Washington State Makes 48!

June 30 – July 6, 2023

Minnesota was the very first sticker we put on this map.  I remember looking at the empty map, trying to picture driving to, camping in, and making memories in each and every state.  It was an exciting plan!  One by one, the states have been filling in.  It may sound funny, but it’s almost a little melancholy to have put the 48th sticker on!  

Washington may have gotten a bit of the short straw, as we want to get down to Salt Lake City and spend some time with our son and his family before the oldest two grandchildren leave for summer camp.  I’m justifying putting the sticker on only with the knowledge we will get back this way again!

For our two nights in Washington, we stayed at Liberty Lake RV Campground.  Conveniently, Saturday morning, there was a farmer’s market just across the street!  Who can resist buying some fresh picked Washington cherries?  Certainly, not us!

After making the rounds at the market, we took off to discover a little of Spokane.  It wasn’t long before we were wandering around Spokane’s Riverfront Park.  This was the site of the 1974 World’s Exposition!  The Great Northern Railway donated the land, which once was home to their train depot.  The Clock Tower is all that remains of the depot, giving a lasting nod to the company that was instrumental in developing this area.  

At the campground, I’d met another camper who asked if we had ever been to Coeur d’Alene.  When I replied that we hadn’t, he told me that it was a “must see” spot.  It was only a few miles from the campground, so even if it is in Idaho, off we went!

There, we found a waterfront café serving up burgers and beer, so that happened!  It was fun sitting on their deck watching boats come and go in the marina, bicycles peddling past on the trail, and swimmers climbing the rocky shoreline and jumping into the lake.  

Adjacent to the café is Tubbs Hill Park which has a two-mile trail that follows the shoreline of the lake for about half of the trail and them circles back through the woods.  It felt great to stretch my legs after eating a big lunch!

Dick has been having some problems with his back.  The doctor at the orthopedic walk-in clinic is suspicious of a herniated disc, but with the 4th of July falling in the middle of this stay, he has to wait until we get to SLC to get an MRI.  In the meantime, he is not as mobile as he is accustomed to being.  He ended up staying lakeside and taking in the scenery as I went on the hike.

Although Dick couldn’t hike, he was up for taking a cruise around Lake Coeur d’Alene with me!  The narrated tour showed off some of the magnificent homes lining the shore of the lake as well as Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course.  The 14th hole of this golf course sits on the first and only floating and movable island in the world!  What a challenge!

Dick tries out one of Target's bumper cars!

Following our stay in Spokane, we headed to Missoula, MT for a couple of days, staying at the Missoula KOA Holiday.  Huckleberries are in season and we continued to indulge ourselves in everything huckleberry.  Interestingly, huckleberries are only available in the wild.  No one has been able to figure out how to cultivate them!

The Missoula KOA Holiday hot tub provides an alternative to a heating pad for Dick!

Huckleberry pancakes

Missoula KOA Holiday Campsite

For years, Dick has enjoyed drinking Big Sky Brewing Company’s Moose Drool, whose brewery is located right there in Missoula.  It was great to actually sit at this brewery on a hot day in July and refresh ourselves with one of their beers!  Needless to say, a mug and baseball cap from their merchandise store made it home with us!

And now an alternative pain killer!

The final leg of this section of our travels took us to Idaho Falls, ID for two nights, one of which was the 4th of July.  We had been hoping there would be a fireworks display somewhere near for us to go to.  It turned out we had nothing to worry about!  When checking into Idaho Falls Luxury RV Park, we were told the largest fireworks west of the Mississippi was going to be happening adjacent to the campground!  We had to have some of the best viewing possible for this 30-minute, choreographed show of over 18,315 dazzling shells.  (The amount of debris scattered throughout the campground the following morning was insane!) 

Another great feature to this campground is the Greenbelt Loop trail located beside it!  There was a coded gate giving us direct access to it practically from the back of our site!  This 10-mile loop trail follows the banks of the Snake River as it winds through Idaho Falls.  Once again, I really missed not having my bike with me!  While I didn’t have time to walk the entire trail, I did get to take in a bit of it.  Interestingly, I kept seeing what I thought looked like the world’s fattest squirrels crossing the trail periodically.  I finally got a picture of one and was able to identify it with the help of the Seek app.  They were groundhogs!  Check that one off the box!  I had never seen one in the wild before.  It was a sunny day, so I’m pretty sure they must have seen their shadows, but I’m not sure that matters this time of the year!

Greenbelt Trail along the Snake River

We also did get downtown to see this city’s namesake.  I have to say this was one of the most unusual waterfalls I’ve ever seen!  Typically, waterfalls occur as the river changes elevation quickly as it flows downstream – right?  Not this one!  At this section of the Snake River, the river quickly changes elevation from one bank of the river to the other bank of the river.  Yep, you may have the picture!  The falls flow parallel to the river, along the center of the river as it flows downstream.  Another first for me!

Waterfalls in Idaho Falls 

In the park surrounding the falls, we found a rather tame moose.  For this one time only, we broke the 25-yard rule and approached this friendly looking moose.  In fact, Dick noticed a little drool coming from its mouth and thought he should help it out and wipe away some of that Moose Drool!  

Up next:  Salt Lake City, UT (where we finally have an orthopedic appointment for Dick and can hopefully get a diagnosis and some relief!)