Next Camping Stop, Riley Creek, ID

Why am I always the one to see the snake!? It slithered right in front of me on the bridge entrance to Coldwater Creek. Just a water snake (Cal's verdict).

Off we went on Memorial Day weekend without a reservation. Everyone said no, you won't find a campsite, but we did. After driving halfway through this gorgeous campground with "Reserved" signs on every campsite, we spotted one that didn't have a card on it and whipped in - well, whipped may be too strong a word, but we grabbed it fast. Close to restrooms with showers and full electric and water - wow! Never knew there was such a thing - we're old tent campers.

This is Riley Creek campground 13 miles west of Sandpoint, ID on the PendOreille River. Sites are private and shady, with room for a trailer and a couple of tents. Another Corp of Engineers site, it has been completely updated except for work being done on the restrooms. Two were closed so there was the one close to us and lots of porta-potties.

Boat Launch, fabulous grassy picnic areas, even a "dog island" for pets to run. A swimming area and amphi-theater too. Again, very nice campground hosts from Florida who kept everything spotlessly clean and got loud music turned down at bedtime!

We relaxed in total comfort in our new "tab" trailer and everyone came by for a tour. We met so many nice people. A lot of couples our age were really interested in the size and light weight of our trailer. We used the heat pump for the first time, both cooling and heating - amazing! Fabulous meals, lots of rest and great walks. We saw 4 and 5 lb. bass lolling along the rocky shoreline. Some fisherman caught some of them. Also saw eagles and deer.

On my day, we went shopping and had lunch in Sandpoint, then drove north to Bonner's Ferry - what scenery - to the Kootnai River Inn and Casino to try our luck. It was a great afternoon, but we were glad to see the Flamingo Flyer gleaming in the campground.

I THINK this is mountain lupine 

Bridge Over Sand Creek - Home of Coldwater Creek Womens Apparel  

Old Sandpoint, ID train Station 

Riley Lumber Co. Head Office at LaClede 

OF course, our campsite at Riley Creek! 

Pend Oreille River 

More Wild Roses 

Where Eagles Fly - Pend Oreille River, Idaho 

Riley Creek 

Help on pictures

Here's help on downloading pictures to your blog
http://www.blogger.com/knowledge/2004/05/hello-photoblogging.pyra

Could gold be here? Little Stream - Albeni Cove 

Me on Bridge - Albeni Cove Campground 

Wild Rose 

Campsite 6 for 4th of July 

Butterfly Albeni COve 

Rainbow on the Way 

Albeni Cove Campground - a winner!

Well, we found a winner in this campground!

We arrived just at dark due to poor directions, but it was worth the search.
For anyone who wants to try this Corp of Engineers campground, just take Hwy. 2 out of Spokane, WA. thru Newport, WA. Right beyond is Oldtown, ID. Turn right at Hwy 41 and take a left at the Albeni Cove sign. A big Safeway is on the corner where you turn.

The campground is totally updated, complete with brand new fancy grills for your campfire. Sites are all beautiful, not a loser in the bunch, some tent, some Travel Trailer and RV. No hookups, but a nice restroom with showers (!) and drinking fountains and water everywhere. Friendly campground hosts from Texas while we were there.

This beautiful campground sits on the shores of the PendOrielle (say Pon-de-ray) River in northern Idaho. The river is low right now but the campground host told us water will be released June 24th for the summer recreation period. Albeni Falls Dam is nearby and once in awhile you can hear it hum - not an unpleasant sound. GO view it from the opposite side of the river from a beautifully landscaped interpretive park.
If you go, have fun!

Hawk Creek Campground, Lake Roosevelt, Washington

Setup was super-easy with our new trailer, in fact it was fun. Not much resemblance to our one camping outing last year when we couldn't get our new tent up before dark and were being eaten alive by voracious mosquitoes.

We just pulled in our spot, unlocked the trailer door and Cal started cooking - how about that! Dinner was fresh green beans, new potatoes and sausage. And carrot cake with coffee - doesn't get any better than that!

The campground itself is small, 20 sites, dry, somewhat shaded and pleasant. This early in the year there were no mosquitoes and only a couple yellowjackets.

A bonus of this campground that no one mentioned is that is has a waterfall, complete with fishing hole at the bottom! Don't expect drinking water - the pump didn't have a handle on it. But the campground was well-maintained and the vault toilets were not unpleasant to use. Large and clean with little or no odor. There is no electricity, so charge your batteries, even for your DVD player.

The creek was extremely low due to (someone told us) our low water table this year, but also they are using the water for the salmon run. But it was still beautiful and full of feeding Canadian geese. Of course someone had to let their dog run loose down by the geese and scare them - we even saw a family of geese with very small goslings. We saw a deer and a snake in the road down by the (high and dry) boat launch. Our neighbors caught several trout by going around the trail over the hill to a lake. Next time we'll take sandwiches and water and do that. That's it for now - highly recommend Hawk Creek, we even saw some hawks! Sleeping is good there - no ATV's allowed.

Our first supper at the campground 

We began our first shake-down cruise on Friday afternoon, May 6th. I rushed home from work and Cal had things well in hand - we checked our list. loaded in our clothes and food, and off we went to Hawk Creek Campground in the Lake Roosevelt area. 

Peach Cemetery, Lincoln, WA with Lake Roosevelt in the background. 

This is Peach Cemetery, unfortunately full of children's graves from 1889-1902. It is in Lincoln, WA on the banks of Lake Roosevelt. We thought if we lived there in those years we would take our children if we had to walk out of that place! But who knows what happened? We are thinking typhoid fever. Someday I'm going to research it. 

The Chef reviewing his kitchen - Hawk Creek Campground near Lake Roosevelt, WA 

Leaving Cheney RV on the road to adventure! 

The Flying Flamingo Going Home 

Going-to-the-Sun Highway, Glacier, Montana

This is my favorite photo from our 2003 vacation to Glacier National Park - there is beauty everywhere - all green and blue vistas and gorgeous scenery everywhere you look. We traveled with my sister and brother-in-law - he was thrilled to see a meadow full of deer but we were almost eaten alive by mosquitoes any time we got out of the car to get a closer look - worth it though!
A happy summer adventure.
Cal and I in Montana

Camping Washington in the Flamingo Flyer

It all started on one rainy afternoon in April - Cal's back was finally feeling better and he had been researching travel trailers. I knew he really liked this one when he tore an ad out and called Cheney RV to see if they had some.

When we walked into the showroom I could tell he was in love - and it is very cute. I could tell he was all excited about it - as a conservative, quiet guy he never goes overboard, but he liked this trailer! He said "We haven't done anything crazy since I retired, and Presto! We have the FF parked between the garages in our back yard!


Well, here we are on the day of our first camping trip in our new teardrop travel trailer, the Flamingo Flyer. My husband and I are both in our early 60's and have always loved getting into the outdoors, first with our children and then later on our own, which we found was not nearly as much fun as with our kids!
He is retired and I am the owner of a small business, so our getaways will be weekends and holidays for now.

As I packed the old faithful campstove coffeepot, I recalled the many times we had used it, from the King Tut exhibit in Seattle when we had nothing but trouble with our old green International TravelAll (a misnomer if there ever was one - it refused to go up hills due to a cranky carburator) to wonderful camping trips to small lakes and streams.

The "FF" as I will refer to it, is a retro teardrop design with a Jolt Grey hull, made by Thor, the maker of Airstream trailers. It is amazingly cute, with a neat interior done in Chiclet Blue and a great galley under the hatch in the back.

Our new instructions say not to load it with more than 500 lbs. I told Cal we have 500 lbs. in Tupperware alone!

So....I pulled out my old camping list on yellow paper, which if I do say so myself is legendary in our family for it's completeness. It has been added to over the years with things we forgot to put on the list which would make us more comfortable - as if the "C" in camping stands for comfort! I think we can skip the Snicker bars, or maybe not. They have been used to bet in card games!

Already my SUV is packed with things for every scenario, I think we should be comfortable, if not the laughing-stock of the entire campground! Usually I use it to work in and make my deliveries, but it looks a little overloaded this AM so I'm taking the smaller car to work.

We have so much food for the two of us I'm afraid all we will be able to do is lie on our groovy new foldout bed and belch!

RECALLING the fateful Leavenworth trip where I was so cold I cried, we tried to get the furnace going last night to test it but Cal thought the battery was too low. I think it has an electric ignitor.