We've also added the initial pics to our photo album for this trip.
We left Calgary on Tuesday so this will be a short week (we try to do Sunday thru Saturday in each post).
Before leaving on Tuesday we finished up getting ready to go. The activities including doing that one last load in the dishwasher so all dishes would be clean when we get back. Well, MURPHY'S LAW... didn't the stupid dishwasher pick this time to break down mid-cycle. It was betrayed only by a wisp of smoke and the tell-tale odor of "something seems to be burning". We busted into it (aka interrupted the cycle) by opening the door, leaving us with a steaming set of dishes and a dishwasher with an inch of water in the bottom. Thereafter the darn thing decided that it would no longer speak to us. Pondering our options we ultimately decided that the "head in the sand" option sounded the best. We turned off the circuit breaker to the dishwasher, manually drained the water from the bottom, closed the door and said "there, you betrayer. Take that, we'll take care of you when we get home!".
On that note, we headed off for a night in Canmore, all of about 100 kms away. We stayed in the Spring Creek rv park. Canmore is said to be on the verge of being over run by bunnies. Judging by the number of bunnies at the rv park, we would conclude this to be somewhat true. We were careful, having seen a lot of Monty Python movies, not to make the mistake of underestimating the wee bunnies.
Since we were within walking distance of downtown Canmore, we wandered over to Murietta's for a couple of glasses of wine and a nice pizza before heading back to the trailer, fixing dinner, enjoying the mountain scenery and calling it a night as it was a tad on the cooler side.
Wednesday we headed off with our destination being Fort Steele BC. The weather cleared and it was a beautiful evening. However, just as we started to bake some chicken in our toaster oven, the skies, like our dishwasher, betrayed us and opened up to a fairly heavy rain. This required some innovative roofing solutions for the toaster oven...
... but the rain abated quickly and we had a very nice dinner under the stars (with a few clouds).
Waking to a chilly heavy fog and a ton of dew, Thursday we left Fort Steele and headed south through Cranbrook to the US border where we had our lone tomato summarily confiscated because we could not "definitively prove" that it came from the USA. Oh well, all in all the border folks were pretty easy to get along with. On into Idaho. After a brief stop in Bonners Ferry and another in Sandpoint, we stayed in Coeur d'Alene at the Blackwell Island RV park at the head waters to the Spokane River right on Lake Coeur d'Alene. We have driven many times from Calgary to Spokane for long weekends but have never given Coeur d'Alene a second thought. That was a mistake. What a wonderful spot. It does look like our "good weather mojo" from our last trip has returned. We had fabulous weather for two days in Coeur d'Alene and Spokane, strolled around downtown, enjoyed a very nice wine bar and the rv park on the water was just great. Nice place!
It was "Pig out in the Park" days at Riverfront Park in downtown Spokane. Much like the "Taste of Calgary" where there are many foodie vendors with a wide array of ethnic tastes with at least one recalling our last trip through Texas...
Saturday we drove south of Spokane to Walla Walla (yes the sweet onion place). The scenery along the way was fabulous with vast rich agricultural areas stretching to the horizon in many places. Along the way we stopped at the Horn School Rest Stop which was the first highway rest stop constructed in Washington State. Way back in 1967... and the restrooms are still very clean! We also passed the Steptoe Battlefield monument. This was one of the last significant battles between the North West Indian tribes and the US Army.
In Walla Walla it was country fair days. Very cool "real" country fair not yet lost to big commercialism. Still lots of 4-H club exhibits and lots of fun school projects on display. The one pictured below was very cute. You likely can't read the captions but left to right, top to bottom, they read like a poem (you can also click the picture to enlarge it and see the cute pictures and captions)...
I am a seed. Just a tiny ol' seed... looking for a place to grow.
Look soil... that will do... yippee and yahoo.
I will sleep and sleep until I sprout. Then I will grow out out out.
Hooray, I am finally a sprout. On my way to being a cucumber no doubt.
Oh my Oh my I am almost done. I am on my way to have some fun.
I am now a full cucumber on my way to a salad. This is the end of my little ballad.
Look soil... that will do... yippee and yahoo.
I will sleep and sleep until I sprout. Then I will grow out out out.
Hooray, I am finally a sprout. On my way to being a cucumber no doubt.
Oh my Oh my I am almost done. I am on my way to have some fun.
I am now a full cucumber on my way to a salad. This is the end of my little ballad.
Since Walla Walla is a great wine growing region we spent our two evenings at a couple of different places sampling very nice wine, some excellent pizza and a great cheese sampler plate. We also took in the Sunday morning Walla Walla Farmer's Market. A nice small market with a big name attraction... so this is where Elvis has been hiding out...
| On to Week 2 |
No comments:
Post a Comment