Trip to Idaho
Friday Sept. 26th
We were to meet Candy and Rick Lubansky who live in the Bitterroot Valley in Montana so Judy and Candy, the decision makers, looked at maps while on the phone and settled on Farragut State Park, in Idaho.

We thought we’d leave early, but after a walk it was still 10:30 before we got out of Lake Stevens. Of course, last time it was 11:30, so, it’s progress of some kind!

We drove highway 2 all the way to Spokane, not hurrying, but not taking any long stops either. Then 90 to Couer d’Alene, then 95 north to Farragut State Park. It is a great place to camp and recreate. We arrived just before nightfall and only a few minutes before Rick and Candy.
They arrived in a “too cute” white Eurovan that when glanced upon made one think of good things of our generation- Woodstock, connecting with Mother Earth, not using more than your fair share, and sharing what you have with others. They popped up their home and came over to our place to share snacks and wine while we caught up on life events.

Saturday
After sleeping in…Wow these nights were chilly. The sun goes down and sucks up all the heat after it leaving behind clear star-filled skies that are barely visible through the dense trees of our campsites. After sleeping in until the temp was more manageable, taking hot (and unlimited) showers, and a quick breakfast, we were off to explore the lakeside town of Bayview.
Bayview is a stone’s throw from the campground and supports a summer resort economy complete with all services (bars, restaurants, realtors for summer vacation spots). Rick and Harris parked themselves on front row lounge chairs taken from the Corona beer commercials that had a commanding view of the lake. Judy and Candy window shopped the lake floating boat homes, some that were for sale for only 300,000+. We then parked ourselves at a floating bar that was cleaning out everything because it was closing for the season the next day. Candy focused on “Delicious Red”, Harris on a miss-poured beer, Judy on lemonade, and Rick (the DD) ice cream. We threw off our eating cycle by eating the salad bowl sized chips and salsa and gabbing for a couple of hours.
We introduced C&R to geocaching and they became instant converts. Well, Rick might become one after the Twins finish their season. We found one that Harris had to climb a tree to retrieve. The log was in the mouth of a complete face that someone had created and nailed 12 feet up on the tree trunk. One geocache was on the disc golf course. Judy found the hardest one that was hidden in a drilled out hole underneath a root, completely hidden from view. (We had warned Candy that Judy wasn’t up to hiking, due to a bad cold. “No problem, “ says Candy, “I have a bum knee”….right…..you should have seen her charging up those hills. Harris remarked “I’m glad she’s ‘slow’ right now!”)
They taught us a card game called “quarters”, a variation of rummy. We taught them whist.
Candy and Rick are definitely the people you want to camp with. They love to cook and are very generous with their provisions. Rick brought sugar free chocolate for Harris. He also made a great breakfast Sunday morning. After more geocaching, Rick and Candy left for home. We lucky retired folks played on.
(Note to C&R, Heyburn park isn’t worth the time.)

Sunday night
So…we drove further west and camped at Riverside State Park outside of Spokane. Beautiful place to be. We spent the next morning walking and geocaching in Riverside City park and downtown Spokane. We meandered back on highway 2 and decided to take a small detour up to see Grand Coulee Dam. What a marvel. Harris loves to see these things. He wanted to take the tour, so Judy bravely went along. We had to go through a metal detector, then we walked along the top of the dam to a little building. Inside we found several rows of long seats with rails in front of them positioned like a theater, which were all facing a glass wall. Great view of the part of the dam….then the guide came in, closed the door, pushed a button and we moved! Down, down, down a gentle incline to the inside of the dam. Judy closed her eyes. We stopped halfway down to see the tops of the generators, then continued down to the bottom of the turbines. Huge buildings, huge machines, lots of noise, and Judy was glad to get to the top again.

We decided to stay for the laser show, which is beamed from the visitor’s center to the face of the dam. Interesting, a little hokey (I am the mighty Columbia, life giving river), but fun to see. Especially since the weather has been so great. The evening was just a touch cool, and the stars were fantastic. We camped outside of the city at Spring Canyon national park. One great advantage to camping this time of year, there are very few other people around. Farragut was almost full on the weekend, Riverside had about 6 others, and Spring Canyon had 3 other campers.