The Ray Adventures: Tuesday, Sept. 6 to Sunday, Sept. 18 Salem to Columbia Falls, Mt. and Glacier National Park

I t's time to leave family and friends for Texas, summer has flown by.

Tuesday, Sept. 6., Yesterday afternoon Carol came by to take me for a ride in her 280z hard top convertible, since I hadn't had a chance to ride in it all summer. Fun, Fun, Fun, a perfect day to put the top down and drive through the countryside. We had an adult beverage after and rehashed the Oregon game, pretty pitiful but they won! Then sister Laurie came by, Chris & Micah and Charlotte. We all shared laughs and said goodbye for two years. Chris and Micah and Gary and I went out to dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant before saying goodbye.
We woke early to rain, dang, there goes the clean coach, lots to do before we leave for our one night in Bend. We had to pick up the mail, pick up our bikes from the bike shop, and check out an oil leak in the car. For a mere $693.00 they can fix it, it's just going to have to wait until we get to Texas.
We finally left for Bend about 11:15 for our 130 mile drive over Santiam Pass to Dan and Charlene's, they have room for our RV to park plus 50 amp power, arriving about 2:00. Talena, Kurt and Ethan came over for dinner, Charlene bbq'd chicken, made a wonderful cabbage (from her garden) salad and fresh fruit. I bbq'd zucchini. Talena brought delish cream puffs. We had to say goodby to the kids, they are hoping to visit us in Rockport this winter.

Wednesday, Sept. 7, After a wonderful breakfast of french toast and sausage we got underway about 9:15 for Clyde Holliday State Park, located near the John Day Fossil Beds. What a great park, level paved spaces long enough for the big rigs. We have water and electricity, no sewer or satellite coverage. We settled in, had lunch then picked up 2 geo caches in the park area. Many, many years ago (1981) we stayed there for one night with 2 other families. It was mid August and hot hot hot! We all found our way to the John Day River for a refreshing swim, thank goodness we didn't run into any rattlesnakes. John Day is only about five miles from here, we geo cached all the way into town, leaving us very thirsty so we stopped by the 1188 Brewing company for a tasty brew before heading back for dinner and beverages by the campfire.

Thursday Sept. 8, We drove the 30 plus miles to the Sheep Rock unit of the John Day Fossil beds, located right smack dab in the middle of Oregon. John Day Fossil Beds National Monument encompasses 14,000 acres in 3 separate units, The Painted Hills and Clarno are the other two. We started our visit at the Thomas Condon Paleontology Visitor Center and Research Center. It has exhibits on paleontology, picture windows let you view the working laboratory and collections with over 45,000 specimens. In the museum gallery we walked through 40 million years of the age of mammals with hundreds of fossil specimens displayed along with 8 murals depicting plants and animals at that time. Each displays the geology then and now. The ranger gave a 15 minute talk about the center and it's ongoing digs. She passed around a fossil for us to see and feel then had us guess what it was from, a bone from the shoulder of a wing, now extinct bird, larger then the California Condor. A huge find! After leaving the Visitor Center we drove to the Blue Basin to the Island of Time trail which was an easy one mile walk with only 200 feet of elevation change, into the colorful Badlands, layers of rock deposited 20 million years ago with 4 replica display digs along the way, one was a huge tortoise. Poor Luci had to cross 13 grated bridges that crossed the twisting dry creek bed. The other trail took you along the rim of the basin with an 800 foot elevation change, we skipped that one! On our way to the Foree area we passed Cathedral Rock, a large block of 29 million year old strata. We took two short trails in the area after a picnic, which gave you views of the green claystone rock capped with lava flows. We were running out of steam at that point, we stopped to enjoy the shade in Cant Ranch, a sheep ranch from the early 1900's until purchased by the National Park Service in the 70's. The historic house wasn't open for tours but we could walk around the barn and outbuildings. We picked up a few geo caches in Mt. Vernon before heading back to camp for diner and campfire. I did ride my new bike 4 miles around the park, it's a much nicer bike then my old one, the seat is more comfy - my "bum" wasn't sore even after 4 miles.

Friday, Sept. 9, Happy Anniversary to us, 38 years and counting. We left, early for us, 8:15, for our 177 mile drive to Kennewick through some beautiful country, up and down several summits before reaching the Columbia Basin at Pendleton. We stopped near Hermiston, Oregon, Gary's old stomping grounds, to fuel up before arriving in Kennewick at 2:00. It's always a fun time when we get together with Mary and Gerry. Their son Keith and daughter-in-law Rachaelle were also there for the weekend. Mary fixed a marvelous baby back rib dinner. We finally got to enjoy the champagne Talena gave me for Mother's Day, delish! Thanks Mary and Gerry for a great time.

Saturday, Sept. 10, We left the Brown's house before 11 for the 186 mile drive through the boring desert to Stacy and Barbara's house out in the country near Chewelah which is near Spokane. After a lovely dinner we watched our Ducks beat the Virginia Cavaliers 44-26. Go Ducks!

Sunday, Sept. 11, Barbara made coffee cake for breakfast while Stacy made fried potatoes, sausage and eggs. MMMMM! We're not going to drive out of here we are going to waddle! After breakfast we drove through the countryside to 2 dams built in the early 1900's on the Spokane River. We don't have any information on Little Falls, the most scenic we saw but the powerhouse looked a "bit" crumbly. Long Lake Dam, built in 1915, at 213 feet is the highest dam on the river. The reservoir Lake Spokane provides recreation opportunities close to Spokane. Long Lake Dam is now undergoing a spillway modification, the 200 foot drop spillway causes harmful oxygen levels for the fish, so they are spending millions to save fish who will eventually be caught further downstream and become someone's dinner. Okay then! In the afternoon we watched the Seahawk's win 12-10 over the Miami Dolphins, it wasn't pretty but it was still a 1 in the win column.

Monday, Sept. 12, We drove to Spokane, about 40 miles, to see the movie Sully in the downtown Spokane Mall complete with recliner seating, all I needed was a pillow and my quilt. We got off the elevator, across the way was an AT&T store. Gary's phone has been giving him fits, just about every day it would die but come to life later. It must have been a sign for him to give up and buy a new phone. The kids did some shopping while he got his new phone programmed (if that's the correct term?) We all gave the movie a thumbs up! Of course we all know the story about Captain Cheslley Sullenberger whose flight was hit by a flock of birds just minutes after take off from LaGuardia then is forced to land in the Hudson River but what I didn't realize while he was being called a hero in the press, the National Transportation Safety Board was trying to prove pilot error, they felt he could have landed safely back at LaGuardia or Teterboro. After stops at Cosmo Prof (beauty supplies for Barbara) and Costco we spent the evening playing Mexican Train.

Tuesday, Sept. 13, A quiet day, laundry, geo cacheing and prepping for our departure Wednesday morning. We spent the evening playing Mexican Train, Barbara won 2 out of 3 games. Time to go to bed!

Wednesday, Sept. 14, We left Stacy and Barbara's about 10:15 for our 83 mile drive to Sandpoint,Idaho, arriving by 12:15 at the Bonner County Fairgrounds. The park is lovely, water and electric only, at the base of Sweitzer Mountain, elevation 6,400 feet. There are 92 named ski runs, the longest being 1.7 miles. Sandpoint, population 7,365, elevation 2086, at the end of Lake Pend Oreille (pronounced Ponderay), is a year round resort town and artist community which offers both land and water recreation. Cedar Street Bridge, a covered bridge that spans 400 feet across Sand Creek in downtown, is the only known marketplace on a bridge. It was built in the 30's as an auto and pedestrian bridge. In the late 70's the bridge fell into disuse and was closed due to structural damage. The bridge, once repaired, reopened in '83 with a number of vendors and local artists having suites. We visited several shops as we crossed to the historic downtown area to window shop. We spent a quiet evening, the day was pretty hot but once the sun set behind the mountain it got cold fast.

Thursday, Sept. 15, We drove up to Sweitzer Mountain ski resort after breakfast for great views of the lake and Sandpoint. The lake is 43 miles long with depths up to 1,500 feet. After geo cacheing the way down the mountain (with no luck, all dnf's) we went to lunch downtown at MickDuff's brewery. (We used to have a Sheltie named McDuff). Sandpoint is very dog friendly town, you can take you dog almost anywhere, Luci enjoyed sitting beside our sidewalk table. On our way to lunch we ran into Bill, a friend from Rockport, he and his wife Arlene are visiting friends in the area. How crazy is that? After lunch we crossed Sand Creek to walk over 2 miles geo cacheing along the bike/pedestrian trail. Another beautiful day, we spent a quiet evening at the campground while Gary loaded the bikes and put the chairs away getting ready for our long drive to Columbia Falls in the morning.

Friday, Sept. 16, We left before 10 for our 198 mile drive to Columbia Falls, Mt. We drove down Hwy 200, it followed the lake to the end. We changed to Mountain Time as we entered Montana. A beautiful drive through mountains then Hwy 56 up to Hwy 2. Stacy told us about Kootenai Falls and the Swinging Bridge near Libby.
The main Kootenai Falls (on the Kootenai River) fall 30 feet, after a succession of smaller falls, the river falls 90 feet in less than a mile. We saw many fishermen with their catches of Kockanee salmon, the water was so clear we watched a young boy throw his lure right in front of the salmon, the fish took the hook but managed to escape and swim away. During the Depression the CCC did a lot of work in the area including the construction of the Swinging bridge that spans 210 feet 50 feet above the river giving you a great view of all the falls. It is a bit of a hike down to the falls including a 56 step climb to a platform that crosses the railroad tracks. Beautiful, a must see if you are ever in the area. The drive on to Columbia Falls was scenic, we arrived at Columbia Falls RV Park about 4. We enjoyed happy hour with our neighbors Ed and Nancy before going to Backslope Brewing for dinner. Delish! We both had rice bowls, mine was Ginger Hoisan pulled pork and Gary's was Srirraccha Beef. Pretty spicy. We sat at the bar, the servers were a lot of fun. One of them recommended the drive to Polebridge, a long drive but the bakery goods make it worth it.

Saturday, Sept. 17, Timing is everything, we've had gorgeous weather since we left Salem (in rain) until we get to Columbia Falls and Glacier National Park with a rainy windy forecast for a couple of days. We decided to drive to Polebridge since it was too cool to take any trails. Only 25 miles, part gravel road, the small "town" has a population of about 50. The Mercantile sells tourist memorabilla, a few groceries but their specialty is their bakery goods. We shared a cream cheese cinnamon roll (lunch). We ate inside at the only table with, as it turns out, the managers grandparents. We eavesdropped, the young couple do all the baking and oversee the running of the cabins and hostel, they even sell gas at $6.00 a gallon. We drove back on a gravel road all outside the park boundary. After taco salad dinner we watched Back to the Furure II. What a kick!

Sunday, Sept. 18, After a stormy night of heavy rain and wind the day was relatively dry. We made no plans for the day because of the lousy weather. I worked on publishing my blog while watching the Seahawks play the Rams losing 9-3. Dang!

Enjoy the pic's, they are a bit scrambled, I haven't figured how to mix the two camera's together. Always learning.

TTFN

Gary and Pam