Returning Home

Our "Last Supper" in Belgrade




Monday, August 16, 2010 Day 148

Up early, saying goodbye to Candy before she has to go to work. We keep telling her the benefits of retirement, but so far she hasn’t believed us. Too bad for her!


Our restocking of Montana flour stop just o/s of Belgrade



We basically just drove a lot today….made it all the way to Moses Lake. We could have kept going, but it was a great sunny hot day and we wanted to stop at a place with a pool. So we ended up back at the place we started this trip, Suncrest Resort RV, and as soon as we could we went swimming. Good way to cool off. We had our AC turned on in Howie for probably the 3rd time since we bought it. Harris grilled some shrimp and pork kabobs for dinner, we played cards, and hit the sack.



Our stop at the Silver Dollar Casino (and more)



Tuesday, August 17, 2010 Day 149

An easy drive home today. Because the weather was still good, we decided to take the scenic route and headed up highway 2 through Wenatchee. Stevens Pass is much prettier than Snoqualmie. We did see one hairy accident just outside Wenatchee. And just shortly after we went over the pass, we were startled by a low flying small jet that just whizzed by above us. We found out later that night that President Obama had been visiting Seattle, and a small float plane had invaded the no fly zone around Lake Union. So military jets had been scrambled to check out the areas.



The plane that daily buzzes Suncrest RV Resort






Rock Island Dam just outside Wenatchee



We stopped in Monroe for some quick groceries, then made it home by early afternoon. Keith was pleased to see us, as he’s moving to Boston on Friday. Guess we’ll have to plan a trip to the east coast soon!


A scary accident (but with nobody hurt)

Belgrade, MT

Friday, August 13 – Sunday August 15 , 2010 Days 145-147

The weather sure was gray this morning. It rained off and on all day as we headed east. We traveled on I-90 until we got to highway 1, at Drummond. We turned off to take a scenic byway. Guess what? Drummond had a neat quilt shop, so of course we had to stop a bit.



A must stop at quilt store



Then it was off again on highway 1. Harris suddenly pulled over and decided Judy needed to drive Howie for a bit. “Just until we stop for a geocache”…which turned out to be in a Phillipsburg city park. Phillipsburg is quite the little tourist town. There were signs to Granite, a ghost town, so we decided to give it a try. Halfway up a dirt road, a sign said, “Road narrows, proceed at your own risk”. Okay, we thought, we can still do this. Wrong. Just around the next bend it got really rutted and rough. Turning around wasn’t easy, to say the least, but we were happy we did so. We stopped to let a small car pass us. They stopped to tell us the road was much worse and the town not worth the drive.



An intersting sight along Hwy 1





A sign in Phillipsburg



So, out of Phillipsburg, on down the highway, which grew progressively more scenic as we got away from the scrub brush and into the foothills. We did a couple of more geocaches along the road, then realized it was getting late, especially because we lost an hour going east, and Rick was probably sitting around waiting for us to show up. One cache we stopped for was near a fountain of water, running out of spigots. People came from miles around to fill up containers of “pure” water. We tasted it, and agreed it was really good. We passed through Anaconda, then hit I-90 again and hoofed it to Belgrade.



Stopping for lunch in Montana along Highway 1





Harris hauling down a cache in the forrest




Rick was indeed waiting for us to show up, and graciously showed us around their new house, giving us a choice of 2 guest rooms. Candy came home from her second week of being the school superintendent, and the weekend began.

A kids' slide we saw on our morning walk




Rick cooked bison burgers for us all. We stayed up way too late, chattering and playing cards. Judy lost big time. Saturday morning we walked to breakfast at a local café—good food! Then we walked around the town and the school district offices. It was interesting to watch Candy take mental notes of many little things that we just ignored. (Not our problem if a sign had been knocked down, but she has to take care of it now. ) Candy took Judy to a local quilt store. She laughed when she realized Judy is still trying to find the perfect materials for a quilt she was working on in March. Oh well.


The "C&R" bed, breakfast, and more...




A savory breakfast at the C&R B&B





Inside the Ellen Theater



Rick and Harris cooked a great chicken dinner. Then we went into Bozeman for a play called “Laughter on the 23rd floor” by Neil Simon at the Ellen Theater. Don’t know how old the theater is, but it’s beautiful. The play itself was well acted, but the writing was just okay. But we enjoyed going out to a play. Then we came home, played more cards, and this time Judy won!


Street view of the Ellen theater



Sunday morning Rick cooked us a great breakfast. Rick and Harris watched the Mariners lose again. Candy and Judy made some chocolate zucchini bread. Then we went out and about geocaching. One “Just off the freeway” cache took us many miles into the hills to the north. It’s a great way to see new territory, places you wouldn’t normally go to. We dropped off this giant travel bug in a cache that was very close to a grain elevator—right in the middle of nowhere. We wondered how the grain left this elevator and we’ll be interested to see how soon the travel bug gets moved from this out of the way cache.


One of the many trains that pass by Candy and Ricks' B&B






Andy...errr...rather Candy as new Super!




The weather today turned great. We loved being out and about in the sunshine and heat. We came home to sit on the shady porch, snack, play cards, eat a great salmon dinner, play more cards, and talk the night away. (Not too late, Candy has to get up in the morning to work. Poor her.)
We love visiting Candy and Rick. (Thank you for such great hospitality and fun.)
Tomorrow we head west, back toward Seattle. We’ll see how far we get.



Harris and Judy by the grain elevator

Into Montana

Thursday, August 12, 2010 Day 144



A couple of horses we encountered on our walk



We ended up In Grangeville, Idaho last night. As we approached the town, we realized we’ve been here before. But we’ll have to look back at our blog to find out when….when you get old, and are retired, the dates just seem to run together. (Was it on our trip to Montana last year? The year before? The way home?...oh well, does it matter?) But we recognized several places we had found geocaches, as well as the campground. (Bear’s Den RV Resort. Good place).


What a great intersection for a home...(in Grangeville, Id)



This morning we hoofed it up a nearby hill, again a case of déjà vu, although last time there was a lot of construction going on. Then we headed up highway 12 to Lolo Pass. It’s a beautiful route along the Clearwater and Lochsa Rivers. Harris decided to download a few caches for the trip along the highway. Although we passed several pullouts and signs where there could have been caches, we didn’t see one until we almost at the pass. The first one we decided to skip. It was in the middle of a one hour loop hike, not hard, but the skies were threatening rain and we just went on. The second one was supposedly just off the road….it turned out to be across a suspension bridge and somewhere along a trail. We found the trail, were within 100 feet or so of the cache but gave it up as well. Too much brush at that point, no trail, and I guess we got a little discouraged.


Harris reading the sign during a lunch stop



Both of these were relatively easy hiking. Bear that in mind. The third cache was at Lolo Hot Springs. It was rated a 3 for difficulty finding, and 3 for difficulty of terrain. Oh sure, that’s the one we go for! Straight up a hill, sometimes on all fours, to the top of a boulder. The cache was cleverly hidden. It was a micro (bison tube) attached to a little gray colored frog hidden in a gray crevasse in a gray boulder. Harris found it. The next cache was rated a 3 for terrain, but Judy declined to climb again, so that was it for today.


What the sign says about the rivers on Lolo Pass



We re-arranged the contents of the van, and found out we have good brakes all at the same time. A deer suddenly ran right out in front of us. Luckily, the brakes and Harris’s good driving skills meant we didn’t hit it or even have to swerve much. But the cupboards did get a new look.


Judy leading the way on a cache find



We checked out a couple of RV places along the way, but decided to continue to Missoula and beyond to Beavertail State Park. We drove through a good rain shower…the first one this trip. The temps fell from the 70’s to 59. Ugh. It was getting late, so we camped here and Harris grilled pork chops for our dinner. He came from behind to beat Judy at the card game Quarters. (Judy’s sure he cheats cuz he doesn’t shuffle the cards much at all.)

Harris holding the clever cache




Tomorrow we head for Belgrade.

Can you spot the cache?

Off to see Candy and Rick

Tuesday , August 10, 2010 Day 142

(have to add this: yesterday, as we were packing, Harris walked by Howie and actually patted it and said: soon, we’re leaving again soon!)


The view from the lodge



We had a slow start to our day. After our walk, it took us until 11 to actually leave on our trip. We were originally going to go to Mt. Rainier, but the weather forecast just didn’t look promising. Rain is one thing, but temps in the 50-60 range just didn’t appeal to us. So, we headed across the mountains to seek the sun. Some forecasts called for rain and thunderstorms, but the temps at least would be warm.


One of the cache sites just outside of Roslyn



Many years ago, we used to camp with Judy’s brother up at Cooper Lake by Roslyn, which is just over Snoqualmie pass. We haven’t been there in lo, these many years, so we decided to check the area out again. There is a big luxury development going in by Roslyn, called Suncadia. We drove through it and stopped at the lodge, which has a great view. After a quick lunch, we drove into the little town of Roslyn. This town started as a coal mining town, went through the usual downturn, then had a second life as the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska on the TV series Northern Exposure. There isn’t much left from that period now. In fact, there isn’t much of the town at all. Many stores were closed and shuttered. Harris had dropped Judy off to do some browsing, going off to do some geocaching. He thought one and a half hours would be adequate…..turned out twenty minutes was more than enough. But he found 4 caches before he came back, so it wasn’t a total waste of time.


Trying to dodge the thunderstorms




Then we drove on to Moses Lake, and went out for a memorable Chinese dinner. Memorable, because it was a buffet full of the most fried food we had ever seen in one place before. Not a place we’ll return to. (Note: Judy gets to pick the next restaurant we go to.) We stayed at Suncrest Resort, which had a large hot tub pool. The water was warm, not terribly hot, but felt good enough to us

Wednesday, August 11, 2010, Day 143


Our dinnerware should look so good





We had a bit of a rude awakening. Some small plane was buzzing the area over and over again at 6 AM. When it finally stopped, we tried to catch a few more zzz, so we again got a rather late start. We drove down to the Walla Walla area, a region of the state we hadn’t explored before. Judy wanted to visit the Whitman Mission National Historical Site. The mission was burned in 1847, so there isn’t anything of the original buildings left to see. Sites of the buildings have been outlined, and the visitor center has a short movie and a pretty good little museum. We made a picnic lunch, toured the area including a short walk along the original Oregon Trail, then drove on to Grangeville, Idaho via highways 12 and 95. As we drove, the temperatures jumped up to a high of 82, and then back down again to the 60’s when we reached our campsite at Bear Den RV resort.



A hatchet...





Judy along the actual Oregon Trail



We haven’t been through all the states yet by any stretch of the imagination, but so far, we think Washington is surely the most diverse state, geographically speaking. We live close to Puget Sound. We’ve been to the Pacific Ocean, and a rain forest on the Olympic Peninsula. We’ve been through mountains, visited volcanoes, and hiked in deserts. Today we drove by miles and miles of golden fields of wheat, then through hills of scrub brush. In short, one could never leave Washington state and still enjoy almost all Mother Nature has to offer. As we headed into Idaho, forests of pine trees appeared again. So much to see! That’s why we love traveling in Howie.



The actual site





Drawing of how the site was laid out