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| Tamarack RV Park in Coeur d'Alene, ID |
We've traveled all the way from Sturgis, South Dakota, to Florence, Oregon, since last you heard from me.
Our first stop was in White Sulphur Springs, Montana, where we hung out for a week just to kill time. And it's a good thing, too, because we just missed all the really bad smoky, polluted air that hit Spokane from all the fires. Some of it hit us in Montana, but nothing like the choking mess that our kids had to deal with in Spokane and California.
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| Smokey Conestoga |
White Sulphur Springs has nothing to recommend it, except it's on the way from Yellowstone to Glacier National Park. In our case, it's where Conestoga Campground is-- the only affordable campground between South Dakota and Spokane Washington because we can use our RPI membership for a really good rate. After our busy days in South Dakota, it was nice to have nowhere to go for a while. We mostly sat around the house like couch potatoes.
From there, we headed to the Idaho Panhandle. We spent three days in the little historic town of Wallace, Idaho, and three more in Coeur d'Alene, before heading to Spokane, Washington. Three of my four children were born in Coeur d'Alene. I moved there from El Paso with my family after graduating from high school, and lived there (the first time) for about five years. Matter of fact, I moved back and forth between there and California a couple times before finally settling in Minnesota later in life. So the area holds a great deal of nostalgia for me. Now two of my children and four of my grandchildren live in the Spokane area, which is the reason we find ourselves there every year, thanks to our new mobile lifestyle.
We spent that first week with my son, Josh, and his family, who live in Spokane Valley. It's a bit of a drive from Wallace, but only about twenty minutes from Coeur d'Alene. It was delightful to get acquainted with our youngest grandchild, Adam, who is about eighteen months old now. He's such a sweet, happy boy. I don't think I heard him cry once during any of our visits. But he's a talker! He knows one word-- "eh," which he utters continuously (unless he's sleeping) with a wide variety of tone and inflection. It will be interesting to watch his verbal skills develop. I had the happy honor of lloking after him for a few hours while his mommy and daddy got away for a much needed "date night." We bonded.
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| Early dinner with the family at the 1313 Club in Wallace, ID |
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| Historic Wallace |
The following week we stayed at the Ponderosa Falls RV Park, about fifteen minutes east of downtown Spokane and spent most of our time visiting with Liz and her family. Haylee, my first granddaughter, is now an accomplished hair stylist, and gave me a much needed haircut---my first since last year. Savannah (#2) graduated high school last year and is now out in the work world earning a living. Leah (#3) is a sophomore in high school this year and dealing with the horrendously screwed up school system. God have mercy on the children. Contrary to the upbeat way the media is presenting "distance learning" to us all, not all the kids are doing well. The isolation they're dealing with is taking a heavy toll. They are dealing with loneliness, sadness, depression, and general listlessness from not being able to do anything but sit around their house or stare at a computer screen. It's not good. Keep them all in your prayers.
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| Gift from Liz. Now that the kitty is gone, I can have plants again. :-) |
Mark and I are still looking for solutions to allow us to stay longer in the Spokane area. One possibility is a work-camp opportunity. He applied at Ponderosa Falls for next year. If they offer him a job, it will probably mean a three-month stay and a very happy me. But, as campgrounds in the area are generally too expensive for our pocketbook, and RPI will only allow us to stay one week on our membership, our visit this year was short. We said goodbye the first Saturday of October and started our journey south for the winter months.
Now we're on the coast of Oregon. But I'll save all that for the next post.
Until then, blessings and safe travels to all!
Here are some more pictures of our northwestern excursion...
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| These folks were parked across from us at the Wallace campground. Check out the gear on the doggies. |
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| Who knew the Center of the Universe was in downtown Historic Wallace, ID?! |
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| Obviously looking for the center of the universe. (They're still here.) |
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| Wallace RV Park |
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| The town was walking distance from our RV |
