Connecting with Friends (Coeur d'Alene, ID (7/30-8/4) and Yakima, WA (8/4-8/9))

The next two stops on our route were planned to connect with friends.  Some who planned an overlap with us on their own travel plans and some live somewhat nearby and were kind enough to come meet us.

Our objective in Coeur d'Alene was to be close enough to town so we could meet up with our friends who were staying downtown.  I selected a Kootenai County Fairgrounds RV Park adjacent to the country fairgrounds. It was a wide open area with pretty nice spots.  Very utilitarian but had good power to support our air conditioners. We needed them to work hard as it was going to be very hot during our stay.

Roomy spot, sadly, no trees for shade.

 

We arrived in Coeur d'Alene without incident and
were treated with another beautiful, if not, uninhabited drive from West Glacier. 

We met up with our friends for a cocktail and dinner at the very lovely Coeur d'Alene Resort right on the lake.  It was quite busy and seemed to be the host hotel for a celebrity golf tournament as we saw a few ex-NFL players in the lounge and the lobby.  We enjoyed a lovely dinner in the restaurant overlooking the lake.  It was a nice introduction to the area.

We started out in the morning at the lovely Kootenai County Farmers' Market with planned 11AM tour of an alpaca farm. There was a variety of produce, meats and goodies to choose from.  We left with a 3 berry pie.  Although the temperature was to hit 100 degrees that afternoon, nothing could stop me from my tour at the Seven Stars Ranch alpaca farm. 

The family that runs the farm gave a guided tour of their history and the animals.  We were put into service to wrangle the alpaca herd into their grazing field.  We did so gracefully and without incident.  Due to the hot weather, we were also encouraged to hose down the alpaca's underbelly to cool them down.  Some of us had fun doing that.   The ranch was also home to some miniature donkeys, wild turkeys and goats.  After all that life on the farm, we were hungry and lucked into a "hole in the wall" Mexican restaurant that was truly authentic and delicious.  Time for nap, oh and some pie. 

We had an adventurous day of ziplining, another day on a boat exploring the gorgeous lake Coeur d'Alene and a 30 mile e-bike ride on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes.  There was some haze and smoke around the area due to the wildfires, but the daily high temperature had moderated and we very much enjoyed our visit with friends and our time exploring Coeur d'Alene.

Our route to Yakima Sportsman RV Park proved to be our most bumpy, Ruth-shaking roads so far on our trip. We took a route that was not interstate and it turned out to be more "rustic" than we'd hoped.  Our teeth were still chattering when we arrived.  

Our plan was to arrive, set-up and then the next day head to our friend's cabin in Ronald, WA for a visit.  These same friends would then bring their camper and spend the weekend in Yakima with us. 

The plan soon hit roadblock when we pulled up to check-in to our reserved spot.  The park ranger informed us that there was a squatter there who had not vacated the spot we'd reserved and the Ranger was working on kicking her out, should only be a couple of hour delay.  Did we want to go to another spot?  No, we have friends coming and would like the spot we reserved.  After many conversations throughout the very hot afternoon it was clear the vagrant was not moving.  We finally set up in a nearby vacant spot for the night, knowing we would have to move.

We took off the next morning, leaving the problem in the hands of the Ranger.  Shortly after our departure for our friend's cabin, she texted that the squatter had moved.  We took a lovely before dinner walk through the woods right from their cabin to a nearby lake.  As we stood on the beach, loud airplane engines roared from above and two large forest service "Super Scoopers" hovered and touched down on the lake to scoop up water to drop on a raging Washington wildfire several miles away.  It was an unbelievable site to see.  

Unfortunately the RV rodeo we had to do back at the park cut our day with our friends a little short.  That evening, another Ranger was driving around informed Mike that we may want to secure our bikes with more than a locking cable, as they had had some thefts recently.  The park itself was nice, but our experience there was not a positive one. 

We found a really good group of pickleballers one morning and played for 3 hours before our friends arrived in the afternoon.  The weather had turned hot again during the days, but we cooled off at a couple wineries in the area and had a lot of laughs catching up around the firepit. We are looking forward to seeing these friends again soon as they are camping with us again at our Bend, OR stop.

Tasting at Treveri Cellars Sparkling Wines

These were trellises of hops that were growing everywhere
in Yakima. I'd never seen this before. 

Tasting at VanArnam Vineyards.

Onward to Boardman, Oregon where we shall encounter our hottest temperatures yet of 105 to 108 degrees. 🔥

Glacier National Park, Montana ( 7/23-7/30)

 A short day of driving brought us to the northern most point in our trip, West Glacier Village RV Park and Cabins. Albeit short, our picture window sized windshield provided sweeping views of Flathead Lake for miles as we drove.  

We arrived at the the cute little area of West Glacier Village.  It is a tourist area just outside the park entrance that has the campground and cabins, a gift shop, small market,  pub and cafe, ice cream shop and a rafting business all operated by the same hospitality company. Our first concern is, would we make it under this bridge...

Cute little truck in front of the Huckleberry shop.

Ruth is 13'2", we just made it. 

We settled into the campground which remained pretty full throughout our stay.  There were zero mature trees on the property as it is only 3 years old.  The forecast of 90 degree days and no rain during our visit was a little daunting.  There was a convenient bike path from the campground to the Village so we pedaled down for a cold beverage and to check out the area.  

Armed with our Going to the Sun Road pass (required between 6am and 5pm), the Gypsy Guide app, picnic lunch, backpacks and walking sticks we entered the park at around 6am with only a few cars in front of us and a loose hiking plan.  The stunning beauty and engineering marvel of the Going to the Sun Road can't really be described, it must be experienced.  None of my photos will do it real justice. The road had just been cleared of its final snow as recently as 3 weeks before our arrival and would close again at first snow which could be sometime in September.  The Gypsy Guide gave us quite a bit of history about the geology and the road construction which as interesting to hear as we drove. 

As we made our way to the top of the road at Logan's Pass, we had been thwarted at a couple of our planned hiking trailheads due to lack of parking.  We stopped at a few lesser traveled pull outs on the road.  It was disappointing, but we figured we would be able to get a spot at Logan's Pass since we had arrived at the park early. Boy, were we wrong.  Mike circled the parking lot at least half a dozen times before we gave up and moved on. 

We ended up finding a parking spot near the Virginia Falls trailhead which we grabbed up.  We had a lovely hike to a beautiful waterfall and caught a brief glimpse of a moose on our hike back.  This was also our first bear sighting, no pictures as they were pretty far away, but we could see them well with our binoculars.  We continued on to the end of the Going to the Sun Road.

We called an audible on our plans for the day and continued out of the St. Mary's park exit and drove to the Many Glacier entrance.  The road was under construction and slow going on dusty gravel for about 11 miles.  When we arrived at the Many Glacier Lodge area it was also very busy and we were informed by  ranger that parking may not be available.  

We continued on and Mike found a spot without too much waiting.  By then we were starving so we ate our lunch on the porch of the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn then proceeded to hike to Red Rocks Falls. We were told by fellow hikers that there were bears in the area, again , we saw none, but were treated with another moose sighting, those never get old.   We had a good first day in the park, but returning on the Going to the Sun Road in early evening proved to be long, slow and frustrating due to frightening drivers who rode their brakes on every curve, there were a lot of curves.

There was a terrific bike/hike trail from the West Village to the Apgar Village and Lake McDonald area which we rode a couple of times.  If you don't stop for ice cream at Eddie's for ice cream, you are missing out. We also enjoyed a whiskey tasting stop at Glacier Distillery and a cocktail and tapas stop at Josephine's next door.  A fun morning of pickleball at a lovely park in Whitefish rounded out our time not spent in the park. 

The Mule Kick was aptly named. 

Sometimes the smoke made for pretty skies.

We took a different tact for our second day Glacier National Park.  A 9:30am departure strategy suggested that the pre-dawn, no pass holder,  park entrants would be getting back to their cars and free up some of the parking we were shut out of on our first day.  We also had a boat ride on St. Mary's lake at 2:00pm so wanted to get a hike or two in beforehand. This strategy did not work for our first planned hike at Avalanche Lake, however, we scored a WIN when Mike, with the assistance of a random woman standing in the parking lot, got a spot at Logan's Pass.  We also had another closer encounter with a small brown grizzly bear who was wandering along the road, causing a major animal jam of cars.  We got good pics though...from the safety of the car.

It was getting pretty warm, but we ventured up to Hidden Lake overpass. The elevation brought us some cooler breeze and waterfalls provided some light mist as we arrived at Hidden Lake.  We had just enough time for our trip back down and the drive to St. Mary's Lake for our boat ride. 

The day was hot and not too breezy which made for an enjoyable boat ride on the Little Chief, built in 1928.  The captain also narrated the tour and shared many interesting facts about its geology, animal life and landscape.  The water was the most beautiful shade of blue. 

Our late afternoon drive back proved fortuitous as we finally snagged a parking spot for the Trail of the Cedars walk that we had hoped to do earlier that day.  It was a nicely paved, decked, shaded trail with a lovely waterfall at the end.  A nice ending to our stay at Glacier.   

Ruth's spot at Glacier

 

3 Nights in Missoula (7/20 - 7/23)

Missoula was supposed to be a semi insignificant stop on our route between Yellowstone and Glacier National Park.  We had no significant planned tourist activities there.  It is the largest "city" we had been near since Grand Rapids, SD.  

The Missoula KOA was pretty much right off the highway and nestled conveniently in town.  This was our first KOA on this trip.  We had a short gravel pull through site with a nice shade tree and a separate spot to park the Jeep, it was a pleasant distance from the next campsite on our patio side.  As always, the KOA's tend to cater to families so there was a pool and a nightly rotating food truck for the campers.  The camp host would text you each day and let you know the food truck for the night.  Nice touch.  

Mike had pre-scoped out the local pickleball courts and we had a couple of really fun days of play on our short stay in Missoula.  We played a couple of games against a guy who introduced himself as "Jurrasic". As you may guess from the name he was a big dude.  Seemed a little "on the nose" to call himself that, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt that it was a high school or college nickname that stuck.  We had some fun games with him and his mixed doubles partner both of  which Mike and I won, not that I was keeping track....  

We found a local ad for an outdoor big band concert and local Sweet Adeline's performance in a nearby park.  The evening weather was perfect for it and we enjoyed a lovely slice of homemade pie they were selling as a fund-raiser, small town USA.  We also had a tremendous pizza from Biga Pizza for lunch one afternoon.  If you ever get to Missoula, eat there. 

Thursday evening drew us to downtown Missoula with food trucks and a free string band concert in Caras Park. The outdoor concert was lively and very well attended.  It seemed like everyone just wanted to be outside enjoying life for a bit.  We strolled through downtown Missoula and popped into Montgomery Distillery for a cocktail that was quite enjoyable. 

Missoula Carousel - cool story.

We also sampled the local BBQ, as we often do, at Notorious P.I.G. (Loved the name)  Unfortunately they were out of burnt ends at the end of the day, but Mike and I agreed the brisket was probably in our top 5 of BBQ ever and we have consumed enough to judge.  Sorry no pictures, too busy eating to snap.

We really enjoyed the whole vibe of Missoula, in the summer.  It is a good sign when you are sorry you couldn't stay longer vs. looking forward to leaving. 

Of course, everyday day in an RV is an opportunity for "Murphy" to visit.  He picked the morning of our departure day to stop by this time.  Upon examination of one of doors on the exterior of the RV that houses our massive electric cable that powers the rig at each site, Mike noticed the latch was not catching.  Actually, it was catching and felt like it was sticking to a point where he would not be able to open it the next time.  Mike was able to reach a service support person at Tiffin who gave him some limited direction on how to remove the bay door handle and try to fix the latch.  A neighbor, who happened to be a retired engineer offered his two cents, fellow campers always try to be helpful.  The tech's solution didn't really work, but Mike MacGyver'd it until a piece of stiff tubing and a small section of orange pool noodle provided an interim solution.  We will only open and close it one time per stop, hopefully the temp fix will last until the end of our trip.

Yellowstone National Park (North Entrance 7/5-7/13, West Entrance 7/13-7/20) Part 2

While our departure from Paradise Valley (North Yellowstone) was not without its challenges…this gave us both a chance for about 2.5 hours of "alone" time on our drive to Island Park, ID our West Yellowstone stop.  I was a bit behind Mike as I stopped in Livingston to get some potential supplies to fix the broken Brake Buddy. I arrived about 30 minutes behind Mike and he had Ruth all set up and ready for our 7 night stay.  The Red Rock Park campground was a lovely park pretty much off the grid in the valley of several large mountains.  It was a stunning location about 25 minutes from the West Entrance of Yellowstone. 

 

Mike quickly assessed the parts I was able to source in Livingston, to see if we could make it work, but none provided an ideal solution.  Mike then called the manufacturer. After a rather lengthy explanation of our issue, they Fed Ex’d a new cigarette plug assembly to us at the campground.  Now that is great service!  We were back in business baby!   What a load off our minds.  Now we can get back to the fun stuff.

 We decided to explore Mesa Falls on our first day in this location. We packed a lunch and headed out.  The parking was busy, but we found a spot.  There was an upper and a lower falls view.  After seeing it from the viewing platform, we headed out on the trail to see the lower falls.  There were signs posted about a young bear sighting in the area, so we made out bear spray accessible and headed out.  It was definitely worth the hike to see the lower falls up close, no bear sightings though. We had our picnic on the porch of the historical inn at the park.

 

We decided that we would trial going into this entrance of Yellowstone in the late afternoons or early evenings, to to avoid crowds.  We entered the park with ease around 5:45 pm and drove to the Upper Geyser Basin to view Old Faithful's eruption.  Unfortunately, just as we walked up from the parking lot toward Old Faithful, it was just winding down from an eruption.  The eruption intervals can be anywhere from 35 minutes to 2 hours.  The projected next eruption was to occur at 8:39pm.  There was so much more to see of this landscape that the time flew by.  We got a front row seat to see Old Faithful erupt at twilight.  The significant crowds were gone at that hour and it was just a lovely experience.  Sunset was not until very late in the evening and we had a tremendous drive out of the park as the sun was setting.  And we saw a lone bison by the side of the road on the way home. 

We had such a pleasant experience in the park in the afternoon/evening that we did it again the next afternoon and using the Gypsy app, explored Firehole Falls, the lower geyser basin and the Grand Prismatic.  All our of explorations were leisurely and not inundated with crowds so we were pleased with our afternoon/evening strategy. We also saw more bison, elk and a mama moose and her calf on the way home.  Natural beauty everywhere you looked. 

Our next adventure was outside the park with another UTV rental to explore the Island Park area via the extensive off-road system.  There were many trails to choose from and our lead us back near the Mesa Falls for a different perspective.  We ventured onto a very narrow trail (#100) that ran just along the river.  It was exhilarating (scary) but we made it round the edge of the bend and had a great ride.

Another 5am departure for the park got us there around 6am and it was only 44 degrees.  The landscape looked super eerie as we drove in due to the heat from the thermal pools meeting the cold air and creating huge steam columns into the air. 

We hiked to the upper view of the Grand Prismatic which is the beginning part of the Fair Falls Trail.  We couldn't see the customary bright colors due to the excessive steam clouds, but it was still a beautiful early morning experience.  We then took a "road less traveled" hike to Artesia Geyser and were treated to a gorgeous geyser pool, the Morning Glory Spring and a very large bison resting in the trees right off the trail.  We stopped for late lunch/early dinner at the Buffalo Bar on the way home.  

Our Yellowstone experience came to a close with a very enjoyable evening musical performance at the campground by one of the local work campers.  Out next destination would be a short 3 night stop in Missoula, Montana on our way to our northern most point in our trip, Glacier National Park.