Grand Coulee Dam is in the middle of nowhere on the Columbia River and I’m pretty certain that you would not be going there unless you were intentionally going to the dam.  The Dam is impressive, the tour not so much!  Except that is the only way you can take the photo below.  Since 911 you cannot cross the dam.  There is a bridge not far from below the dam that crosses the Columbia River, infact you have to drive across the bridge to get to the tour.  Some things baffle me.

They put a lazer light show on in the evenings during the summer complete with a Dam cartoon before the lazer story of why the dam is here.  Corny but fun.  There isn’t much else to do in Coulee.

CouleeDam

There is a lake and a state park campground on the Banks Lake that is created from Grand Coulee just for irrigation.  They pump water into the lake and then canel it to farmers.  Banks Lake is huge and full of recreation if you are into boating.  The mosquitos were quite bad.  Infact in the campground they came through each evening and fogged us.  It didn’t do much for keeping the mosquito population away so I could sit out and enjoy the evenings!

Steamboat Mountain; how the park got its name!

Sunset reflecting off the lake

Pauls idea of swimming in the lake

Starting our descent to the lower states with a stop in Colorado Springs where I got to meet up with a couple of the girls from growing up!

I told you!  You made the blog!!!  It was so much fun seeing where they have been living the past 15 and 20 years, catching up on family gossip and just talking.  I miss getting to just hang out with friends,  Thanks Virginia and Cheryl.

Colorado Springs is right at the base of Pikes Peak, it really doesn’t look that large but when you start up the road which is a toll road you realize just how high you are going.  When we made it to the top I hopped out of the car and immediately realized that even though the car said it was 49 outside that 49 was very cold with the wind!

The air is so thin that I felt a lot light headed! Whoa, Imagine having a smoke up here?

Not even sure you could see all the way to Colorado Springs but I am sure it is out there.

The drive was spectacular and we are even starting to see some Aspens getting their fall colors.  There are three reserviors that provide water to the city below.  The views are spectacular.  I don’t really  love the alpine terrain but it is interesting.

Aspens peaking out of the evergreens

                                Break check area on the descent

Pikes Peak,  a beautiful drive with views that are breathtaking.   The air was thin so I cannot even imagine hiking up here, so we didn’t.  It was a driving tour and very enjoyable.

Manitou Cliff Dwellings right near where we are staying was not exactly what I was expecting.  Sometimes research beyond the brochure in the tour racks is a good idea.  Located only 2 miles from where we are staying and something I have always been interested in seeing are the cliff dwellings of the Anasazi Indians however they did not build their homes in Manitou Springs,  they were relocated here in the  early 1900’s to be preserved.  They lived and built their cliff dwellings in the Four Corners area, several hundred miles southwest of Manitou Springs. The Manitou Cliff Dwellings were relocated to their present location in the early 1900s, as a museum, preserve, and tourist attraction.  That last sentence is exactly what it is.  The dwellings are cool however right after you pay to enter the site you download the app and the first thing it says is they were relocated here to be preserved and you can see them on the hill just past the gate (around a corner!)  They were cool and probably a great fieldtrip for 5th graders as a great learing tool but I wanted to really see cliff dwellings that had not been refurbished.  Oh well.

We are staying in a great location in a very nice park with lots of things very close by.  Garden of the Gods while a tourist location is definitely a much better deal – FREE!  It’s a park with pretty well marked trails once you figure out the map and beautiful rock formations.  The central garden is definitely the spot most people go to with the most formations and lots of rock climbers. We did some of that and then found a trail that had very few people and good views of the rocks.  The best part about this park besides being free is the dog is welcome everywhere!  Love that.

Always have to add at least one photo of us!  It was very hot this afternoon and staying out of the sun was difficult, hence the floppy hat and long sleeved shirt.

Its been a busy week but the weather has been favorable so we are taking in way more sites than usual.  Next day was the town of Canon and the Royal Gorge area.  The Royal Gorge Bridge and Park are all new this year as everything burned down in 2013 except the bridge.

Royal Gorge Bridge

Spectacular views and although this is definitely a tourist local it seemed kind of worth it at the senior price and the $2 coupon which includes everything except ziplining across the gorge and the bunge drop ride.  The tram is brand new so Paul was willing to ride it one way.  We walked across the bridge and then rode back

Trams passing above the gorge

Crossing the bridge

Getting ready to cross the gorge on the tram

The Arkansas River rushes below the bridge through the gorge

The town of Canon has a winery right in the middle of the desert.  The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey was a fun find in the tiny little town.  I enjoyed the wines while Paul enjoyed the picnic area.  Of course I bought one!  Then we were off to return back to our home taking a couple of back roads through Cripple Creek a town that has been revitalized by building cute building fronts to the casinos.  The drive to Cripple Creek was not your ordinary drive.  We followed Apple Maps and quickly we were alone on dirt roads with an occasional local that I am sure was laughing at the California tourists traveling through!

After about 4 miles we did see this sign!

Amazing views, very little roads!

Cute goats wondering why we are stopping and taking pictures! I don’t think they are use to tourists

Once we made it through Cripple Creek the views of the fall colors became brilliant.

I love this part of Fall.  

Thats Colorado Springs!  Definitely you can tell you are in the high desert but there is so much beauty here until the snow comes!

One more day trip north along the Selkirk Scenic Loop and we made it to Bonners Ferry.  This was where the gold prospectors needed a ferry to cross the river to head to Canada for gold and one very enterprising man built one and a town for supplies.  Our plan was to continue into Canada for an international day but someone forgot the passports until we were 25 miles up the road!

We did find a very nice river where a few people were taking a swim!  I wanted to join them, the water looked wonderful but there was only an outhouse to change and it just wasn’t that inviting!

Sometimes where we are out exploring this wonderful country it is hard to tell what state you are in; everywhere has the same stores, restaurants but once in awhile I am reminded I’m not in California anymore!  Our at least not in the Bay Area!

Shell casings!  

The clouds were amazing against the trees as we drove along the Selkirk Byway.  Just another Friday afternoon in the life of the Roberts!

Golfing could become a habit if I had enough money!  We found a really nice course and played on a beautiful afternoon.

Keep your head down! I’ll watch!

Deer Park Golf and RV Park!

They had deer everywhere!  They marked the Tee Boxes in blue deer, white deer and gold deer!  I played from the gold since there were no red and this course was very long!  They had one hole that was over 500 yds from the gold!

We decided to take it easy one day and headed into town just to check out the Pend Oreille Museum and learn a bit about the area.  Paul loves museums, me I enjoy looking for something interesting that I might remember.  The museum had lots of interesting artifacts about the Pend O’reille Valley but we learned from the curator that we had been pronouncing the name all wrong!  It’s pronounce Ponderay!  It’s French and we thought it was Irish.

Not automatic at all! No wonder women had to stay home! Laundry would be an everyday event, not once a week!

There was lots of old farm equipment, tractors, a fire truck and lots of collections that had been donated by local citizens so that they could be enjoyed rather than sitting in someones attic!

Like he is going to use that!

We had a nice enjoyable day wandering through the museum and then we walked along Main Street where we stopped into the local Soda Fountain and had a rootbeer float!  Yep, we sat right up at the counter and watched the girl fill a boot with rootbeer from the tap and then top it with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream.  It was served on a saucer and it is a good thing cause Paul had the rootbeer overflowing!

Just a Wildflower

How simple is that?

This morning I had the chance to just sit and listen to the sounds of the forest before anyone was awake.  The animals were very awake!  Duke needed to go out which is very odd (we realized later that he wasn’t feeling well). Once he had me up and we saw a very large deer I decided that 6 am was a pretty good hour to get up!

Hard at work, 7 am

This guy was huge and right above our RV working away on a hole for about an hour while I watched.

His finished work

The hole is up about 50 feet and very easy to see from the ground!  The squirrels were also very busy but didn’t have time to sit while I took their picture.  Usually later in the day they are friendlier.

We are hanging out for a few days near Little Diamond Lake, Newport WA.  It is in the Northeastern corner of Washington and today we took a hike that we had to enter in Idaho and then back to Washington before getting there.  We also ended up 10 miles from the Canadian border!  Beautiful country with lots of lakes and the Pend Oreille River.  

Today’s goal was to get onto one of the many hiking trails.  I found one, Bead Lake Trail that would have went part way around the lake, was moderate difficulty and the dog was welcome.  It was about a 20 mile drive and all the information stated that it was hard to find and not very popular!  Sounds great!  Only when we finally found it, the trail took a steep descent into the forest and didn’t look well marked so plan B!

We continued up the road along The Pend Oreille River to Lake Sullivan where it was suppose to be a lakeshore trail around 1/2 the lake for an 8 mile round trip hike!  We found this one after only asking the ranger guy and it was a very nice hike only it wasn’t really along the lake shore.

Ready to hike the Lakeshore Trail

Lots of beautiful forest

The lake

Most of the trail was either away from the lake or high above it!  We did finally find a spot where Duke could get to the lake and get a drink!

Crystal clear waters

It was a beautiful hike, although the fear of poison oak is always on our minds.  We saw lots of greenery with 3 leaves!  After awhile every piece of folliage starts to have 3 leaves!  This was a very narrow trail and when we got home everyone got a shower and the clothes are being washed!  If we survive this hike without an outbreak I might get Paul out into nature again, otherwise we are going to be stuck on paved walking trails!

Paul trying to get Duke to pose!

We only hiked about 2 miles in because this wasn’t a loop trail,  Paul was concerned about the greenery and I had other spots to check out on our trip back down The International Selkirk Loop,  280-mile scenic drive encircling the spectacular Selkirk Mountains in eastern Washington, northern Idaho and southeastern British Columbia.  We did only about 40 miles of it today.  I think we will do another section later next week!

Just outside of Metaline Falls, where we stopped into the post office to send some mail we found a short little walk to Sweet Creek Waterfalls.  What a very nice little rest stop with picnic tables and you can get right down into the creek!

If you look closely you can see a couple enjoying the falls between the upper and lower cascades!  We climbed up to the break and met them.  A very nice couple who were ready to leave and let us enjoy the spot to ourselves!

The upper falls, where Duke and I walked into the creek and got a very nice photo!

A very nice day and I got some much enjoyed time out in the woods!

Wild Berries

Back at our home in the woods,  a shot of some wild berries!  The area just north of here boasts about Huckleberries and it is picking season.  They only grow wild and they make all kinds of things out of them.  Picking them is a bit of a sport as they are a favorite of the bears in the region!  Careful!. I wonder if these berries that are right outside of my door are huckleberries!  I soon will be finding out!

Last week we made it to Washington, actually only across the river from Portland to Vancouver.  We had plans to explore on Saturday but it rained so much we only made it to Costco to buy some things without paying sales tax!  Love Oregon!  I’m not sure why anyone living in Vancouver would not cross the river and save!  It is so weird when you purchase something you can get out the exact amount before you even reach the cashier!

Sunday we moved to Yakima Washington where we are parked in a beautiful spot at the local Elks lodge!  It is on an amazing golf course with another golf course right next to us!  We are even parked on a huge lawn area that looks like another golf course!  Duke is in heaven.

Arriving in Spokane from a very warm week in California I definitely needed to get the jacket out!  It gets down to about 32 at night with lots of sunshine during the day but barely breaking 60.  My first day back we took a little drive into apple country.  The orchards are not very big but the apples are excellent.  We bought a few and made a delicious apple crisp and a couple turnovers.

A little bit of Fall color

We don’t have very much time here as we have a deadline to be back in California by Halloween so only a couple short excursions and of course a hockey game.  We have been wanting to get to a game since we went to Canada and each time we got near a team they were out of town.  We got lucky in Spokane,  the Spokane Chiefs were playing at home and the best part was good seats were only $18.  My kind of sporting event.  Definitely not a professional team as they were moving at a pace I could keep up with where the puck actually was.  Between periods they had games like musical chairs on the ice – lots of fun!  They lost 4-1 against the Victoria team but no one seemed really bummed!

We did explore downtown Spokane a little, enjoying a local diner that had some pretty good BBQ, Chicken & MO!  and I got a little shopping done at Macy’s.  Outdoors is beautiful in downtown.  There pride is the Spokane Falls  on the Spokane River right through town.

Upper Falls

It really is quite beautiful and the riverfront park is an excellent place for a nice walk.   The air is cold but the sky is a beautiful blue.  Having this river run right through town is definitely a plus for this downtown.  There was not much activity downtown but I bet in the summer it is plenty busy.

Sunday was a day of rest!  I brought a slight cold home with me and Paul figured out how to get his Nascar race on the computer/TV so I napped and watched fast cars going 200 miles per hour bumper to bumper at Talladega Super Speedway.

Today we leave the great state of Washington and head into Oregon for our final stops before heading back to California for the holidays.  See a bunch of you real soon!