PARTY WITH JIM

We left the land of Integras, Allegro Buses, and Dutch Stars this morning and headed to Coeur d' Alene. We only had to drive about an hour to arrive at the Tamarack RV Park. It's as different as night and day! It's an okay park, but it's right on the highway and a culture shock for all of us. After 5 days of peace and quiet, this place is noisy and very busy. The dog park (which is really just the lawn out in the front of the park) had a gazillion doggies out there tonight. Crazy! We are only staying  for two nights, but the people we have met here are very nice.

Today was Jim's birthday. Thank you to all the people who called, sent videos, and texted him birthday wishes. It's hard being away from home on your birthday, but all of you made it a very special day for him.

Gianni and I dressed up this evening to have our picture taken with Jim. The Kathies painted special scarves for his birthday.
I think we look very happy, and so does Jim.

OVER THE BORDER

This is our last day here in Blanchard, so there was a little more activity with my humans!  First up was a morning bike ride all around the Resort. Kathe wanted to show them the lakeside homes that she saw yesterday when Jim and Warren were napping. They also checked out the Activity Center that had a huge indoor swimming pool. I'm sure that's very popular in the winter when there is four feet of snow here. The bike/walking path goes all around the perimeter of the Resort and there are great views of the surrounding mountains. There are these little bird houses along the path. Interesting, because there are hardly any birds here at all. I saw one quail, and a couple of robins, that's it.

This afternoon they all piled into the car again for an adventure into the town of Newport, Washington. It was only about 30 minutes away, right over the Idaho border. It was a good size town with a great historical museum. Lots of cool old stuff. There was a hunters cabin, pioneer cabin, church, school, fire  lookout tower and a caboose that you could investigate.

Lots of old logging equipment, washing machines, and a collection of blow torches were of interest to my guys! They had lunch in a restaurant that was built before the town had electricity, and explored a couple of antique shops in town.

Tomorrow it's off to Coeur d Alene for a two night stay. It's only 30 minutes away, so we will be there in plenty of time to celebrate Jim's birthday. 

ZZZZZZZ

Okay, I think we have seen it and or done it all here in Blanchard, Idaho. Today I kept trying to get these people to do something today, anything! If they don't do anything, I have nothing to report.

I've been napping all day. This afternoon Jim was napping, Warren was napping, and Kathy T. was trying to get her work done all day, but the internet wasn't cooperating. My Kathe got so frustrated after sitting in the lounge chair reading all day that she took the car keys and drove to the lake for a picture. Jim didn't even realize she was gone!

At about 5:00 the Kathies went to the pool with some cocktails and noodled around for about an hour.  They had the pool all to themselves before they were told that the pool would be closed for the next two days. Seems some people were in the pool yesterday in street clothes and now the pool water has phosphates and has to be drained.

There is some talk about a bike ride tomorrow, Kathe wants to show them the Lake but we will see...   

FOURTH OF JULY

Today started off with a golf cart parade. All of the owners in the Motor Coach Village decorated their golf carts and drove around the park throwing candy and wishing everyone a happy fourth of July. I wish that we had rented a golf cart because all the dogs riding in them looked like they were having such a good time. Gianni and Lady Bella wore 4th of July scarves and the Kathies were wearing funny hats. All of the humans in the Resort were wearing red, white, and blue today. Many of the motor  homes were decorated as well.

The weather here has been cooling off, so today was a good day for a bike ride. Everyone has an electric bike and this was the perfect place to ride. They have several nice walking paths and bike paths here so they rode all around the Resort.

Tonight Warren made barbecued ribs and potato salad and Kathe cooked the corn on the cob and made a beautiful cherry pie. What a feast! Of course it goes without saying that us doggies didn't get any of that!

It's starting to get dark so I better get under the bed before the fireworks start. I hate fireworks! 

NOTHING MUCH

This is a really nice Resort. The people and the doggies here are all very friendly, but there is NOTHING to do here! I mean NOTHING! I went to the giant dog park a couple of times, and walked around the park, but there is no wildlife to chase, nothing much to see, only a couple of birds that stare at me like they never saw a dog before. We are in the middle of no where! All we do is sit on the patio and watch the golf carts go by. I tried to get Kathe to rent me a golf cart just for something to do, but no dice!

Today they drove 40 minutes to the Farmers Market in Athol, just for something to do. They brought home a jar of apple caramel, some tomatoes and goat cheese. It was really more of a Crafts Market than a Farmers Market, but at least it got them out of the coach for a little while. The store closest to Blanchard has an ACE hardware on one side and a supermarket on the other. Jim went left and Kathe went right. It was the only game in town, but at least we won't starve.

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July and there will be a celebration here in the Resort. A Golf Cart Parade is scheduled for 10:00 AM and all the residents are busy decorating tonight.    

THE HIGH LIFE

We are in Blanchard, Idaho tonight and we will be here for five nights. The Resort is called Stoneridge, and it's huge! We happen to be in the Motorcoach Village, but there's a golf course here, large single family homes, condos, and townhomes as well. You need a GPS just to find the dog park. We have a landscaped class "A" site with a patio and outdoor furniture. It's a whole lot different than where we were last night. 

Our drive today was a long one, through Idaho and past millions of acres of amber waves of grain. The area outside of Lewiston is the largest wheat producing area in the nation. Lots of rolling hills and beautiful scenery. We did have to drive through Spokane, Washington on a busy freeway to get here. That was a little scary after being out of the city for so long, we're out of practice. 

This is a picture of our backyard at the Resort. After our 6 days without full hook-ups everyone is cleaning house and washing clothes tonight. All that washing activity usually means that I'm next. They forgot to wash me, guess it's my turn tomorrow.

WILD LIFE

Boy, oh boy did we have a scary night. Thunder and lightning all across the sky, all night long, and winds strong enough to send leaves and small tree branches everywhere. No rain, but Kathe and Jim were worried that lightning might strike something and cause a wild fire. This morning, it was just a memory and a mess for the Rangers to clean up.

We are leaving this State Park tomorrow and all of us really enjoyed our stay here. There are so many big and varied trees here, Maple, Ginkgo, Ponderosa Pine and even Mulberry. 

There are large grassy areas and meadows and you can always see some kind of wildlife if you look hard enough. Besides the usual chipmunk, squirrel, and raven, I've seen wild turkey families, ospreys, flocks of geese and mule deer on my walks around our camping loop.

And don't forget about the Snake River, just behind our campsite where we see boats, jet skis and all kinds of wild humans in the water!