Emerald Lake & Natural Bridge - From Lake Louise

Saturday - June 5.  Marilyn's brother-in-law (Mike) was released from the hospital but he didn't pass the stress test so he is scheduled for an angiogram on Tuesday.   Today was an awesome day.  Spectacular views, and the best animal-viewing count so far.  As we left the campground, after purchasing annual pass to the Canadian National Parks, we saw 4 bighorn sheep on the ridge.  We didn't get a very good pix of them, but here it is.  There was a mountain goat right beside the road right after we entered the National Park, but I was not camera-ready yet so I missed it.

 Then we stopped in the little town (Radium) to get gas, which was more exciting than it should have been, because our tow car was hanging out in the street for a few minutes until the truck in front of us moved.  But then we were on our way into the Kootenay National Park.  The views were immediately awesome.

We saw the goat by the road, then we saw our first bear.  Believe me, I was really excited about that!

Then we drove along beside the Kootenay River, which is turquoise in color, due to the melting glacier ice in the area.  We had snow-capped Rockies, and the river for miles.  It, of course, rained on us, and then it sleeted.  It may have snowed, not sure.  It was certainly snowing up in the mountaintops.

We were back and forth between British Columbia and Alberta on this road.  Then we got to the town of Lake Louise (after a missed turn), and set up camp for the next 3 nights.  Very nice national park campground.  The river, or at least a branch of it, is right behind us (walking distance).  Then we set out for Takkakaw Falls (the road to it was closed, I assume due to weather).  We were told this is the second largest waterfall in the country, Niagra Falls being the tallest).  This road has probably not been opened yet this spring, but we're hoping to see the falls before we leave the area.

They have animal overpasses here, and are building more, then they fence off the forest to force the animals to cross either at rivers or the overpasses.  There are lots of caution signs posted about animal crossings.  Another interesting thing, this was in Utah and Idaho, their signs often say "game crossing." Here they say "wildlife crossing."  So it's exciting to look for anything and everything.  However, there was never anything crossing at (or anywhere near) those crossing signs!

Anyway, we headed on up to Emerald Lake, which was absolutely beautiful.  The color is fascinating.  And the roofs of the buildings exactly matches the color of the lake.  Some boys were jumping off the bridge into the water, and they said it was very cold.  See me sporting my new rain jacket, with a hood.  Had to break down and buy one, since it rains on us every day.

We walked up to the lodge and had drinks.  Beautiful setting.  Just because Joe isn't in the pix, don't think for a minute he didn't have a beer!  He just happened to be the photographer on this one.

We next stopped at the "Natural Bridge."  What a sight that was!  The powerful force of the water, the turquoise color, and the rock formations were awesome.

Mazie and I decided to test the water with our toes.  It was like sticking our feet in a bucket of ice water.  Yoozzer!!

Our last stop was at the Spiral Train Tunnels, but we never got to see a train come through, and then, of course, it started raining again.  The trains stretch through these tunnels and you are supposed to be able to see the same train on two (or three) different levels as they wind through the tunnels.

We gave up on that finally, and headed back in.  We saw one elk on the way up this road, and 3 more on the way back.  After dinner, most of us walked down to the river but we didn't see any more wildlife.  But it was an awesome day.  This area is absolutely beautiful.

From Kingsgate to Radium Hot Springs

Friday -- Jerry took Collins and David down to the lumber mill this morning to see the stump stoves, since they missed the tour yesterday.  It's raining again, so Joe had to wear his yellow slicker as he hooked us up.  I helped myself to some lilacs for the road, and we headed out just before 10:00 a.m.  We drove through beautiful country again.  We are actually on the western edge of the Canadian Rockies, and there's lots of snow on their tops.  Everyone assumes they got more snow up there last night, while it was raining on us.  We drove past several rivers and lakes.  This one, the Columbia Lake, almost looks turquoise.

I saw 8 deer on the road today, and when we drove around looking for a place to stay for the night, I spotted 9 bighorn sheep. We are in the Redstreak Park, on the edge of Radium.  There is a hot springs in this town, but I don't think we are going to get to use it.  It took us so long to find a campground (the first one was full, the second was too pricey, then we unhooked Marilyn's car and drove to 3 others.  Of them, the first one was closed for renovation, the second one would have been ok but had no hook-ups, so we ended up in the third one, Redstreak Nat'l Park, but by then, it was past our "getting off the road" time, even though we only drove 139 miles). Too late to check out the hot springs. This campground is real woodsy, and Dave even built a campfire tonight.

They have national campgrounds in Canada, and provincial campgrounds (similar to our state parks, but since they have provinces instead of states, they call them "provincial" parks. At one spot where we were stopped for road construction, Joe spotted some rhubarb growing beside the road, and there was a sign of a farmer's market (we are leading again), so he reported it on the CB, and Collins pulled off beside the road so Marilyn could walk up and see if she could buy some.  It took a while for her to find somebody, and then they wanted her to walk on up to the barn.  She told them she couldn't because they were parked along side of the road, so the gal called someone at the barn who came down and took Marilyn out to the field so she could pick her own.  They did charge her, but it was much cheaper than in any store, and it was certainly fresh!!

Marilyn's brother-in-law is in the hospital with heart problems, so she is going to drive into Radium tonight to call and check on him.  If I can find Wi-Fi anywhere, I'll try to get my last few days posted.

thursday at Jerry & Judy's

Thursday - Raining again today.  We don't have Wi-Fi here, so these posts will have to wait a few days.  We drove into Creston and toured the Kootanee Brewery (not sure if that is spelled right), with free samples at the end of the tour.

Dave and Mazie may have had a few too many samples.

I much preferred the tour of Sweet's Candy Factory in Salt Lake City!!!  But the guys seemed to like it fine.  Saw a wild turkey on the way back.  This area is beautiful and Judy and Jerry's place is very peaceful.  It will be hard to leave here.  They have several hummingbird feeders on the front and back porches, and they have to refill them twice a day -- they have that many hummingbirds drinking from them.

Judy & Jerry's - Day 1

Wednesday - Today we toured the Buck Knife Factory in Coeur d'Alene, and Joe got his Buck knife sharpened (now he's really dangerous).  Pix 39.  We have a new addition to our RV -- Bucky, from Buck Knife now resides on the front dash.

 Before leaving Coeur d'Alene, we bought 5 lottery tickets out of our pool fund for the dinghy, since the Power Ball is up to $260 Million.  But Mazie said if we won, we wouldn't collect it until we got back, because it might spoil our fun to have all that money!! 

As we headed out of the country, we passed some beautiful scenery. 

Joe found a Brenda rock, but she has to come and get this one herself.  Mazie made a note of the exact location -- Milepost 525 on 95.  Pix 48.  But just in case she doesn't get here, Mazie picked one up for her
And today we crossed the International Border into Canada.  

  You can see the mowed strip in the forest which designates the boundary. 

Doesn't seem like it would be too hard to sneak across this border.  This is my first trip into Canada so I am quite excited (as opposed to all the other things I am "quite excited" about.  We got through the border crossing with no problem.  Joe has been into Canada a couple times back when he was driving a truck (when he was 16-17 years old), but he too is eager to see this country. 

Then we arrived a Jerry and Judy's, just 3 miles into Canada.  They have a beautiful log cabin, in an awesome setting.  Some Fundamentalist Mormons built (or he
lped build) the cabin for them, and it is georgous.  Although Judy doesn't share their beliefs, she has some interesting insights into them (multiple wives, with Warren Jeffs as their leader). 

  In addition to their house, there are two other cabins they have built on the property.  And they see all kinds of animals walking through (moose, elk, deer, bear, etc.).  I'm Waiting!!!

And, would you believe it, they even have lilacs blooming!!  Jerry picked a bouquet just for me, of both purple and white ones.  Life is good! 

To top off the day, Judy had baked a turkey and we had a full-fledged dinner.  Collins even helped. 

  This is really above and beyond for Collins, because Marilyn really coddles him, fixes his plate and takes it to him usually.  So we thought this was definitely noteworthy.  The dinner, and company, was wonderful. 

It rained just about all day today, with rain forecast for the next several days.  Jerry would like to take us fishing back nto Idaho, but I think the weather is going to prevent that.  Too bad, we are ready to put our fishing poles in the water.

Priest Lake

Tuesday - Priest Lake, Lake Coeur d'Alene - Both Paul and Cathy are now helping me try to post my pictures.  Paul thinks the biggest problem is the Internet service at the campgrounds, which is really slow.  Hopefully, we will get better service as we leave here.

Here are pix from Tuesday's travels.  We drove to Priest Lake and checked out the museum built by the CCCs (not my Dad's camp, but one similiar).

  The lake itself was beautiful.  I tested the water, and it was quite chilly (but it was really clear). 
The art gallery had very nice statutes (for lack of a better word) outside.  Joe wasn't happy getting the bear pix, but I took the moose first. 

Day 3 - Coeur d'Alene

June 1 - Today Joe and I drove up to Priest River and Priest Lake to check out the museum I had been told about.  We went up through Sand Point and across Lake Ponderay, which is huge.  It was about 70 miles or so up there, and we did find the museum (not easy).  It wasn't exactly what I expected -- it was more about the Priest Lake area, mining, logging, and the CCCs who were stationed right there.  But the museum was housed in a building built by the CCCs, and it was a very pretty setting.  Then we stopped at a local art gallery who shows a friend's work (Darleen Lodge).  We saw a wild turkey today, but that was the only wildlife.  We drove back a different way and hit the corner of Washington State for about 2 blocks. 

Tonight we went down to Lake Coeur d'Alene.  It says it has the longest floating boardwalk in the world.  We walked the boardwalk and went inside the resort.  The marina sure had some nice boats in the marina there.  They do dinner cruises on the lake, and parasailing.  It was quite beautiful.

Collins got his brake problem taken care of today, and Joe and Dave both fixed their problems, so tomorrow we are going to tour the Buck Knife factory, then we are heading across the border to Collins' cousin.  I don't expect to have Wi-Fi for a few days, but I will keep the camera handy in hopes of being able to post pictures again soon. 

Pictures of Moose and Prichard Tavern

Day 2 Coeur d'Alene

I'm having trouble posting my pictures so I am going to have to skip them until I can get something figured out.  Cathy is working on the problem.  My blog keeps locking up on me now, not even saving my typing, so I don't know what the problem is.

 Today was raining off and on all day, with temp in the 50s.  We drove out to Prichard, which is in the Nat'l Forest, to see if we could find any evidence of the CCC camp.  We talked to a couple guys who told us where they "might" have been, so we drove past those areas.  However, we saw TWO MOOSE as we were driving in the forest. Joe got a great picture so I hope I can post it soon.


 We drove around Prichard (where my Dad served in the CCCs), which is now nothing more than an old tavern, which was not even open.

We did talk to a couple guys and they told us where the old CCC camps "might" have been so we drove those areas.  One looked like a church camp, with barracks that could have been from the CCC days.  Then we went to lunch in Wallace, which purports itself to have been "the silver mining capital of the world."  We toured an old railroad depot museum and a bordello museum.



As we headed back to camp, we drove past Lake Coeur d'Lane, which is very pretty.  It was raining again, so we didn't drive down to it.  We finished the evening playing cards with Collins and Marilyn.  I'm going to post this, and try on a separate post to put up the pix from today.

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Correction to yesterday's post.  We camped by Clearwater River, having left Payette River behind already.  We also changed time zones yesterday, back to Arizona time (we were an hour ahead).  Today we headed to Coeur d'Alene, one of the places on my bucket list because of my Dad's history here with the CCCs.  He actually served in Prichard, Idaho from Jan. to June 1940.  Prichard appears to be a little east of Coeurd'Alene, so we'll have to see if we can find out anything.  He spoke of this area as being very beautiful, and it is.  As we were packing up this morning, an eagle flew up the river, and a guy came by with a stringer of nice salmon,  10+ lbs each, Joe said.   There was a rock there with a pretty picture of a barn painted on it.

One of Collin's lifetime wishes is to ride on a train as a hobo.  We were parked next to a non-working railroad track, so Marilyn took a pix of him in a car, in case that's the closest he gets to that dream.  Although his son, Collins Jr., works on railroads, so it's not out of the question.

On the road today, we passed a lot of Lewis and Clark exploration signs, so they covered this area, as well as my hometown area in Indiana.  They were busy guys. The towns below (on each side of the river) are Lewiston and Clarkston -- imagine that. 

On the way up to this overlook, Joe spotted a wolf on the side of the hill/mountain.  That was exciting!  No pix, of course, but I too saw it.  As we topped the mountain, we drove for miles amidst huge fields of grain growing brightly green.  With the wind making waves in it, it was very pretty.  And we passed another elk farm.

We are staying at this campground in Coeur d'Alene for 3 nights.  We all have some maintenance to do on our rigs, we need groceries, and we want to stay out of the holiday traffic today.  There are lilacs here again, so I snitched some white ones last night.  We are going to see if the Visitor's Center is open so we can see what all Coeur d'Alene offers.  I believe the CCC museum is on up the road at Priest River, so we will probably drive up there in the car.  It would be really neat if I found a pix of my dad with his unit back in June of 1940.

Cascade to Orofino, Idaho

I got a nice pix of early morning clouds in the mountains this morning on my short walk. 
This is a yurt, which you can rent in this campground. The campground also has some cabins to rent. 

Then we drove down to the little swap meet just down the road from our campground and scoped it out.  I bought 2 books (like I needed more books).  Then we gassed up and headed north again.  This is beautiful country.  Miles of beautiful green mountains, and we followed another rushing river with big drops. The little town of McCall has a lake right at its edge. 

We did pass through the town of Lucile, but I didn't have the camera ready for the sign.  For all the great pix I have taken, I have missed a zillion other beautiful sights.  We stopped for lunch right by the river where another stream or creek (or river) came in, and there was a waterfall just spraying water as it bounced over the rocks.  These pix do not do it justice.  

Found another rock Brenda would like.

The mountains on the side of this scenic highway are breathtaking.  Joe wants to know why there are not any trees on them, though.

We saw 5 deer along the railroad track across the river, one was a little fawn, about knee-high to its mamma.  Didn't get any pix of them, unfortunately.

We camped in Orofino (after a long drive of 177 miles today), right on this Payette River we have been following for hours.  Here's the guys enjoying happy hour while the womenfolk slave away in their kitchens.

Tomorrow we are heading to Couer d'Alene if we can find a campground with vacancies and wait out the holiday as we look around the area.  There's a lot to see there, including a CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) museum, and my dad served in the CCCs in that area in 1938, I believe.