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08-13-2014 Four Days in Kaslo

Current Location: Home in Rocky Point Oregon

I spent a lot of time reviewing the few options for RV parks in the vicinity of Kaslo before we made our reservation. I know that reviews are not always accurate, but if there are bad reviews, I try to check for the date and then see if the good reviews are a response to the bad ones. Sometimes it is fairly clear that the park owners or managers have tried to offset the negativity.

In this case, I decided to ignore the few bad remarks about the Municipal Park and pay attention the bad remarks about some of the other places. Turns out I made a good choice. I wanted hookups, and what I didn’t learn from the reviews is that anything more than 15 amp power is rarely available. The Kaslo Municipal Campground had just three sites with 30 amp power, so I was extremely glad that I had made a reservation.

When we arrived, there were a couple of other rigs in line, and as I walked up to the crowd of people, the manager said, “Excuse me, but I need to attend to Sue here before I check you in because she has a reservation”. She knew who I was from our rig! Pretty nice. Then she gave me a choice. We could take the nice shady site on the hill, not very level, and with 15 amp power, or we could take the crowded sunny (hot) site with a sliver of lake view next to the park and 15 amp power until the next day when we would get the 30 amp post.

I was all for the shade, but Mo opted for the 30 amp. Either way, our first night was going to be a hot one. Once again, we put the fridge on gas only and didn’t even bother trying to turn on the air. The fan had to be enough and with the temps a hot and somewhat humid (for the west) 90 degrees F we waited for a breeze.

Nice thing about our site, however is that it backed up to the park, with just a few hundred yards to a spot where we could launch the kayaks. With fairly strong winds on the lake, we didn’t unload them the first night, deciding to wait for better weather the next morning. Instead we had supper before taking a lovely stroll along the lake and up toward the sweet little town of Kaslo.

It still had the charm that I remembered, but just a bit more so, with many eateries, little shops, and the beautiful Kaslo Hotel right above the shoreline and the marina. Even with the smoky skies, the surrounding mountains were magnificent.

My favorite moment, however, was spying these two ladies in their rigs visiting along the park in front of their lovely retirement home. If it weren’t for winter, this might be a really nice place to spend your last days.

The next day we launched the kayaks, in spite of the strong breezes and managed a few miles south of town along the shore, and then back north and into Kaslo Bay. The water was deep and clear, but the beaches near the campground are made up of large rocks, making for some gingerly walking to get the boats in and out of the water.

On another day we decided to explore the road north toward Duncan Lake, and took the long dirt road to the towns of Argenta and Johnsons Landing. We read about these two historic places in the Kaslo travel guide and Mo loves old small historic towns, so 30 miles or so round trip on a dirt road seemed worth it. To our surprise, Johnson’s Landing is completely locked up and private, and we didn’t drive as far as the world famous trailhead at the entrance to Fry Canyon. There are a LOT of day hikes and longer hikes in the Kaslo area.

Someday, when Abby doesn’t need to be pampered with short walks, we may come back and hike the canyon, but on this day we knew long hikes were not on the agenda. Abby is doing well, but long hikes are out of the question.

On a bit more sober note, I took several photos of what looked to me like a glacial outburst type of landform, adjacent to the lake near Johnson’s Landing. Nowhere did I find information about this until today, researching links for this blog, when I found the story of the devastating Johnson’s Landing Landslide of 2012. (link here) It is somewhat disturbing to me that I could blithely drive around this area, that I could talk to people in Kaslo about being there and going there, and not one local person mentioned this tragedy. Just for perspective, here is another ( link ) to what we read about Argenta and Johnson’s Landing from the BC tourism website. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

We did finally find something to look at in the community of Argenta, where the travel guide said “there are many self sufficient types located here.” I imagined hunters and fishermen, but instead we found huge organic gardens and lovely tanned men in colorful sarongs and young women with beautiful hair driving older SUV’s. Not many mind you, but enough to realize that this area was an enclave to hippies in the best sense of what that word can mean.

Today, while researching this post, I found this rather fascinating story about Argenta that wasn’t in the Kaslo Visitor Guide. Seems as though a group of California Quakers established the community, building the Argenta Friends School where they taught homesteading skills and welcomed draft dodgers. The school was closed but the nature of the community has remained intact. Peace loving, simple living Quakers and peace loving, simple living hippies have a lot in common.

north of Kaslo (18 of 46) We drove north toward the Duncan Dam, found the beautiful overlook and gorgeous lake, and then traveled north even further to the tiny hamlet of Howser.

There is a lovely Provincial campground at the end of the road, and we were really sorry we hadn’t put the kayaks back on the car after our day on the water at the bigger and windier Kootenay Lake. I took photos of campsites where the MoHo could fit, with only a couple of miles of dirt road to navigate. I am sure we will return to this place. Both of us loved Duncan Lake more than Kootenay Lake: it was far more remote and protected with the glassy water kind of kayaking and bird life that we love.

We also checked out the two Provincial campgrounds right on Kootenay Lake just a few miles north of Kaslo. Both Davis Creek and Lost Ledge campgrounds are on the water with beautiful views. No hookups and no reservations, but there were spaces available on the day we visited, so we do hope to someday return and camp. We decided a few days of boondocking would be interspersed with a day or two at the Municipal Campground where we could charge up and dump before going back to the north.

A nice advantage of returning to Kaslo was the delightful outdoor eatery, boasting gluten free sourdough bread, and non GMO foods. Healthy alternative lifestyles are the norm in this part of British Columbia and it was so refreshing. Of course, I had a Rueben hot dog, not very healthy or gluten free, but oh so yummy! They had home made ice cream there as well, but we never managed a return visit.

Kootenai Lake and Kaslo (54 of 71) Our last day turned out to be cooler and rainy, and we just took some time to relax, go for town walks, and in the afternoon Mo drove me 12 miles or so back south along Highway 31 to Ainsworth Hot Springs, high on my list of todo’s in this area. Mo didn’t want to leave Abby for an extended time, so while I went to the springs, she explored the lakeshore toward Balfour and found a gorgeous beach with beautiful water and sand where Abby played and swam. Mo said she even swam all on her own just for fun without Mo having to throw something to encourage her.

(I took no camera or phone to the springs, so these photos are from the internet)

I spent two glorious hours, for the paltry sum of $11.00 Canadian, soaking in the hot odor free mineral waters that have made Ainsworth famous. The springs are no longer in their natural state, but the water is wonderful, and in the big pool the exchange rate is about 6 times per day. I was glad it wasn’t a weekend, but the place was quite crowded with kids and people, mostly Canadians, but I heard many different languages being spoken. French, of course, but also Russian and I heard a woman with a beautiful accent from South Africa.

It was fun being there alone, and I didn’t engage much, but listened to the Canadians talking about their country and their towns. Especially interesting were the conversations about Calgary becoming way too big with crime coming into the neighborhoods and Lethbridge being a gorgeous place to live with a wonderful university. I do love my country, I wouldn’t choose any other, but I did find myself unwilling to give away my US accent. I felt like a true foreigner in a foreign land. Don’t let the similarities fool you, Canada is NOT the USA.

ainsworth_caves2 The best part about Ainsworth Hot Springs are the caves. They are shaped like a big horseshoe, and the water is about waist deep and the temps were 104F on the day I visited. You enter the cave, and then walk through into the dark hot steamy interior. Part way in a very hot waterfall provides a great neck massage if you can stand it and by the time you reach the other end of the horseshoe you are ready for some cool air! The cave ends in another hot pool, and adjacent to that is the ice plunge pool. On this hot day, the ice plunge was a balmy 49 degrees F, but after the heat and steam it was still enough of a shock to get your blood tingling. The ice pool also has a waterfall that is a bit harder to stand under than the hot one.

After a few rounds through the cave and the ice plunge, I would go back to the main pool and eavesdrop on all sorts of nearby conversations. When Mo returned two hours later to pick me up I was limp as a dishrag. Once again, don’t pay attention to the negative reviews. Ainsworth is a treasure to enjoy for exactly what it is. Not fancy, not natural, but a special place.

There is so much to see in the area, great art galleries and some small museums in Kaslo, including the beautiful sternwheeler the Moyie, but on this trip even three full days and half another didn’t give us enough time to enjoy all of it. The S.S. Moyie is the world’s oldest intact passenger sternwheeler and has been lovingly restored in the last few years. It represents a great era of the history of Kootenay Lake and Kaslo. I loved hearing the loud steam horn blow in the afternoons.

Kootenay Lake kayak (27 of 27) It was with a bit of melancholy that we left on Thursday morning. But there was something very special waiting for me back in Klamath Falls on the coming weekend and I wasn’t about to miss it. We knew our time wouldn’t be long enough but it was OK. We saw enough to know that this is a place we will return without question. It is under 1,000 miles from home and best of all, it isn’t at all crowded! After being in the Canadian National Parks of Banff and Jasper when it felt like a crazy zoo, it was so refreshing to enjoy the beautiful Canadian Rockies in such peace.

If you are interested in ALL the photos, they are here in my SmugMug trip gallery:

Next: the Long Way Home

08-10-2014 North toward British Columbia

Current Location: home in Rocky Point…but you already know that right?

As soon as it was decided to have the Oukrop reunion in Spokane, Mo and I were thinking, “Yes! A chance for another trip to Canada!” Especially nice was the idea that we could dip into Canada without having to purchase very much fuel while we were there.

Kootenai Lake and Kaslo (15 of 71) The Kootenay Lake loop north from Bonners Ferry and back through Nelson to Spokane can be done in a long day. I used to do it back in the days when I lived in the area. Some of my favorite photos (remember I have been scanning old photos for a month now) are from one of those trips back in the 70’s.

Sue and Maryruth Girl Time at Destiny Bay 1985

In the mid 80’s I took my grandmother on a road trip over the same route to Kaslo, staying in a little motel there for a night before returning. It was one of the last long trips I took with her. In the mid 80’s Maryruth and I celebrated my 40th birthday at the fabulous Destiny Bay Resort, no phone, no TV, just two days of girl talk and a trip to Ainsworth Hot Springs. Ahh, such great memories! 08-75 Kootenay Lake

Two of my girls on Kootenay Lake 1975

It was a place I was excited to share with Mo. We often try to get to places that neither of us have seen, but that is getting harder and harder to accomplish. This time the Kootenay Lake Loop was my idea and it turned out great. Mo loved Kaslo and the entire area.

When we left Spokane at the 1:00 PM check out time for Riverside State Park, it was hot. Surprisingly, the farther north we traveled the hotter the temperature! We took the familiar route north along Highway 2, one we have traveled several times, and in spite of the beauty of the Pend Oreille River and the little town of Sandpoint, we were not inclined to stop and linger. Not only was it hot, but the skies were so smoky from fires in the Okanagan and the Colville Reservation area I took no photos.

With no solid plans for where we wanted to stay, I pulled up CampWhere and AllStays, and we decided that a free night at the Kootenai River Inn was a good choice. We could offset some of our travel expenses with a free boondocking night, and be ready to cross the border early the next morning. What we hadn’t considered was that the temperatures would still be in the high 90’s as the sun set.

With permission from the front desk, we parked out in the far end of the lot, no jacks down, and we left the slide closed. Started up the generator to run the air conditioner and settled in to relax a bit. I had planned to cook up some quesadillas for supper, but instead, with the heat, we ate some of Wynn’s leftover lasagna she so kindly packed up for us the day before. We had a moment of trouble with the generator providing enough juice for the air conditioner, but discovered that if we took the fridge off automatic and put it on gas only we had no problem.

I walked around the parking lot trying to get some photos of the August 10 supermoon, but almost everywhere I walked there were telephone lines and houses. Even down along the river by the hotel I couldn’t find a place to set up a shot. Oh well, I still got to look at it, and with the smoke in the atmosphere it was bigger and redder than I expected.

Only a minor glitch to mar the evening was easily remedied. An older RV pulled in front of us, and actually backed up so that their rig was just feet from our front bumper. Then they turned on their generator. It was loud and it was old and the fumes were so bad we couldn’t breathe. By this time we had ours off and the windows open, so it was getting too hot to close them. I hemmed and hawed a bit, and then in my most sweet possible face I walked over to the rig where folks were playing cards and very nicely asked, “Are you planning to run your generator long? If so we will move”.

The guy was a bit taken aback at first, I guess he had no idea his fumes were so bad, but then he was kind and actually moved his rig far enough forward that we could breathe with the windows open. Nice interaction, although a bit scary for me at first to do that. In addition, the railroad route runs right along the parking lot, and those horns were loud! Maybe none came by during the night because I had no trouble sleeping after we turned off the generator and turned on the fantastic fan for some air. It was a hot night!

We had planned to enter Canada at the smaller Porthill crossing, but I somehow missed the turn (remember I mapped soils here and supposedly KNOW the roads), and ended up going in through the 24 hour Eastgate crossing. Highway 3 exits west toward Creston just north of the border, and the drive was lovely so it wasn’t a problem.

The crossing was incredibly simple. The guard looked at our passports, checked Abby’s rabies certificate and asked if we had any produce or firewood. “Half a head of lettuce” and he didn’t care a bit. I do think he asked our destination and if we had been in Canada before and where we crossed. The whole process took maybe 3 minutes.

Once over the border, we headed west toward Creston, stopping at an ATM to withdraw some Canadian cash. Creston is nothing like I remember. What was once a dingy little place now boasts cute shops, restaurants, a nice looking downtown, and even murals! We passed by a couple of RV parks that we had considered for the previous night and were perfectly happy with our casino docking choice.

Kootenai Lake and Kaslo (25 of 71) Kootenay Lake is incredibly gorgeous. Creston is at the southern end of the Canadian part of the Kootenay Valley (it is Kootenai in Northern Idaho) and the lake is long, narrow and deep lying between the Selkirks and the Purcell mountains, which extend northward in British Columbia and southward into the US. The waters of Kootenay Lake end up eventually in the Columbia River at Castlegar.

Kootenai Lake and Kaslo (18 of 71) The mountains range on both sides of the lake get higher and more rugged toward the north, but the road that parallels the lake is an easy route. There are lots of places to stop and check out the views, and in spite of the smoke I tried to get some photos.

Kootenai Lake and Kaslo (12 of 71) There is a small tourist attraction along the lake called the Glass Bottle House. I had been there many times, the photos of my kids above were taken there, but Mo wasn’t all that interested in doing the tourist thing, so I simply took a few photos from the outside. It is interesting if you feel like stopping and paying for the views and the story.

The main destination for us and for a lot of other folks was the ferry that crosses the lake to the little hamlet of Balfour.

This ferry is part of the BC highway system and doesn’t cost a penny. During the high season, the ferry runs about every 50 minutes between Kootenay Bay and Balfour, with a second smaller ferry put into service during peak times. We were lucky enough to snag a trip on the big ferry, sharing our ride with some very big logging trucks and a lot of RV’s.

Kootenai Lake and Kaslo (37 of 71) Check out the MoHo tucked in with those logging trucks

The wait at the ferry wasn’t long at all, and as the vehicles lined up to load I was sure we wouldn’t get on. I was totally amazed at the load that ferry could carry. Not only did we get on the first trip, another two lines of vehicles next to us got on after we did. I still can’t quite figure out how they fit all those rigs on that boat! Kootenai Lake and Kaslo (38 of 71)

The crossing is beautiful, taking just 35 minutes, with gorgeous views both north and south on the lake. Once the ferry landed in Balfour, we were unloaded quickly and in minutes were on our way north on Highway 31 toward Ainsworth Hot Springs and the little town of Kaslo where we had reservations for the next three nights.

Next: Four Days in Kaslo

08-09-2014 Last Days of the Reunion

Current Location: Home in Rocky Point with clear skies and 79F and low humidity day ahead

On the Friday when I was wandering around my old haunts in Northern Idaho, a large contingent of the rest of the family met at some unearthly hour for a tee time at a Post Falls golf course. A good number of the Oukrops are avid golfers and most of the rest of them do it for fun. I heard the stories later, but not being a golfer, I was much happier hanging out with old friends.

walking Riverside SP (2 of 12) Mo opted out of this activity as well, choosing instead to hang around the park with Abby, let her play and swim and relax for a bit. I have a sneaky suspicion that Abby wasn’t the only one of this pair that needed some down time.

By the time I got back from my part of Idaho, the golf group was returning as well, and it was time to head to the west side of the South Hill for a wonderful hosted dinner of lasagna, salad, and bread. Can you imagine making dinner for 33 people and not having a single potluck contribution?

Wynn said that she spent an entire day cooking up these gorgeous pans of tasty lasagna.

It was fun seeing how many people could fit on Don and Wynn’s deck without it collapsing. Well built deck, I would say. Before and after dinner we were entertained by the little ones playing around on the grass and listening to all the conversations on the deck as we watched the almost full super moon rise over Hangman Creek to the east. The view from the deck was gorgeous. We even managed the “complete” family photo with everyone attending the reunion gathering on Don’s lawn. I have a sequence of about 12 different shots, all with varying degrees of success at getting everyone to look forward and smile at the same time. The joys of photographing a group are not to be understated.

Saturday morning dawned sunny and warm, and was a perfect day for the family float on the Little Spokane River. Don is an avid kayaker, and knows the area paddles well. He picked this one the last time we were in his area, and it was a great choice. Everyone opted for the 3 hour float rather than the shorter paddle.We had a large number of rubber boats to compliment the few kayaks, and the best part of the morning was the gathering of people as we stood around while Don tried to explain the logistics of the car shuttles, organizing the designated drivers, and trying to figure out who would be where when. I won’t post a bunch more photos of this day because in the first reunion post I chose to share my favorite shots of everyone participating.

The Little Spokane is a meandering river, with just enough current to make it fun, and enough that I was glad we were only paddling downstream. Much of the shoreline is in a natural wildlife area, and we didn’t discover until the end of the trip at the takeout that no dogs are allowed on the river! UhOh. Glad we didn’t read the sign because Abby had a great time.

Golf and Silverwood required a weekday, so the float got the weekend day by default, and Saturday wasn’t the best day to be on this lovely river. It is an extremely popular place, especially on a hot sunny weekend, and we were accompanied by a large number of fellow rafters. I think our group might have been the biggest, however, and maybe all those other rafters were wishing they had picked a different day as well. Something a bit disconcerting to be on a gorgeous river and come around a curve to the smell of cigarette/marijuana (legal in Washington) smoke and the sound of loud rock and roll on someone’s radio.

We all had a great time, and the kayakers in the group thought the trip length was perfect. A few of the floaters thought it was just over the limit of comfortable, especially the ones who had to keep blowing up their boats. I wish I could remember Susan’s youngest son David’s exact words, something to the effect of “If we don’t stop right now I am going to die” Susan, if you read this, please post that comment in the comments. I would love to get it word for word!

Oukrops on the Deschutes River 2010

I think the float trip is my favorite part of these Oukrop reunions, and remember fondly our float trip on the Deschutes when Roger and Nancy’s family was in charge of the festivities.

After a long day we arrived back in camp just in time to change and clean up a bit to drive in a different direction to the home of Ginny and Gabe for their fabulous fully hosted dinner. Once again, no potluck allowed, and Ginny and Gabe put on the best pulled pork BBQ ever!

Ginny is a professional portrait photographer, and incredibly artistic. She had the yard all decorated with Martha Stewartesque jars of baby’s breath and wooden table runners, all coordinated. There was even a lovely basket with an assortment of beautiful quilts for spreading on the grass. Her appetizers and casserole accompaniments to the dinner were fabulous. Not to mention the infused waters and banana split dessert!

Gabe had a regulation volley ball court all set up with a 20 foot high barrier to keep the ball from ending up in the neighbors yard. Did I mention this is a very athletic family? The barrier wasn’t high enough, and Gabe spent a good amount of time going over the fence after the ball.

It was so much fun watching Ginny and Gabe’s dog wandering around trying to play volleyball, and watching all the little ones running around underfoot.

We went home to the campground by the light of the almost super moon, one more night before it would be full. The next morning, folks began dispersing, some to the airport, rigs loaded up and ready to roll toward home, and Mo and I spent some quiet hours all alone at the park enjoying the river and the trails.

Our evening destination was only a few short miles north toward Bonners Ferry where we planned to overnight before our border crossing early Monday morning into Canada. No need to rush. A wonderful end to a wonderful reunion with plenty of time to decompress and relax before the next leg of our journey.

Next: Fabulous Kootenay Lake in British Columbia

08-08-2014 A Day to Celebrate Old Homes and Old Friends

Current Location: home in Rocky Point Oregon

Things get a bit strange for me when I am back home in the Inland Northwest. I lived there for more than 30 years. When I moved to Northern Idaho in 1972 the first time I believed it was my spirit soul home and that I would never leave. I was so incredibly happy to have found the place where I belonged. It came as a surprise to me that when the time came to leave, in 2002, I was ready to go. flowers 04

My Hauser Cottage in 2002 I hauled everyone of those rocks from the mountains

It is no longer “home”. Klamath Falls is now home and I knew it was the moment I arrived 12 years ago. No clue how that happens, but it does. Funny though, I grew up in Southern California and it never felt like home, even when I lived there. As a child I was always dreaming of moving north. As an adult I started the journey of years, ended it as far north as Prince George BC before finally coming to rest here in Oregon. North enough.

Homes revisited (8 of 21) The Hauser cottage in 2014 the gardens are gone and so are the rocks

But unlike returning to the San Gabriel Valley in SoCal, when I go back north to the Spokane/Coeur d Alene area I feel the old pull. I am brought up short over and over with memories of who I was then and who I am now. I barely recognize myself any more. There have been too many twists and turns in my life and as I said once before, the sections don’t seem to be all that connected.

08-07-2014 revisiting my old homes

The Hauser cottage in 2014 a lock box on the door but no for sale sign

Collages2 My Hauser cottage gardens in 2002

Two of my four children are in Oregon and none are back in Washington or Idaho. My lifetime soul friend, Maryruth, is in California, and I have other close and wonderful friends all over the US. Yet there is one friend who shared that life with me who still lives the life we lived back then, right there north of Coeur D Alene in Dalton Gardens.

My friend Laura in her backyard in Dalton Gardens

She even has the same donkey she had then, who is now 32 years old. Laura also has chickens, which makes me miss mine, and she has gardens that flourish the way mine used to when I had that great soil and those long days to make things grow.

I was so happy for a day to spend with Laura on her lush and luscious acre of perfect soil, water, and sunshine and a gardener’s love. Driving east from Spokane early in the morning, I took a side route through Newman Lake and Hauser Lake, just to see how things had changed, and to see my old homes.

the Hauser My Hauser Farmhouse in 1984 in the first year of gardening there

Especially endearing to see was the old farmhouse where I lived with Lance and my kids for many years. Melody spent her teenage years here, on her horse most of the time. My gardens were so magnificent that people would drive by every Sunday to see what was blooming. It was a lovely life at that time. The old weeping willow is now so big that I can no longer see the house from the road. The house itself was the second one built on Hauser Lake, in 1886. It was tiny, and had only wood heat. Lots of memories in that place.

Homes revisited (20 of 21) The old Hauser Farmhouse in 2014 Grandsons birth trees on the right and to the right of the willow

I took photos of my two grandsons’ birth trees which are planted at this old homestead, and they are both thriving.

I then drove by the tiny cottage that belonged to my grandmother, where she died, and where I ended up after becoming almost homeless after my divorce. For nearly 7 years I worked hard to make this tiny place a home, and the gardens again flourished, although in a much smaller space. The ceilings were only 6 feet 4 inches high. Easy to paint, but my son in law used to have trouble walking around inside!

Hauser Cottage in 2002 Hauser Cottage in 2014

The last time I drove by this house I was devastated. The gardens were gone, most of the huge firs were gone. The house was abandoned and in shambles. This time it was a bit different. Still no gardens, but the house was being loved and repaired. It was empty, so I walked around and looked inside the windows. There were new cupboards, new floors, everything remodeled nicely.

The old brick patio I laid was still there, and the wooden bench that Bel made, where I sat for many hours with my cat Caesar, who lived to be 16 years old, was still there. Someday someone may garden there again, and the huge 100 year old maple and horse chestnut tree still thrive.

Laura’s gardens

It was a nostalgic drive, and I was very happy to continue east to Laura’s to get some big loving hugs and be treated to my friend’s amazing space. Laura lived that old life with me. We canned and cooked together, trained our horses together, talked about chickens and eggs and men together. Raved about “stuff” together, even shared our journals with each other. We understood each other and still do. I am so glad that Laura finally retired from her life of nursing to be home with her gardens and her granddaughters and daughters, and that she had a whole day free to spend with me.

Laura laughs and calls herself a hoarder, and says her contractor husband is a hoarder as well.

Well, she may be right, but Laura is the best kind of hoarder you can imagine. She hoards “stuff” to make crazy art and it emerges from every nook and cranny in her gardens and her home.

Even in early August, her tomatoes were huge, her squashes ripe, beans, fruit, cucumbers, everything you could possibly imagine was huge and lush. It sure made me miss my old gardens.

As hard as I try I can’t make things grow like this in my forest home in the mountains of Oregon. Laura has flowers everywhere. She also has a ton of ribbons from the county fair for her flowers from the last few years. I think I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves.

I wanted to see another old friend as well, Sandy, but her work schedule made it harder to fit an entire day in.

Friends revisited (86 of 95) Instead, with Sandy also being a friend of Laura’s, we had a beautiful lunch of fresh picked veggies in Laura’s dining room while we reminisced about old times.

The best kind of day with people I have loved for years from my old life.

Next post: Back to the reunion for fabulous family dinners and floating the Little Spokane River

08-07-2014 Silverwood with Thirty People

Current Location: we are home in Rocky Point Oregon

I have a huge soft spot for Silverwood Theme Park in Northern Idaho. It didn’t exist when I first moved to the nearby village of Rathdrum in 1972, population 751. My kids went to grade school, junior high and high school in Rathdrum. Rathdrum is about half way between Spokane and Athol, where the Silverwood roller coasters now dominate the landscape. Hate to say it, but say “Athol” out loud and laugh with all the old locals about their town. I think I read long ago that both names came from somewhere in Ireland.

When I lived in that area, Silverwood was just a dream, and at the time was simply a funky old train running around the property and a restaurant called the Henley Aerodrome. I drove by it every day on my way to Bonner County to map soils as a brand new soil scientist. The theme park didn’t actually open until 1988, and just about everyone from Spokane to Coeur d Alene thought the owner was making a very huge, very expensive mistake. After all, there wasn’t the population base and it was out in the middle of nowhere!

My house in Rathdrum in the mid 70’s

Well, let me tell you, he was right and we were all wrong. When I moved to CDA, the population was 14,000. It now is close to 100K in the surrounding communities and the houses stretch across the Rathdrum Prairie for the entire 35 miles between CDA and Spokane. Plenty of people to fill the huge parking lot daily and make that man a zillionaire! Our sweet little Rathdrum now boasts more than 6,000 inhabitants! rathdrum 2010

Rathdrum in 2010 with the huge Burlington Northern terminal sitting on top of the Spokane Aquifer

When Don was working on the schedule for the reunion, he had to choose which activity would be most likely to be affected by weekend crowds, and Silverwood won. As a result, he chose Thursday for the big family day at the park. We got group rates in addition to senior rates for a few of us, meaning Mo and I only paid $18.09 each for the full day. Good deal!

What I didn’t realize when Don was talking about swimsuits and lockers was that there was an addition to Silverwood called Boulder Beach, a water park. Now I used to take my kids to water parks in Spokane…you know…a water slide and a pool, so I wasn’t that excited about that part.

I was more excited about having the chance to enter the gate at first opening and then RUN all the way to the line for TREMORS, one of my favorite roller coasters. You see, I am a roller coaster addict. I can’t explain why I get seasick on a ship or in a car, but a roller coaster just makes me feel all alive and buzzy. Like the best hit of whatever that you could imagine. Go figure.

waiting in line for Tremors I have a dream to do a roller coaster trip and catch all the big ones on the east side of the country, but that entails traveling in the summer since all the big parks close on Labor Day. Sigh. Who knows if it will ever happen.

100 foot drop at 60 mph rated 9 in the country and 17 in the world for wooden coasters In the mean time, however, unlimited rides on Tremors and my possible alternative favorite, Timber Terror, famous for its “air time” was enough to keep me excited about this particular family activity.

Many folks in the group had other ideas, and the water park was highest on their agenda. While everyone hurried to the park to snag the best waterside seats, Mo and I and “the kids”, Callie and Josh, ran with us to the roller coasters. And oh my gosh…it was as good as I remember, although on this supposedly unbusy Thursday morning I only managed about 3 rides before the lines got too long to deal with.

photo of the photo. I knew where the camera was from past years on this coaster Back in 2001, when I took my then 14 year old grandson to the park, we managed 18 consecutive rides between the two roller coasters. Mo only opted for one ride on each coaster, but at least we got the photo. You can tell I know where the camera is on this one!

Mo and I waited almost 45 minutes to take another ride with some cool water splashes, but when the line stopped moving and no one said why, we gave up and headed for the water park.

I had the surprise of my life. Probably anyone with young kids in their lives know that water parks aren’t what they used to be, but I had no clue. We walked in the gates (all included with our Silverwood ticket), and a Disneyland of water opened up before us. There were several combinations of water slides, a “lazy river” with inner tubes that looked fabulously inviting, and two giant wave pools. Can you believe I have never actually been in a wave pool?

I would have loved to float the river, but we needed to find the family. No problem…there were at least 20 of them somewhere, right? For a slow day, I have never seen so many people. After a bit of wandering and searching, we finally found them all lined up by the first big wave pool. That water felt fabulous. Kinda like being in the Caribbean without the sand or the salt. On a busy day.

It was great fun with the family and all the little kids that are now becoming a bigger part of the Oukrop clan. Neither Mo nor I had brought swim suits but we jumped in anyway. I have an entirely new concept now of what a water park can be, and if I am in the mood to deal with crowds to get cool I won’t turn my nose up at one again. Probably wouldn’t go there on our own, but with family or kids it is great.

By evening, we all migrated back the two hours to Spokane, with just enough time to dry out and change clothes for the big family dinner at Casa De Oro. This restaurant on Division has great Mexican food, and a room big enough for all of us.

I can’t believe that I not only didn’t take my camera, but I didn’t even try to take photos with my phone! Guess I was just too worn out from all that fun during the day.

Thanks to Randi, I got some phone photos to collage to give an idea of what it was like in a restaurant with a big family. For once, I wasn’t checking my phone, but that wasn’t true of everyone, thank goodness! At least we got some photos!

What a fabulous day and it was just the beginning.

Next Post: I take some time for myself to revisit old homes and friends in Northern Idaho