Wednesday, June 27, through Wednesday, July 4, 2012:  Back to the States:
Wednesday morning, we stopped in Cranbrook (20 miles from Kimberley) to get our wheel situation straightened out,

and then headed for Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, 170 miles away.  Our adventure in Canada had ended for the time being. (We’ll be back in a few weeks.)

The trip to Coeur d'Alene was very nice (Read:  No rain) and uneventful---except that our china cabinet doors flipped opened during the drive, and most of our china ended up on the floor in millions of pieces.  Some of it has been with us for more than 25 years.  Oh, well, this had already been an expensive week, anyway. 

We are staying at the Blackwell Island RV Resort, a beautiful facility, right on the Spokane River---about 200 yards from the place where the river joins the lake. 

We went to the local Goodwill store in the afternoon, and picked up enough used china to replace the broken stuff, and walked out for less than $7.00. When you’re on the road, you don’t need fancy stuff.

Tonight we are going to celebrate my 74th birthday by having dinner at a restaurant called "Bistro on Spruce" (recommended by Becky's cousin Bill, who lives here).

Dinner at Bistro on Spruce (which is actually on 4th Street) was terrific. Thank you, Bill.  Great selection.  Bill is a member of their wine club, where he stores his own wines for use when he dines there.  He had called them earlier today to authorize them to give us wine from his stash. 

When we got there, we were presented with a list of his wines---three pages of them!!!  We selected a Ridge-Lytton Petite Sirah from the Ridge Winery in Healdsburg (Sonoma County), California.  Delicious. The food selections (Top Sirloin, Seared Ahi, French Onion soup, and Calamari) were wonderful.  I topped off my birthday dinner with a blast from the past:  My mother used to make me Angel Food cake on my birthday every year.  I hadn’t had it in at least 40 years.  (I don’t think I have even seen it on a menu during that time, either.)

Thursday was a typical day of minor maintenance tasks, grocery shopping, going to the post office, etc.  We experienced the inconvenience of having to buy liquor---though not wine---at a state liquor store (an annoyance in Idaho) instead of at the supermarket.  How rude!

This RV park is full of flags in anticipation of the 4th of July, so I put one of ours out to join in the celebration---even though we’ll be out of here before the 4th.

Friday afternoon, we took a sightseeing walk through the central part of Coeur d'Alene, along the lakefront.

There are some very pretty spots there, including some nice parks, some beautiful homes, upscale stores, and trendy restaurants.  We had Ramsey with us, and he interacted with the locals quite nicely.  He's getting quite socialized.

Friday evening, Becky watched The Artist. I didn’t bother, because I had heard it was bad.  The fact that it won the Oscar for best picture was simply Hollywood revealing its provinciality.  After suffering through it, Becky agreed.  We had dinner from the local Panda Express.  It was good, as usual.

Saturday morning we went across the street from our RV park to visit the BLM recreational area there.

It has beautiful picnic areas, a nice boat launching area, and a sizeable wetlands area.  Ramsey found all kinds of new things to smell.

That evening, we went to the terrific lakeside home of Vicki Martin and Preston Johnson,

some Los Angeles friends of Barbara Coad we‘ve met several times before, who have a second home in Coeur d’Alene. Vicki had a bad cold, so we couldn‘t party too hard, but we had a great time, nonetheless.  Fun people.

The big event on Sunday was getting our RV washed professionally for the first time.  It stopped raining just long enough to finish the job.  It looks great.

Early Monday morning, by pre-arrangement, a repairman showed up to try to solve our slideout problem.  After exhausting a number of possible solutions, he discovered that the sole cause was a blown fuse.   I had earlier tested the fuse, but it turned out the fuses were mis-marked; the one that actually was for the slideouts was marked “Pump/Hood.”  Damn!  I wish manufacturers were more careful with these things.

We left Coeur d’Alene at 9:30AM and headed for Clarkston, Washington---118 miles away.  Everything went swimmingly until we had a blowout in one of our RV tires, only 10 miles from our destination.  We called one of our two emergency repair people, and a nice man named Tom (who had brought his son to work with him) showed up to help. 

An hour later, we were on our way again.

We are staying at the Hells Canyon Resort, adjacent to the Snake River. We were here last year. It’s a very nice park, and we have an excellent site.

Late Monday, Becky's cousin Bill Boggs stopped by on his way home (Coeur d'Alene) from attending the Olympic Track & Field trials in Eugene, Oregon.  He's a big fan.  He had already driven 500 miles from Eugene on Monday by the time he got here, and had another 115 to go.  He was exhausted.  We fed him some shrimp and sent him on his way.

The big effort on Tuesday was making a Costco run.  The place was mobbed.  We're saving the Walmart excursion for Wednesday (the 4th) when we figured everyone will be home eating hamburgers.

I put out one of our flags on Tuesday in anticipation of the coming holiday.  But the wind was so strong and persistent that I had to take down the flag before it got torn apart. 

It turned out that the wind disappeared on Wednesday, and I resurrected the flag.  Hooray!  Much of the day was spent with Becky packing for her reunion trip to McCall, Idaho, to spend with three of her high school buddies.  That night, being the 4th, there were some local fireworks that scared Ramsey.

Friday, June 15, through Tuesday, June 26, 2012: On to Canada (for a brief time, anyway):
Friday was a wonderful day. It was a 212-mile trip to Kamloops, British Columbia. We entered Canada near Abbotsford.

We had been warned that the border people were hyper about bringing fruits and vegetables into Canada. For the past several days, we had been eating everything in our refrigerator that even looked like a vegetable so we could pass inspection at the border. We still had some broccoli left, so Becky hid it in our cooler that we keep in our bedroom closet, on top of our washer/dryer. When we got to the border, they asked us if we had any firearms or mace, but not vegetables. Oh, well.

The trip from the border to pretty Kamloops (Population: 84,000) was remarkable. The weather was perfect, the scenery was absolutely breathtaking, and the roads (mostly Canada Route 1) were lovely.

We are staying at the Kamloops RV Park, a nice place on the East side of town.  As usual, we did very little during the rest of the day we arrived.  (Travel days are tiring.)  On Saturday, we didn't do much more.  A little grocery shopping, and browsing at the nearby RV parts store.  And walking Ramsey incessantly, of course.  This is, after all, just a pit stop on the way to Jasper National Park in Alberta.

Sunday involved another 200+ mile day, going to Valemount (Population:  Negligible), all of it on Canada Hwy. 5.  The scenery was mostly thick evergreen forests, not as dramatic as on the way to Kamloops, but beautiful, nonetheless.  When it wasn't drizzling or pouring rain, the weather was pretty nice.  We are staying at the iRVins [sic] Park & Campground, just outside the center of town.

The park is very nice.  I don't think we will be doing much sightseeing here.  The village of Valemount seems to have as its principal purpose being the gateway to Jasper National Park, where we are headed on Tuesday.  There are otherwise far too many hotels, restaurants, and RV parks for a town of only 1,018 residents. 

It also boasts that it is in the shadow of Mount Robson, the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies (about 13,750 feet).  It actually seems like a nice place, though it's probably horrible in the winter.

One of the fun things about being in Canada at this time (mid-June, if you’ve forgotten) is the fact that it’s 9:30 PM as I write this, we are at the far East end of the Pacific Time Zone, and yet it’s still light out.

We had been alerted by some Canadians we met before coming up here that fuel prices were much higher here than in the States.  It turns out that the prices are generally only a bit higher than the ridiculous California prices we are used to.  And, being a somewhat socialist country, some Canadians are a bit fuzzy on the mechanics of competition.  In Valemount, there are two gas stations, one on each side of the principal intersection.  At one station, the diesel price is $.16 cheaper per litre [sic---we‘re in Canada, after all]---that’s $.67 per gallon---less than at the other.  Guess which one had all the business?

Wednesday was our day to go to Jasper National Park, an easy 78-mile trip through lovely scenery again.  Jasper is the largest mountain park in the Canadian national park system.  The weather continues to be iffy.  We are staying at the Whistlers Campground in the park. It’s been raining consistently here, so there is a lot of mud, but it’s otherwise a very nice place---heavily forested, though---with large areas between sites.  Our first site, assigned by management, was a bit too cramped for our rig.  It also had too many trees for our satellite TV reception.  We arranged to move to a different site, which, though still without TV reception due to the heavy forestation, is a lot nicer.

We’ll just have to survive without live TV for three days. Arrrrrgh!

We ventured into the town of Jasper (right in the center of the park) to take a look, and ended up having a late lunch/early dinner at Karouzo‘s Steakhouse, on Connaught Drive across the street from the train station.  I had delicious French onion soup and a BLT, Becky had escargots for the first time in many moons and a Cajun Chicken Caesar salad.  Of course, we also had a bottle of wine (a Syrah from Argentina).  All were delicious.

We then settled in for an early evening of listening to a satellite radio feed from the Fox News Network.  (Travel days are so tiring.  Remember?)

Since we are now in Alberta, we are now on the far West end of the Mountain Time Zone, and it will be interesting to see how late it will stay light tonight.

Wednesday was an interesting day.  The sun played hide-and-seek all day, but at least it didn't rain.  Yippee!

First we went to Maligne Lake, about 34 miles from our RV park (and still in Jasper National Park).  It is the largest natural lake in the Canadian Rockies.

The lake is a big drawing card for tourists (and mosquitos), but is, frankly, not that interesting.

More exciting was Medicine Lake, nicknamed Mystery Lake, which we passed on the way to Maligne Lake.  It is just beautiful. 

The “mystery” name came from the Indians (the Canadian PC name for whom is "aboriginals"), who couldn’t figure out why the lake virtually disappeared each autumn.  It turns out that the spring snow melt simply overwhelms the ability of the natural passages out of the lake to handle the water flow---thus filling the lake.  In October, the water flow slows substantially and the lake level drops to little more than a narrow creek until the cycle repeats the next spring.

On the way back from Maligne Lake, we stopped at Maligne Canyon, a gorge on the Maligne River (about 20 miles below the lake) which was created during the ice age by water seeping through the granite under the ice cap.  The rushing water flowing through the gorge is quite breathtaking.

After that, we stopped at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, the upper crust hotel in the park.  It‘s a lovely property, nestled between two lakes.  Naturally, we had to stop for a drink in the lobby bar.

This hotel is much like the hotels/lodges run by the same company in Banff and Lake Louise, which we have visited previously.  All of them are much nicer than the ones we have seen in our parks.

This park is known as being a good place for animals because it has far fewer visitors than, say, Banff National Park, which is more well-known.  Today we saw a caribou, a bear, and several elk wandering free.  It was fun. 

We then returned to our site for a relaxed evening of reading and listening to the radio. (Damn, I miss live TV.)

We had breakfast Thursday at Café Mondo in Jasper (I had a Belgian waffle for the first time in at least ten years). 

Becky and Ramsey then hiked back.to our campground through the forest.  On the way, they had a surprising run-in with one of the calving elk that have the run of this place.  It was quite scary Becky told me, since the elk took the protection of her baby very seriously.

We then headed for the Jasper Tramway. It ascends more than 3,000 feet up Mount Whistler, ending at the 7,500 foot level.

It provided a spectacular ride and spectacular views of the valley below.  I’m glad Becky kept from me the little fact that the tram had an accident only 2 years ago that stranded more than 100 people---who were eventually rescued by helicopter.  Knowing that would have made the ride up a little more exciting.

We then settled in for another relaxing evening, looking forward to our move toward Banff on Friday.

Friday we went 182 miles to Golden, British Columbia. We were in national parks the entire way---first in Jasper, then Banff, then Yoho. I’ve run out of superlatives to describe the scenery.  It’s simply breathtaking to drive through the Canadian Rockies.  Most of the way was on “The Icefields Parkway” which is described as the most scenic in the country.  And I can’t disagree, even though I’ve seen only a small part of the country so far.

Golden is a small town (Population:  3,701) with the nearest RV park to the city of Banff---whose RV parks (that we can fit in) are closed for renovation.  We are in the Golden Municipal Campground, right in the center of town.  It’s a nice little place, and we are in a superior site, abutting the Kicking Horse River.  They held their largest site for us, knowing that we had a big rig with a satellite dish on the roof.

Our arrival was stained by a very scary problem---our slideouts would not open---making our rig uninhabitable.  We tried everything to make them move.  I called the manufacturer in Elkhart, Indiana, knowing it was late on a Friday afternoon there.  The fellow tried valiantly to help, but, ultimately turned out to have useless information.  I then called the dealer where we bought the rig. They tried, but, as usual, were no help at all.  And we had a lousy phone connection, to boot.  We asked the clerk at the office for help and, after several attempts, she finally found a car mechanic who had some familiarity with RVs who agreed to stop by when he could.  He arrived about a half hour later and solved the problem within 15 minutes.  It turned out that a remote control (which we never use but which overrides the direct control) had to be reprogrammed before the slideouts would work.  He stumbled into that solution just by dint of his having experience fixing mechanical things.  Great guy.  Our day (weekend?) was saved.

We celebrated with Chinese food that we had delivered, and by watching live television for the first time in three days. Yea! Life is good.

On Saturday, Becky got a haircut, and we walked across the new covered (wooden) pedestrian bridge across the Kicking Horse River.  Pretty interesting bridge, which was constructed in only 48 hours!

Our RV park also arranged for a pig roast for some bicyclists who were staying here.  The roasting pit was right next to our rig, and we were treated to some nice aromas.

And it rained all day.   

Sunday was road-trip day.  Notwithstanding that there was a 90 percent chance of rain in the area, we took a 200-mile round trip to three of our favorite places in this part of the country:  The Banff Springs Hotel, Moraine Lake, and The Chateau Lake Louise.

We first visited The Banff Springs Hotel in 1983 and we stayed there in 1990 when we skiied in the area.  It's still a beautiful, very impressive property, though it's now been expanded a couple of times such that it is now rather complicated and confusing.  It is also quite the tourist draw.  There were a zillion people there.

At Moraine Lake, which we also first (and last) visited in 1983, we were pleased to see that they have now built a nice lodge there, but have not wrecked the atmosphere. It's just lovely.

The Chateau Lake Louise has also been expanded since we were first there in 1983. But it's still beautiful and more open and inviting that the Banff Springs Hotel. (They are both run by the Fairmont Hotel folks, as noted earlier, but, curiously, the Chateau Lake Louise is actually owned by the Ontario Municipal Employees Pension Fund. I don't know who owns the Banff Springs Hotel.)  We had sandwiches in the deli in the Chateau.

The lake is still beautiful. We had been warned that its significant attraction---the Victoria Glacier that looms over one end of it---had disappeared due to (the dreaded) global warming.  In fact, the glacier is still there, and substantially unchanged from what it was in 1888 when the lake was first photographed.

The rain did come, but sporadically, and never got in the way of our enjoyment.  Altogether, it was a terrific day.

Monday was a travel day, heading for Kimberley, British Columbia, 160 miles away. Just before we left, we noticed that one of the tires on our rig was flat. We had the office do their thing again, this time to find us a tire repair person. An hour and a half later, we hit the road with a new tire. The speculation was that the old tire had a weird wear pattern that caused a slight tread separation that, in turn, caused the flat. The tread wear also made it legally unsafe to put the tire back on the rig---so the dealer could not remount the tire even if he could repair it, which he couldn’t, anyway. The drive to Kimberley, a small (Population: 6,700) former mining town, was uneventful, except for the occasional rain (OK, downpour), as we drove through mostly agricultural country getting there.
When we got to the Kimberley Riverside Campground (very nice, by the way) we noticed that the new tire was flat. A call to the place that installed it ended up with a promise from its affiliate in nearby Cranbrook to send someone to replace the tire this afternoon. Before the man arrived, the occasional rain turned to serious hail, thunder, and lightning. Then it all stopped as quickly as it had started. Nathan arrived, took off the new tire, inspected it, the wheel, and the valve, and determined that the problem was probably with the valve, but in any event he was going to install the new tire he had brought with him, just in case (and because he determined that the tire I had bought this morning was not exactly the right size). He replaced the tire and the valve, and remounted the wheel. Suddenly, he heard a hissing sound. It turned out that the wheel had a tiny (almost invisible) crack in it that was releasing air, and that the crack had been the problem all along. He blamed missing that crack on the shop in Golden. He then installed the spare tire (which did not have a wheel that matched its mate) and took both the old (new) tire and the new (new) tire and the wheel back to the shop until we figure out where to get a new (matching) wheel. Whew! What a day. Tomorrow will be busy sorting all of this out. I‘m sure it will not be cheap.

At least, we are in a terrific site in a terrific RV park, and the rain has stopped.

A call to the trailer factory on Tuesday revealed that a new wheel had to be ordered from the wheel manufacturer, which could take a couple of weeks. I arranged for the order, with the understanding that the factory would call me when it arrived---for delivery instructions. I then arranged with the local tire people to mount---on Wednesday, on our way to Coeur d’Alene---the new (new) tire on the cheapest wheel he could find, and we would use that package as a spare until we got the new matching wheel.

Then the rain started again, and we spent the rest of the day relaxing, after a quick trip to a hardware store in Kimberley (there being nothing of interest there except the big local attraction, an underground mining train).

Monday, June 4, through Thursday, June 14, 2012: Drowning in Washington:

Monday called for a 183-mile trip to Easton, Washington.  We finally left US 395 and headed for the Interstate (I-90).

It drizzled all the way, and was a bit of a nailbiter because of all the steep downhill grades on wet pavement.  But we arrived without incident at the Lake Easton RV Resort, a tree-filled, old-time RV park located between the highway and the lake.  The people are very nice, and we will be just fine.

Late Monday afternoon, we were joined by Tom and Terry Walsh, former Xanterra folks from the South Rim. 

Tom now teaches at the local high school and Terry works at the post office just a few blocks from our RV park.  We went from cocktails at our trailer to dinner across the highway at the Parkside Cafe, a local-favorite diner.  It was fun catching up with the Walshes.  By chance, it turns out they are leaving in two weeks for Glenns Ferry, Idaho, and a new school for Tom.

Tuesday we went to the Suncadia Resort in nearby Cle Elum (an Indian term meaning "swift water").  It's a 6,400-acre real estate development, very reminiscent of Sunriver, Oregon, which, it turns out, was developed by the same company.  The main Lodge is magnificent. 

There is a winery (named, appropriately, Swiftwater Cellars) located on the site of an old coal mine on the resort property, and we had lunch (delicious mussels), and, afterwards, a wine-tasting there.  (Becky told me to mention that the girl pouring the wine was very knowledgeable and, incidentally, very cute.)

It has been drizzling ever since we arrived in Easton, and promises to continue throughout the week.  Yippee!

Wednesday involved a trip of only 83 miles to our new park---the Thunderbird Resort (a Thousand Trails preserve) in Monroe, Washington.  The bad weather broke for a while, but returned a little later.  The exciting part of the trip was going through the Snoqualmie Pass.  It’s a dramatic pass filled with granite cliffs, waterfalls, and steep descents.  Just beautiful.  The RV park is divided into two parts---one with sewers and one without sewers.  We opted for the section without sewers because that’s where the trees aren’t. (We settled there to solve the satellite dish problem, of course.)  It’s also less congested where we are.  We are sited between the road and the Skykomish River. It‘s actually quite picturesque.

Wednesday afternoon, while Becky got her hair cut, I had our truck checked for unusual tire wear.  No surprise---we scheduled a bunch of front-end work for next Tuesday (subsequently changed to Monday).

Thursday was devoted to avoiding the rain.  I got in a lot of reading.  Thursday evening, Becky went to nearby Woodinville, to see Shirley Schumacher,



an old friend from her days with the Organization of Women Executives, who lives in Bellevue.

Friday was a mixed day:  Late morning at the dentist for a regular cleaning (I need to return on Monday for a little more work), lunch in the early afternoon at the Benjarong Thai Restaurant (delicious cashew chicken), a stop at Albertson's to reload our wine supply, and the rest of the day dodging the pretty consistent rain.

Saturday, we headed to Kirkland to visit Dave and Linda Mangone, who moved to the Seattle area seven years ago.  (Dave was an LA Junior Chamber of Commerce friend of Becky's from many years ago.  Becky and Dave actually dated a little.  He and Linda have been married for 19 years.) 

We first took a (very cold) sightseeing cruise of Lake Washington, then had a magnificent dinner at Wild Ginger, an Asian Fusion restaurant in Bellevue.  We had a great time with the Mangones.

We returned home to "rescue" Ramsey, who had spent the past eight hours in his crate.  It was the longest we had ever left him in it.  It turned out that he was just fine, and plainly happy to see us.

Sunday morning we woke to sunshine for the first time in Washington. 

We'll see how long it lasts.  (As it turned out, it lasted just long enough for me to repaint the wooden block that holds our kitchen knives; over the years it has become unsightly.)  The rest of Sunday was calm, and wet.

Monday morning, we dropped off the truck at Dick's Tire Haus

and picked up a rental car at the local Enterprise outlet.  The plan was to drop off the rental car and pick up the truck at 8:00 Tuesday morning.  In the early afternoon, we again crated Ramsey and headed for Seattle to meet our niece, Katelyn Kuwata.  The weather was glorious,

so we did a bit of sightseeing after joining her at her apartment on Queen Anne Hill, and then repaired to Ray's Boathouse (on the edge of Puget Sound) for an early dinner.  Quite nice.  Our niece looks like she's enjoying living in Seattle. 

We then headed out of Seattle during rush hour.  Big mistake.  We went 'round and 'round to avoid traffic jams, and finally got out.  It was harrowing, especially since our GPS kept sending us to streets that had been closed to accommodate new highway construction.

Tuesday morning we dropped off the rental car early, only to discover that the work on the truck had not been finished as promised.  We returned to Enterprise to pick up another car

(after authorizing more work on the truck---finally, new brakes after driving 200,000 miles on the original ones).

We visited the Chateau St. Michelle Winery in Woodinville.  It's a magnificent setting.

Then we stopped at Trader Joe's and Costco for more supplies (OK, more wine), and, when the truck was finally finished at 5:00 PM, returned the rental car and returned home.  Whew!  Even though it drizzled all day, it was a pleasant, productive day.

Wednesday, we headed farther North, 102 miles to Blaine, Washington.  Again, it rained all the way, but it was a no-brainer, mostly on I-5.  We are staying in the Birch Bay Thousand Trails Preserve.  It's a nice place, though surprisingly empty, considering that it is June.  We had our choice of nice, wide sites with plenty of satellite access.

On the way there, I received a surprise phone call from Dennis Dexter, a long-time friend from my UCLA days, who lives in Denver with his delightful wife, Jackie.  We last saw them last year when we passed through Denver.  It was fun catching up with him.

One of the things we had done to correct the front end problems with the truck was to add airbags to the rear axle to level the truck when the trailer is connected. We should have done it in March, 2011, when we bought the new, heavier trailer. On the trip to Blaine, I realized that the difference is very noticeable. I’m glad we finally did it.

The last day in Washington (Thursday) was spent running errands. I got a haircut. We stopped at Union Bank to pick up some Canadian dollars. We had new truck and trailer keys made to replace the complete set I had lost sometime between Saturday and Sunday. We got a new truck-key fob.

I stopped at the local True Value hardware store (twice) to buy parts to speed up the water delivery to our toilet; and installed the new parts. We bought a new gizmo to support our sewer drain line when we‘re in an RV park. We had lunch at Burger King. We had the oil changed on the truck. (Later, the lube place called to say they had forgotten to reinstall the plug on our differential after checking its oil level. The owner had to drive 20 miles to our RV park to replace the plug.) Finally, I realized I had left my new prescription sunglasses somewhere. We had a Little Caesar’s pizza for dinner. After the day we had, it was delicious.

Our stay in Washington had come to an end.