A WONDERFUL VISIT WITH FRIENDS

Tuesday, June 26 -- With heavy rain this morning and a weather report calling for all-day rain, we decided to wait a day before heading towards Yellowstone National Park. We hung around the motor home all morning until about noon when Donna call and invited us up to visit her and Norm. These are friends from the last two winters spent in the Texas Rio Grande Valley. As a matter of fact, we rented a RV spot off them the first year we visited Mission, TX.

They have a wonderful home in Deer Meadows, WA, which is about 30 miles North of Spokane, right on the Columbia River. This is their summer home. They recently purchased a home in Mission, TX, where they spend the winters.

They met us along the highway, and we followed them down the road to a delightful small town grocery store/restaurant, Fort Spokane Store Restaurant. We love eating at small local dinners or taverns. And thanks Norm for grabbing the check!

The guy that owns the place just can't throw a thing away.

Donna and Norm

We then moved to Donna and Norm's home to visit for the afternoon. They have a lovely 4-bedroom home out in the country, and get this guys....Norm has TWO storage barns! Now that's what Paul calls awesome! The place is for sale if anyone is looking for a very nice home on the Columbia River near Spokane, WA.

With the rain continuing and fog settling in, we decided we better head home. Thanks Donna and Norm for a fun afternoon get-together. We'll see you in South Texas.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

NEAR NATURE. NEAR PERFECT. SPOKANE

Monday, June 25 – We want to take it easy today and not over do the sightseeing. We decided to just see Spokane, so headed there for some easy-going sightseeing. WOW!....were we surprised!What a gorgeous city!

The Riverfront Park is a public park in downtown Spokane, Washington. The 100 acre park is located along the Spokane River. We walked quite a bit of the Riverfront walkway.

The Spokane River runs right through the middle of town with its angry rapids and beautiful waterfalls. Spokane was originally called Spokan (no e) Falls. In 1891, "Falls" was dropped and the e was added. We're not sure why they did that.

There are 22 bridges in Spokane. Every type of bridge you can image is here. The most famous on is the Monroe Street Bridge.

When it was built in 1911, its central arch, spanning 281 feet, was the third longest unsupported concrete arch in the world. Its total length is 956' and height 136'. The water from the Spokane River flows under the bridge.

There is an Upper Falls and Lower Falls right here in the city, and they are gorgeous.

Upper Falls is very fast and turbulent.

The Lower Falls is more of a drop.

Any one want to do the Spokane Falls Skyride?

Built in 1990, with 26 tons of steel and reinforced concrete, a 12-foot-high, 27-foot-long Radio Flyer Wagon was presented to the City of Spokane by artist Ken Spiering. It can hold as many as 300 people.

What could be a better symbol of childhood?

The clock tower is all that remains of the Great Northern Train Station which was demolished in the early 1970s in preparation for Expo '74. It is the centerpiece of the city. The chimes have a beautiful tone.

Spokane is a very modern and progressive city. They have free charging stations throughout the city.

This 40-person sculpture represents the spirit of the community and the world. It is called "The Joy of Running Together".

After the wonderful Riverfront Walk, we decided to walk around the historic city. We found these sidewalk maps very helpful. They were located on every other block.

Great architecture on many of the buildings. 

With parks, walking and biking paths, works of art, and the 22 bridges, the City of Spokane has done a marvelous job of taking advantage of the beauty of this river. The area and city is absolutely wonderful!

Just a short drive outside the city is Gonzaga University.

If you're a fan of NCAA Basketball, you've heard of Gonzaga. It's a small Catholic school with a powerhouse basketball team.

Gonzaga University is an independent Catholic, Jesuit, and humanistic university providing education to more than 7,800 students. Situated along the Spokane River near downtown Spokane, Washington, Gonzaga is routinely recognized among the West's best comprehensive regional universities.

It's a very nice campus with a small town atmosphere. Looks like a great place to send your daughter/son to college..... :-)

This is one town we definitely could spend a couple more days visiting. Guess will have to come back sometime in the future.

To see more of Spokane, please click here.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

GOODBYE RAIN…HELLO SUNSHINE. SPOKANE, WA

Sunday, June 24 – A fitting “good-bye” from the Pacific Coast this morning when we pulled-out of the Bremerton Elks Lodge – It was raining and continued to pour until we topped the Snoqualmie Pass of the Cascade Mountains. Once over the mountains, the sun came out and it was a nice day with puffy white clouds.

Boy is Eastern Washington different than the West Coast. This is agriculture country.

A particular nice farming area had signs all along I-90 telling you what crops were growing in the roadside fields. And they were irrigating the fields. Too bad the coast couldn't share some of that rain with these folks.

We were also surprised when we crossed over the Columbia River. It's dug a pretty impressive gorge here in the East, as well. Can't help of thinking about Lewis & Clark rowing down this river and the amazing sights they saw. It's so beautiful today, what was it like back then?

Our destination today was Spokane, Washington. A longer drive than we like (six hours) but there aren't many stopping points between Seattle and Spokane. Oh, by the way, it's pronounced – Spo-Can, not Spo-cane.

We are staying at another Elks Lodge – The Spokane Lodge on the eastside of the city. It is a very nice stop-over. Easy in and easy out from I-90. The cost is $15 for 50 amp electric and water. There is a dump station here at the campground. We are in site #17. There are 20 sites here at the Lodge. We have good satellite connection with our roof mounted Direct TV dish and good Verizon phone & Internet connections.

Plenty of room.

Rear view.

Looking left.

Looking right.

There is plenty of nearby shopping and being on the eastside of the city makes for an easy getaway when we leave, missing rush hour traffic.

Some places wrestle with chipmunks, some with ground hogs, here….marmots.

Unfortunately, the Lodge is closed on Sunday and Monday so we can't report on the activity at the Elks Lodge. The hosts in the campground are very friendly and met us as we pulled-in. The campground is nearly full tonight with only two or three open sites. Lucky for us, the site next to us is open giving us a nice lawn to relax on and enjoy the beautiful weather here in Eastern Washington. Bella loves that grass!

We had a lovely sky tonight. We hope to catch the sunset tomorrow night.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!