River.The first thing we ran into on our bike ride was this nest of Ospreys.The bike ride took us to both the Wenatchee River and the Columbia RiverMr. Quail just watched us ride on by…The bridge over the Columbia River.Jeanne, plugging away on the trail. Foolin’ around with the selfies…They had art scattered along the route, as what follows…The trail took us right through the Wenatchee Confluence State Park, a very nice park.
We wanted to give Woody some outdoor time so we loaded him up and headed into the tourist trap town of Leavenworth, WA. There they have a trail that runs through the Waterfront Park, Blackbird Island, and Enchantment Park alongside the Wenatchee River. Once finished with the trail, we headed back to the bus, planning to return later to play tourista in Leavenworth without the burden of having Woody along.
Jeanne and Woody head out along the trail. Terrible when you can see through the water… Some of the view along the Leavenworth River Front Trail. Some of the critters under the sea…I hate to see people have to live like this, such a shame…
Wenatchee has a Public Market, similar to the one we went to in Napa, CA, which is all enclosed like an indoor mall. When we went to check it out, it turned out to be a lot smaller affair than the one in Napa. We strolled through the market, Jeanne sampled some balsamic vinegars and we sampled some brews from the Wenatchee Valley Brewing Co.
The Public Market in Wenatchee.A look on the inside…Jeanne, tasting balsamic vinegars.The Wenatchee Valley Brewing Co. The many offerings at the brewery, some theirs, some not…
The park we were in did not have space for us to extend our stay, so we moved about 5 miles down the road to the Chelan County Expo & Fairgrounds where they run an open lot with FHU’s for RV’s. Once we were moved in, we went ‘splorin’ in the big city of Cashmere. It is a dumpy little nothing of a town, many business buildings empty, home to Aplets & Cotlets, an apple confection manufacturing business and Crunch Pak, an apple processing plant. We wandered the “downtown” area, then found our way over to the Milepost 111 Brewing Co. to sample some of their wares. They brew a McC’s Irish Red that was OK, not outstanding, but palatable.
Our home at the Chelan County Expo/Fair. Bare lot but hey, FHU’s!A look at all our neighbors! “Downtown” Cashmere, WA. A different view, same “downtown”.The store inside Aplets & Cotlets…The original stove that started it all at Aplets & Cotlets…Milepost 111 Brewing Co. in “downtown” Cashmere.Looking at the brew vats in back…
Woody wanted to do some more outdoor time, so we loaded him up again and headed outside of Leavenworth to find the Icicle Gorge Trail. It was a 5-mile loop trail alongside Icicle Creek with some very nice scenery. Woody took it like a champ the whole way. His attention was continually drawn to the many chipmunks we saw along the way…
C’mon, Jeanne and Woody! Let’s get this show on the road! OK, OK, we’re comin’…This kind of scenery, such a blight on society…How clear is clear, exactly?“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it!” LOL, sometimes I crack myself up! Beautiful! The raging river…Break time…again…Kayaking, anyone?Now, THAT’S a skinny bridge!This bridge was our viewing platform for the next photo…Tommy Trout I’m thinking this bridge over Icicle Creek is at the area for which it was named, “Icicle Gorge”. Just a guess…A sideways look at the bridge and creek.Pretty cool gorge area. Looking upcreek from the bridge.Can (you) people stop with the selfies already?!? Jeez…
Once we finished the hike, we returned Woody to the bus, cleaned up, then made our return to Leavenworth to check out the town. Back in the 1960’s in an effort to increase tourism to the area, the whole town transformed itself into a Bavarian themed city. It was miserable to find parking anywhere, we ended up circling around through town a couple times before we found one parking spot far on the outskirts. We started with lunch at a place called Munchen Haus which we found on Yelp. With 1,073 reviews and a 4 1/2 out of 5 star rating, how could we go wrong? Well, the food was unremarkable, felt like eating a brat at the ball game. However they did serve what is called a German chocolate cake ale called Dark Persuasion that was pretty tasty. Gotta like the hint of coconut…The wait in line here was not worth the payoff. And they allow dogs in the seating patio area which it seemed EVERYONE took advantage of, not my choice for dining companions… The shops in town were touristy and crowded on the Friday that we were there. All in all, Leavenworth, WA would not be our choice as a vacation destination.
Looking down the main tourist drag in Leavenworth, WA.More street shots of Leavenworth. Parking was an absolute nightmare here!Yup, the town went full on Bavarian..More store fronts.Traffic was terrible here as well, and had to compete with the horse and buggies…Now THIS is a total party ride!Then this guy comes cruisin’ the drag…
Our grand finale while in the area was another hike on a Rails to Trails participating trail, this one called the Iron Goat Trail, about 50 miles west of Leavenworth. This trail runs a section of the old Great Northern Railway, built in 1893-ish (abandoned in 1929), as a means of transportation between St. Paul, MN, and Seattle, WA. We loaded Woodrow Wilson up and drove out to the trailhead in Scenic. The main trail is about a 7-mile loop, with a 3-mile tag into Wellington to the east and a much shorter spur into the Martin Creek trailhead at the west end. We chose the main loop out of Scenic. A suggestion for anyone choosing to do this hike out of Scenic. Do the loop clockwise. It starts through the lower section, then loops up to the upper section and finishes off with a mile long set of steep, downhill switchbacks. Counter-clockwise however starts one off doing the steep, uphill switchbacks first, which may turn out to be a severe quad/ham-burner, with the greater part of 6+ miles still to finish the loop. The trail is very scenic, at times looks sort of like rain forest, with several train tunnels and what’s left of the snow sheds that were built back then to cover sections of track as avalanche protection. A big caution to hikers on the lower trail section-stinging nettles are everywhere and at times the trail can be a little skinny-wear long pants and long sleeves. On the upper trail it was harder to find nettles. Otherwise, the trail was easy to follow, albeit a bit overgrown in some areas. We were on constant critter watch and although we saw none of the usual suspects (bears, elk, moose, deer, etc.), at least we did not get skunked-an owl was sort of stalking us, licking his chops as he caught sight of Woodrow Wilson.
The Iron Goat Trailhead at Scenic.Woody, getting ready to lead the way…Nice signage!The milepost markers like this one for 1720 designate distance to St. Paul, MN.Several remnants of snow sheds are scattered along the trail. Here’s a closer view of the remaining wall of a snow shed.There’s lots of this little bugger’s relatives all over the lower section of trail.The trail quality varied greatly along the trail.Some of the trail (very little) had boardwalks.And then, some of the trail was seriously overgrown…But none of it bothered Jeanne or Woody, they took all types like champs! Heading towards one of the tunnels.From inside one of the Twin Tunnels, looking at the other one…Another tunnel with part of the old structure getting some serious overgrowth…Another inside-out shot from one of the tunnels. They say don’t go into any of the tunnels because they are unsafe, but then why do they post historical information signs inside the entrance to the tunnels?!? A nice bridge to cross… Woody wanted to check this one out.Nice fern growth.This guy I think was stalking Woody…This was a timber spillway built from a water reservoir as a means of fire protection for the railroad folks. It wasn’t discovered until the 1990’s.
Well, that will catch us up for now. Moving day tomorrow, onward and upward toward the Anacortes, WA area. Until next post…
Success! We managed to fill in all the gaps (even during the dreaded 4th of July week) with reservations for our stays leading up to our time at Glacier N.P. From St. George it was north for a few days’ return stay at the Springville KOA (Provo, UT). We wanted to drive the Alpine Loop and check out some of the trails off the loop, but weather gods were not looking favorably upon us, the Alpine Loop was actually closed (snow). So we settled on a little bicycle riding through downtown (the Provo/Orem area has very nice bike paths throughout the downtown areas). In fact, the trail along University Av (Hwy. 189) continues as the Provo River Trail. This takes one through Mt. Timpanogos Park, Canyon View Park, Canyon Glen Park, Nunn’s Park, Bridal Veil Falls, and into Vivian Park. We broke it up into 2 rides, about 25 miles and 10 miles respectively. Bridal Veil Falls was very scenic, as usual, and the Provo River was raging pretty good on this visit. Provo had a farmer’s market one day which we just had to attend. It turned out most of the “farmer’s market” was food tents (of the cooked/prepared type) and crafts. Jeanne managed to find the only booth that actually had produce for sale and appropriately ordered up some of their lettuce & kale.
Home, at Springville KOA.It was busy, not packed…Bridal Veil FallsA closer view…Bike riding through downtown Provo/OremA bridge over the river along the Provo River TrailHard to put up with these views, eh?! We just had to stop off for another goofy selfie…Hard to put up with these views, eh?! Jeanne did find the only booth selling produce.
Northward ho and into Jerome, ID for a couple night’s stay at the Snake River Elks Lodge while we waited to pick up our general delivery mail. The Elks Lodge is on an 18-hole golf course, very green, but otherwise the Jerome area is kinda dumpy, tons of farmland, not much to do. We had already checked out the Snake River area a few years back and this was mainly just a mail stop for us.
Our home at Snake River Elks Lodge. We had to stare out the front window at the hideously deep green grass of the 18-holer.This was the parking lot monitor directing us to our site…
Next stop…Dillon, MT at the Countryside RV Park for a few days. Dillon sits in a big bowl surrounded by snow-capped mountains. The area is very large and green, with cattle ranching seemingly the big agricultural endeavor here. We are starting to see more interesting critters now. Near the ID/MT border we saw a massive Golden Eagle take off from its perch on a fence. We saw what we both agreed was a badger scooting along near the roadway. And we are now in the middle of prairie dog country where the little yappers go non-stop. Pronghorn deer are also becoming more common sights. Jeanne also identified our avian neighbors as Yellow-headed Blackbirds.
Prairie Dogs galore! Home at Countryside RV Park in Dillon, MT.Lots of Yellow Headed Blackbirds here. Noisy little buggers!
Our big outing for this stop we decided to visit Bannack State Park, home to the ghost town of Bannack, the first territorial Capitol of Montana. The state does a nice job of maintaining the 50-60 buildings still remaining. We the people are even allowed to enter many of the buildings, some of them still containing artifacts from the mining town days. It was an interesting experience, however the state does such an outstanding job of maintaining the town, it was “too clean” as far as ghost towns go. The ghost town of Bodie, CA, is still at the top of my all-time favorite ghost towns, nationwide.
Welcome To Bannack State ParkThe scenic drive into the ghost town. One of the typical buildings at BannackThe Masonic Lodge/schoolhouse at Bannack.The first floor was the classroom, the Masons met upstairs.A bird’s eye view of Bannack.“Welcome my brothers and sisters! God’s house is always open, here at the Bannack Methodist church!”I did a stint in the Bannack jail… Inside one of the ghost dwellings.At the Bannack graveyard, some of the headstones are still there……and some of them are not.Checking out the gallows, perhaps getting fitted for a necktie?!?A look down Main St.A look down the other way on Main St.
Our last day here we drove the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway between Wise River and Dillon. It was very scenic, however we missed out on the little side trip to the ghost town of Coolidge and the Elkhorn Mine & Mill due to the road closure. Oh well, we got to see critters (badger, pronghorn, deer) as well as receiving a very light dusting of snow.
Some of the scenery along the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway.Lots of fly fishing in that thar river…They had a lot of small campgrounds along this byway as well, at least for smaller rigs…A homesteader in 1883 named Joe Maurice settled along this route and buried family members in this private cemetery.Beautiful views!$3 in our snow flurry. (Go ahead, you can figure it out!)
So, we’re jacks-up tomorrow continuing our way north, hopefully with little to no snow. Until next post…
(Tech notes: My cyber-incompetence just drives me nuts sometimes, OK, most-times. It seems a few years back, leading up to 2015, I managed to make a whole bunch of photos disappear from my blog posts. The captions remained, just no photos to view. I don’t know how, but I may have figured out how to fix it, it took a lot of trial-and-error, not to mention a few bottles of bourbon and cases of beer. I will slowly but surely be working on replacing all the missing pix, so bear with me. I just hope I can get the right pix in the right spots…)
Well, we seem to have hit that “4-year jinx” with Rosie the bus. Lots of little knick-nacky things breaking down or going wrong. We had a terrible issue with gray tank odors permeating the interior, especially when we drive down the road with anything in the tank. We already addressed the vent caps as far as sealing the threads, but to no avail. So, we spun the wheel and took our chances, guessing that maybe it was the Hepvo trap under the kitchen sink. One quick order through Amazon and, bingo, one new trap. After the swap out it appears we have no more issue with odors. The old trap was pretty beat up, the rubber bladder inside looked mangled. A $30 fix to save us another couple hundred dollars in Mobil RV service calls. Next, we picked up a leak under the kitchen sink. Trying to access the pipes there is an interesting endeavor, with all the hoses zip tied and then having to dismantle drawers & cabinets. But I overcame my “handyman incompetence” and located a small hole pinched into the flex drain hose. A $10 fix which again saved me several hundred dollars in mobile RV service calls, whew! But the capper to all was the reason we had to change plans for the 7,492th time and terminate our Idaho stay a bit early. I found the outside skin of one of our big slides was getting chewed up by contact with the 3 rollers upon which the slide operates. Crap! Since we are nearing our time to return to CA for medical appointments and family holiday times, we decided to head back to Elite RV Repairs in Harrisburg, OR. I called Eric there and he put me at ease in that the fix would not cost me an arm & a leg, nor would take much time to remedy. So Oregon, here we come, again!
The white piece is the Hepvo trap. Gotta be a contortionist to get your arm and hand in there to remove and replace…The skin damage under my slide.More skin damage…My water leak was underneath the white flex drain pipe, had to find it by braille, after removing the frame for the drawer…
Our stay in ID was a tad more than 5 weeks. In keeping with our past practices, we found Boise sponsors a Boise Ale Trail. Well, son of a gun, don’t mind if we do! 20 breweries participating and after sampling some of their offerings, my favorite was an Oatmeal Carmelita Stout by Barbarian Brewing. Jeanne preferred the Mexican Lager by White Dog Brewing. As usual, the Boise Ale Trail gave us the opportunity to get a self-guided tour of the Treasure Valley area.
Some of Payette Brewing Co.’s offerings. Goes with my personal motto…If you can see through the beer, it is not worth your time or taste buds…Words to live by…Working on my admission to the Twelve Step Program at RAM Brewery.Boise Brewing Co. offerings. Can you guess which 3 Jeanne will be tasting and which 3 will be mine?!?Logo sign for Sockeye Grill & Brewery.My top pick for the Boise Ale Trail. Barbarian Brewing’s Oatmeal Carmelita Stout.White Dog Brewing Co. offerings, Jeanne’s fave was the Mexican Lager.At Western Collective, purveyor of Guns & Oil American Lager, I seem to have made a friend. It only took throwing the tennis ball once…
Table Rock is a local sight to see, overlooking the downtown area of Boise with a sweeping view of the Treasure Valley. The only “bad” was that visitors to Table Rock have a tendency to leave a donation of their personal graffiti, such a shame for an otherwise scenic rock formation.
Jeanne feeling a little adventurous. Don’t forget, Jeanne. There are old adventurers, and there are bold adventurers. But there are NO old, bold adventurers!The cross on top of Table Rock , overlooking the valley.Downtown Boise, from Table Rock.“There I was, deep in the cavern…” Sad to see graffiti…We still have been getting some of this smoke, it is starting to get old.Jeanne clowning around amongst the graffiti covered rocks.
While in Boise we took a walk around the downtown area and the capitol building. It was nearly abandoned, their house is out of session until January. The marble interior is beautiful and the exterior is consistent architectural-wise with most domed capitols that we have seen. We stumbled upon The STIL, a unique downtown ice-cream shop. They also sell beer & wine and offer “flights” of both ice-cream and adult beverage of choice for simultaneous tastings. It’s gotta be the goofiest pairings I ever tried, we did 4 beers & 4 ice-cream flavors. And to top that off, they had several ice-creams that were infused with alcoholic beverages. I will admit, I was not impressed, ice-cream and beer do not mix well for me. That even ruined my tasting of a whiskey barrel aged Deschutes Black Butte Porter. Yucky yucky yucky!
Sights of downtown Boise.More downtown, looking toward the Capitol.Still more downtown. P.F. Chang’s two horses…The Capitol building in Boise, ID.A look up the front porch.Profile shot of the dome.Fancy marble interior.Looking up the dome…A Sea Coast Gun, 42 pounder used during the Civil War at Vicksburg and donated to the state of ID in 1910. It now stands guard on the front lawn…Lower level marble. Cool old mailbox inside the Capitol. Welcome to The STIL.“What’ll it be?”Beer and ice-cream. Goes together like fire and water! Pick a flavor.
Close to our home at Hi Valley RV Park we found the Ada County Bike Park. This was a mountain with numerous downhill bike runs and a BMX course at the base of the mountain. The park is popular with hikers as well, with a trail across the peak of the mountain which gives more sweeping views of Treasure Valley. We used this park several times to give Woody a little exercise.
A cutie walking up the trail to the top of the mountain at the Ada County Bike Park. Looking down into the Treasure Valley. The BMX track is at the base of the mountain. They did a good job of marking all the different bike runs, kinda like a ski mountain.Several days we had to put up with yet again more smoke. Here’s the smoke covered valley from the top of the mountain.
A lot of the locals suggested we see the town of McCall, so we loaded up Woodrow Wilson and did a day trip. It is about 100 miles north of Boise on Hwy. 55, a little state highway that travels along a good portion of the Payette River. The scenery was very nice and when we got to McCall, it reminded us of a small scale Tahoe. McCall is a little ski resort town on Payette Lake. When we got there they just happened to be having their local Farmer’s Market going on. That had to be the s-m-a-l-l-e-s-t farmer’s market I ever saw! We did a walkabout, had lunch at a local pizzeria, and sampled the fare at a couple of the local breweries. The McCall Brewing Co. had a Wobbly Man Smoked Scotch that was a tasty ale, as was their Devious Intent Imperial Stout. The Salmon River Brewery was unimpressive as far as their beer goes, but the view was nice.
On the road to McCall, along the Payette River.More Payette River Rough rapids on the Payette River.McCall’s Farmer’s Market.Yak meat for sale!This was pretty much the bulk of the market.A view across Payette Lake at one of the ski mountains. Another look at the lake. Imagine all this snow covered. Brrrrrrrrr!Welcome to the Salmon River Brewery.Nice light inside the restaurant/bar.Our view from our table at Salmon River Brewery. Welcome to the McCall Brewing Co.We’re gonna taste us some brews.McCall’s offerings.McCalls did have a tasty Devious Intent Imperial Stout!
Jim & Stacy Camara had turned us on to the Big City Coffee shop in downtown Boise, so we made one last return trip for breakfast. The place is truly a “hole in the wall”, and seating can be a problem when busy. But man oh man bring your appetite with you! The breakfasts are gigantic, as are the baked goodies! I think this was the first time we ever had to box up the left overs from a breakfast!
Welcome to Big City Coffee.Lot’s of baked goodies at Big City! Rustic interior, wouldn’t you say?! The Cowboy breakfast, a Veggie Wrap, and one massive cinnamon roll.
That’s about as caught up as I can be for now. Until next post…
Moving day led us to the Hi Valley RV Park, kinda in between Eagle and Boise. Hi Valley is part of the G7 Resorts group here in Potatoville (aka: Idaho), as was Ambassador RV Resort in Caldwell, from whence we came. Hi Valley had some 194 sites, with clubhouse, pool, spa, and a nice dog park and dog run. We wanted to try to score a month-to-month there, but to our dismay they only allow so many month-to-months and there are already many sites taken up by full time residents. We are finding more and more RV parks with full time residents living in them which takes away opportunities for the traveling RVers. So we had to settle for week-to-week. Oh well…
Looking across the dog park to the pool area behind the office. Sites lined up, row after row… The pool and spa area…The clubhouse at Hi Valley.A little exercise never hurt anyone! Kitchen area inside the clubhouse.Our home at Hi Valley RV Park.
Moving day just so happened to fall upon Jeanne’s birthday. Our friends Jim & Stacy Camara joined us for the celebratory feast at a very nice Boise dining establishment, Barbacoa’s. That place is very upscale and was PACKED! We yakked away the night and had a very nice time, culminating in a little birthday treat for Jeanne and Jim turning me on to Banana’s Foster.
They actually torched Stacy’s lamb chops at the table! I contemplated yelling ,”Fire!”, but the place was packed and I didn’t want to get arrested…Jeanne prepares to enjoy her birthday treat, some cotton candy spun around a small piece of birthday cake with a lit candle, kinda like a lantern only it wasn’t dark yet.Jim and the Bananas Foster, just after THAT fire went out! I’m starting to sense a theme here, as they torch everything they serve, well, it seems like anyway!
The next day Jeanne & I got a chance to try out our newly-tuned bicycles on the Boise Greenbelt trail. It was close to 30 miles round trip as the trail ran along the Boise River through the downtown areas of Garden City and Boise. It was about a four and a half hour ride, my butt would tell you it was 130 miles total, OUCH!
Near the beginning of our Greenbelt trail ride we passed through some housing sub-divisions that had some TERRIBLE backyard areas!More of those terrible backyards. The Greenbelt trail actually runs along both sides of the Boise River, with several bridges that crisscross and connect both sides of the trail.Jeanne mugs for the camera…One bridge crossed the river at the Boise Whitewater Park. The river is partially dammed up with small openings to create rapids where local surfers and kayakers come down to work their relative skills.“Surf’s up, Dude!”A closer view of the surfer dudes…Welcome to the Boise Whitewater Park! Yup, the trail took us along some horrible views…Low bridge! Of several parks along the Greenbelt, we found the Fireman’s Memorial with a special tribute to the 9/11 hero/victims.The Fireman’s MemorialThe 9/11 Fireman’s Memorial has the names etched on the wall and a piece of the I-beam from the wreckage… Closer up. We even passed a zoo and got spied on by a giraffe…Our return trip at the Whitewater Park we found a kayaker working the waters… He was having fun. The trail also goes right through the Boise St. campus.
Between running around checking the area out, Jeanne found out about a nearby ghost town, Silver City. We met the Camaras, packed lunches, loaded up their dogs and Woody, and we all headed out to do a little Jeepin’ on the dirt road to Silver City. It took us close to 2 hours to get there, the road was an easy Jeep road with minor washboarding and a few rocky areas to jar one’s eye teeth. As far as ghost towns go, I was a little disappointed with Silver City. There are a bunch of full time residents who live there in some of the historical buildings, and not the most friendly I have encountered. We walked around “town” and checked out the “cemetary” (sic), ate lunch, then headed back to civilization, where the Camaras invited us over to dinner at their place and we capped the day with a nice dinner and non-stop yakking about all things, including the RV life (they have an Allegro Bus that they are preparing to hit the road, albeit for a short trip).
Silver City, ghost town. The house here at this intersection is one of the private residences in town.The old drug store. The town hotel behind Jeanne.Inside the hotel lobby area. Hotel lobbyAnd yet more hotel lobby.Masonic Lodge. Schoolhouse.Kinda ruins the ambience when you see solar panels on buildings of a ghost town…The church on the hill.Welcome to the cemetery… Jeanne paying her respects to the dear departed… Somehow I don’t think he was THAT Thomas Jefferson… The town music maker…
