North to Alaska - Idaho, 2018

Considering that we have been getting ready for the infamous trip to Alaska for about a month (organizing, getting things fixed, getting errands done, etc.), it was amazing how much work the last days packing up entailed (could it be our age?!!)  We were, at the time, supervising the installation of new siding on Jason's house, picking out colors and the painters for finishing the job.   We did manage to get off on time June 3rd at about 9:30 am.  That is quite a record.

We are longer than Jason's house!

My guys!

We took I25 to I80 across Wyoming.  We really wanted to make it to Bear Lake in Utah, but did have alternative plans, if we were too tired to make it that far.  We were determined and,  reveled in beautiful Wyoming scenery, despite the horrendous trucks on the road-huge!!! We passed many farm lands, wind farms and antelope grazing and exited that road (THANKFULLY) for Kemmerer (home of J.C. Penney).  We had taken this route last year and stopped at the Fossil exhibit and loved it but we pushed on, through sage-covered hills on blue highways to the last leg, a 7% grade beautiful road through canyons and forests to Bear Lake.

Bear Lake is a 20 mile long lake that is a gorgeous turquoise color. We found the perfect spot, right on the water with a wonderful ramada to shield us from the sun.  The lake is surrounded by many hills and sports a big blue sky with all kinds of wildlife (there is a wildlife conservation area to our north).  The stars are amazing here-Mars was at her best!  We stayed 3 nights and relaxed for the first time in a month and a half.  And, we had our first lake bath of the season-Brrrrr!

Sunset from inside Maxine-nights are already longer.

White pelicans were abundant!

Closeup cutie

Bonfires on the beach-what could be better?

Jim practicing casting with his Christmas present - a Tenkara Fishing Rod.  His first chance to learn how to use it.

This is a very Zen-like Japanese fishing system-a fly rod
without all the fuss.

Lots of resting was done by all of us!

We got up early and drove into Garden City, where we hoped to get a raspberry shake, but everything was closed, so, off we went, up (3,000 ft) and down through the Cache-Wasatch National Forest on the Logan Canyon Scenic Byway to Logan, Utah.  We were stunned by the scenery.  Incredibly green pine forests with sage and aspens and lots of ice plants (which were flowering in a bright yellow hue).  Snow capped peaks were everywhere and we were happy campers.  I got no pictures, since I was driving-it was a pretty long haul down!  I would never want to come the other way in Maxine-miles and miles of uphill driving!

We were hoping to drive off from I84 to Rte. 30 to the Thousand Springs area, but we were exhausted and decided to go on and find a camp spot for the night.  We found a great spot on the Snake River, where Jim tried out his Tenkara fishing rod with a fly for the first time- no luck but a fun place-and beautiful.  The campground was a typical state park, Three Island, nicely manicured lawns and beautiful views of the river, but we always prefer a little more privacy, so only stayed for one night.

They did have an interpretive center there which commemorated the spot where Mormon covered wagons crossed the Snake River.  This area was chosen  because the three islands made it more possible to cross safely.  Many settlers didn't make it across.

And we think we are on quite a journey!

We decided to save the southern portion of Idaho, which is pretty easy to get to, for another trip and headed north towards Cascade Lake, deciding on a campsite on the north side.  We chose Amanita Campground, a forest service campground right on the water (again).  We found the only lake-side site left and thought it was perfect.  I then checked out the state park campsites, but concluded that we had made the right choice first.  The others were beautiful, very full and not very private.  We had all kinds of room to ourselves and were right on the water.  The only difficult thing was that it rained off and on, so it was not great for kayaking or swimming.  We spent a day in McCall, doing a little shopping and had a great burger and shake at My Father's Place-we were the oldest ones there by at least 30 years!

The town of McCall is much smaller than I would have thought.  It seems to be a little over-run with athletic youngsters of all types-a bit like a smaller Boulder.  It sits right on the wonderful Payette Lake and looks like it would be alot of fun to stay here for awhile.

We ate here-loved the picture of the car and trailer with a pup in the back.

We drove out to the 1,000 acre peninsula to see Ponderosa State Park.  It was never logged in the past, so the old-growth ponderosa pines are as much as 400 years old.  There are wonderful campsites, bike paths, hiking trails and vistas almost everywhere.  Again, me driving-no pictures.

We had hoped to visit Gold Forks Hot Springs but ran out of weather and time.  We headed north on a beautiful road (I95) through Riggins, where the road was packed with cars, kayaks, fishing equipment and lots of young people (An amazing amount of people for the small town it is.)  The Salmon River flows right through town and the Little Salmon joins it here and flows 60 miles through the Gorge to the Snake.  Hell's Canyon is close by (we are saving that, too, for another trip).

We wandered through gorgeous Camas Prairie country and Nez Perce Indian territory through White Bird Battlefield where the Nez Perce War of 1877 took place.  What a lookout location!  The Camas plant is plentiful here and is apparently great food for hogs, if you happen to have a few!

We took a look at Hells Gate State Park at Lewiston but decided it wasn't for us.  It was a typically nice state park along the Snake, but just a one night stand in our minds, so, on we went.  Soon our destination was Harrison on the southeast part of Lake Coeur d"Alene.  We often don't end up exactly where we were headed (true of life in general-duh).  Ideas, weather, roads make a difference in where we head.  This time, Jim found Bell's Bay in our campground book.  The drive sounded a little precarious, but we found it to be winding and slow but beautiful and we found THE spot right on the lake.  Good pick, Jimbo!

Boo's way of begging (so nicely)

Beautiful flowers and grasses everywhere

Our view from the campsite

For reasons unknown to me, many of my pictures from my IPhone do not come through on the computer.  I had some really cute ones of Jim and I fishing here, but, alas-it was not to be.

Coeur d'Alene Lake is different than I expected.  Our part of the lake is much more rugged and primitive.  However, we have only explored our little area of the lake and will see the rest on our route over to the road to Spokane, where we hope to then cross the border into Canada.  It is huge (and to see the maps, Lake Pend Oreille is even bigger-hard to imagine!)  This is our entrance into the Panhandle area of the state.  We could go up and see Pend Orielle and Priest Lake, but it seems a little more interesting and different (we've been to the area north of us in Alberta and BC) to start heading west and then go up to Lake Christina and west towards Hope, BC.  Coeur d'Alene was originally a fort, "protecting" the white settlers from the natives. (Brother, we have such a terrible history of conquering indigenous peoples!)  They named it after the natives (Heart like an Awl, because the natives were such savvy traders).  In the 1800s, unbelievably, it became a steamship port (in Idaho?) Traders came up from the Columbia River.  Now it is an upscale resort town.  We were so glad to be on the other side of the lake (although it was nice to stop for laundry, grocery shopping, fly fishing equipment, gas, propane, etc.)

Washington state tomorrow and then on into British Columbia.