Thursday, August 31, 2017

2017 - Blog #5 - Portland to Glacier



We finally got to a place where we can “slow down” and “catch up” a bit.   We realize that we have so much that we want to share that we need to make two separate blogs – one for “Portland to Glacier” and one for “In Glacier National Park.”   So this is the first of the two blogs and hopefully the second blog will follow shortly after.
When we got to Reeder Beach in Portland, we found out that there had been a miscommunication in our telephone reservations.   To our dismay, they had us leaving on a Saturday and the departure date couldn’t be changed.   Trying to find a campground on a Saturday, especially in the Pacific coast area in the summer,  is near impossible but we felt pretty sure we could still get in to a little city park near Mt. Saint Helen that we had stayed in last year.   It had just reopened last year and not many people seemed to know about it.   Unfortunately, it has been “found” and someone took the last spot minutes before we got there!    Battling with poor to no phone reception, we called everywhere for miles around trying to find a campground without any luck.   Finally, Silver Cove RV Park returned our call and we ended up turning around and driving back 30 minutes, to near where we had been, to get a spot for the night.  The tip here for fellow campers is to double check your reservations carefully when you make them and this day in age, have reservations ahead every time you possibly can!
Our next stop (where we DID have reservations!) was in Indian Creek campground, at Rimrock Lake, just outside of Mt. Rainier National Park. 
  Just as we were backing into our campsite, we both noticed that one of our trailer tires seemed low on air.   Well, it wasn’t just low on air, it had been punctured (probably from the road construction we just drove through) and was going flat very quickly!   Jeanie keeps saying that for some reason we are blessed and even Jerome agreed this time because just as we were setting up at our campsite and trying to figure out the best way to work on the tire, our camp hosts drove up to meet us.   After hearing our plight, they offered us the empty second host site - which had an electrical outlet.     Yeaaaaa….. not only did we have electricity to run the compressor to fix the tire but we also could run the A/C (it was 94 degrees outside) and run the sewing machine to work on various projects.     As it turned out, even two tire plugs weren’t enough and we had to drive 45 miles into the nearest town to get a new tire!  
   We really liked this campground and had a great time visiting with Dale and Annie, the camp hosts, especially around their campfires at night.  
Jeannie fixed Annie, the camp host's favorite chair and even added an extra touch just for fun
Paul and Susan, fun fellow campers who taught us some phone camera tricks

The smoke from the Canadian forest fires continued to linger and was actually to our advantage here because the air force flies F-16 fighter jets several times a day, quite low, over this campground and they only were able to fly over once while we were there.  It was a neat experience, but we were glad it was only once!   Elk sometimes walked through our campground and at night we walked down to the lakefront to watch them.  In fact, one evening we watched a grazing mom with her two little ones racing around her and playing with each other.  It was quite the sight!

From Indian Creek, we drove to Grand Coulee, Washington.   Driving into the rocky mountain terrain on the way to Grand Coulee Dam was just beautiful.   Again, we had no reservations anywhere and considered ourselves lucky to find a campsite in the walk-in only area of the Spring Canyon National Recreation Area next to the dam.  
  We paid for 3 nights here but ended up forfeiting the last 2 nights, driving only 2 miles back into town to King’s Court RV Park, and paid a lot more to escape the nightmare of staying at Spring Canyon.   In Spring Canyon there were signs multiple places telling campers not to put their tents on the grass on the inner circle sites and even certain sites as RV only sites due to lawn watering schedules.   Well, two families, consisting of 4 adults and 9 children should have been wearing “Here’s Your Sign” on their foreheads.    They either didn’t read the signs or didn’t think they pertained to themselves.   They picked the two campsites on either side of ours and proceeded to set up their three humongous tents on the grass on both sides of us, sandwiching us in between.   They took over our campsite as well, as if we weren’t there, yelling to each other and running across the middle of our campsite just feet away from us and even between Jean and Carly (who was on her leash)!   Jean thought we should point out about the signs but Jerome said that we should not interfere and spoil their impending surprise.   They also ignored the 10pm quiet time, so we thought it was hysterical that at 11:30pm just as they were settling down and going to bed, the water sprinkling system turned on all around and under their tents!   By the time they figured out what was going on, they were sloshing around in their tents in ankle deep water.   Jerome was laughing so hard that Jean had to remind him not to let them hear him laughing because they were so mad that they might even misdirect their anger at us at that point.   We even heard them angrily say “I wish someone would have told us (about the water sprinklers).”  Like we said….. “Here’s your sign.”   Needless to say, between that 2 ½ hr fiasco and no electricity for A/C with 99 degree heat, we didn’t get much sleep that night.    Once we got to King’s Court RV Park though, we had A/C, TV, a laundromat next door, and we were just minutes from the Grand Coulee Dam.    We took the free tour of the dam and that evening we returned to watch the free light show on the face of the dam. 


We were surprised to find out that Grand Coulee Dam is actually bigger than Hoover Dam but Hoover Dam is taller which gives it the illusion of being bigger.   The owners of King’s Court recommended The Melody restaurant for dinner and we agree with them.  If you’re ever in this area, it’s a great place to eat.
We originally had planned on stopping next at a national forest in Montana, but with the high heat temperatures that we had been experiencing, we opted to find a campground with electricity again.   Paula, one of Jean’s co-workers at the Free Clinic, grew up in Sandpoint, Idaho and had told her how beautiful it is there.   Since we were passing through Sandpoint on the way to Glacier, we decided to stop here and check it out.   We were able to get a campsite at the Bonner County Fairgrounds just outside of town.   We really lucked out here because the fair had just ended that morning and everyone was leaving by the time we got there.   Trains passed nearby but weren’t annoying and it was a nice and peaceful place to spend 2 nights.   We drove up to the huge ski lodge nearby but got there too late in the day to ride the lift and hike down, plus we forgot our jackets and it was really cold up there. 
  That evening, as we were walking down an alley in town, looking for a place to eat dinner, we met  a local resident who recommended Eickerdt’s Pub and Grill.  We entered through the side door which was in the alley and wondered what we had gotten ourselves in to.  It looked like a pub straight out of the 60’s with 60’s music playing too.   Boy were we glad that we took her advice and trusted her judgement.  We both agreed that we had the best Chicken Marsala that we have ever had.
From Sandpoint, we drove to our next “destination point”…. Fish Creek Campground near Apgar, Montana, in the western side of Glacier National Park.    Our following blog will be about the beautiful Glacier National Park – the west side as well as the east.   We have fun sharing our adventures with you and hope you have fun following them with us.  Thanks for taking the time to read our blogs!  
Jerome and Jean

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