Day 83, Monday March 28

Today was a sunny, but windy day.  We decided to do some exploring and visit some wineries along the way.  Our first stop was at a shop Dave saw advertised called Country Mercantile.  We figured it would be a small cute little gift shop, but when we drove up it was a huge building out on the edge of a proposed housing development.  There was nothing else around it but orchards and vineyards.  What a total surprise.  This huge store had a unique collection of the Northwest's best gourmet foods, gifts and collectables.  There were jars and jars of sauces, jellies, spreads, dips and marinades.  They offered a huge selection of soup mixes and spices.  The back of the store housed a Deli featuring gourmet sandwiches, wraps and homemade soups.  They made their own salsa, chips, tamales and enchiladas (had we been going straight home, I would have bought some).  They had their own bakery with all kinds of wonderful pastries and breads.  Oh yeah, and then there was the homemade gelato and ice cream counter.  Across from that were counters and more counters with homemade chocolates, fudge and candies of any kind you could imagine.  Needless to say, we stayed there awhile.  We each had a sampling from the ice cream counter, purchased muesli cookies, chocolate bars and some soup mixes.  What a fun store.  They have 2 stores in the Tri-Cities area and have graduated from a small produce stand offering seasonal fruits and vegetables to these 2 wonderful stores.  Sorry we were there at the wrong time of year for their fresh local produce.  It's definitely worth a drive to one of these 2 stores.

Just down the road was Goose Ridge Winery.  It had clouded over and was starting to spit, so we decided this was a good spot to stop.  We were the only people in the tasting room, so we got personalized service.  The tasting room had a fireplace lined with leather overstuffed chairs, so we decided to sit by the fireplace.  The wine bar attendant said they prefer to serve the wines at the fireplace, so our tasting wines were delivered to us there.  She sat with us and chatted about the winery, wines and the area around the winery.  They also had some nice firepits outside (for another warmer, drier day).  They also have a tasting room in Woodinville near Hollywood Schoolhouse.

We took a drive out to Prosser to see what was happening at Vintner's Village, a 32-acre site with 10 unique wineries, shops and restaurants.  The place was a ghost town, so we just drove through.  We wandered our way back toward Tri-Cities via Red Mountain wine area.  We'd been up this road before, and stopped at a number of the wineries.  We noticed some new tasting rooms since we were there last.  We stopped at Hamilton Cellars.  Again, we were the only ones in the tasting room.  The wine bar attendant was so glad to see us, he gave us tastings for free.  Again, we were able to spend time visiting, as well as tasting some very nice wines.

Our last winery stop was Badger Mountain/Powers Winery.  The location was rather odd, because we wound around through a residential neighborhood and the winery was at the end of a road above this neighborhood.  We had lunch at 13th Street Grill in Boise and Dave ordered a Cabernet Sauvignon.  We were told it was made by Powers Winery, so we went in search of that wine.  We tried all of their Cabernets, but couldn't tell which one we had before.  We gambled and bought the one we thought closest.  

Powers Winery is the first Certified Organic wine grape vineyard in Washington State and has become one of the most environmentally conscious producers in the Northwest.  Seven years ago, the winery installed a solar array on its administrative building, which provides about a quarter of its energy needs.  Two years ago it added a larger array on its production building, supplying 17 percent of its electricity.  Powers also picks up used cooking oil from restaurants throughout the Tri-Cities and converts it to 1,000 gallons of biodiesel, which he uses to run farm equipment and trucks that haul grapes.  Six years ago, the winery began using bag-in-a-box packaging, which is more environmentally friendly than bottles - and lowers the price of wine.  It's now experimenting with foil pouches, which are even greener because they use less cardboard and are recyclable.  Three years ago, the winery switched to eco-bottles, which use less glass and greatly reduces shipping costs.  A very interesting winery.  Last stop of the day. 

Day 84, Tuesday March 29

Today was supposed to be the last golf day of the trip.  We were both supposed to golf today at Walla Walla Golf club with friend, John Jensen.  A few days ago I tweaked my back somehow and it has been bothering me on and off, but when I woke up today, it really hurt to stand and it hurt to sit.  I couldn't even imagine how I was going to be able to get in the car and drive 1.5 hours, much less play golf.  I sent Dave off on his own and spent the day resting.  I did manage to go for a short walk around the RV park, because I'd read that walking is good for back injuries.  As the day progressed, I got more and more motion.  The worst of it was first thing in the morning (as it is most mornings).

Dave had a great time golfing.  It was a private club and they finished 18 holes in about 3 hours.  The wind picked up the last couple hours as it did at the RV park.  Dave stayed for dinner with John and his wife Jeannette and got home about 9:00pm.  Long day.

Day 85, Wednesday March 30

Happy Birthday to me.  Yup.  Another year older.  My back was pretty sore when I first got up, but as the morning progressed, I felt better.  Dave went for a bike ride in the morning.  When we got back we had lunch and headed out.  We decided we'd like to explore some of the other potential RV parks in the area in case we decided to stay in another part of town next time.  

First we went out to Horn Rapids RV Resort in north Richland.  We'd always heard it was really a nice park, right across from Horn Rapids Golf Course.  We drove through, but weren't impressed.  Most of the RVs in the park looked like they'd been there a while and weren't going anywhere anytime soon.  Many had permanent stairs, skirts around their coaches, stacks of firewood (??? no firepits) and the spaces were really small.  We really can't get excited about staying in a park where the majority of the guests are permanent residents.  The accumulated "stuff" tends to spill out onto the driveways and gets stuffed in every available nook.  Kinda messy looking.  

Next stop was Franklin County RV Park at the TRAC in Pasco.  The TRAC complex is a 38,184 sq ft Exposition Hall and 39,200 indoor dirt floor arena.  It is one of the largest event venues in Washington making it popular for Trade Shows and especially equine events.  The park was small with 46 spaces.  Again, many of the guests were permanent residents, but it was a much tidier park than Horn Rapids.  Not overly impressed, but it was OK.  So far, our park is the best, even though we're sandwiched between the RR track and highway (that's pretty typical of most RV parks). 

One of the favorite places we've stayed in Tri-Cities is Courtyard Marriott at Columbia Point in Richland (pre-motorcoach).   There's a wonderful park and walking trail all along the river and an Anthony's restaurant (we've eaten there often) right above the marina.  The sun was shining and it was warm, so we decided as long as we had some time to kill we'd go down to the trail for a walk.  We noticed there'd been a lot of new building since we'd been there a couple years ago.  Anthony's built another restaurant on the other side of the Marriott and they were just finishing a 3rd on the other side of their existing restaurant.  There is another hotel going in called The Lodge.  Sounds like it's going to be a really nice place.  Columbia Point is also home to Columbia Point Golf Course, so this area is really becoming quite a nice destination in itself.  We walked for about 30 minutes, found a double swing facing along the river and sat and watched the birds and enjoyed the sunshine and the river for some time.  Our agenda for the evening was to go to J. Bookwalter Winery for dinner.

J. Bookwalter's tasting room and restaurant are located in Richland (they also have a tasting room in Woodinville at Hollywood Schoolhouse) in a building complex adjacent to Tagaris Winery and Barmard Griffin Winery.  It's a little difficult to find as it's not exactly in wine country.  We'd read about their great 4-6pm happy hour and planned our arrival for a little after 4pm.  

J. Bookwalter

The day was still warm, so we decided to eat outside.  It was a wonderful experience.  The wines during happy hour were 50% and they had a 25% discount on some of their small plates and pizzas.  We had a great waitress and we leisurely drank our wine and enjoyed the environment.  Good thing we got there early as it's quite a popular place for happy hour and outside seating filled up quickly.  Our dinner was very good, as was the service.  Great place for drinks and dinner.  

After we finished, we went next door to Tagaris Winery for dessert.  It was a very nice birthday.

Tagaris for dessert

          

Day 86, Thursday March 31

Home today.  We're sad.  We're not ready to come home yet.  It's been such a fabulous trip and we really don't want it to end.  At least it's a nice sunny warm day to get back into Redmond.  We took the scenic route through the Yakima River Canyon between Yakima and Ellensburg.  Fortunately, there wasn't much traffic on this road.  There were a few spots of rough and narrow road, especially when there was a truck coming from the other direction.  It was very scenic and enjoyable.  Not the fastest route, but much better than taking the highway above.  We got home, grabbed the cat and a few basic necessities and parked the motorhome in her storage spot.  Tomorrow we'll bring her over to the house, unpack and clean.

Geez...this house is soooo big.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings.  Hope there were some educational and entertaining stories for you.   Travel is such a fun adventure!

 Day 78, Wednesday March 23

Day 2 in Boise started out with a leisurely morning.  We drove through downtown and found the visitors center for more paper (as Dave says).  Though I spend a good portion of my day on the internet, I'm basically a paper person and like a paper map, brochure or newspaper.  It was a semi-sunny day, so we decided to do outdoor things and drove to the old penitentiary that is now surrounded by a botanical garden.  Granted, it was a little early in the Boise season for much happening in the garden, but it was a pleasant surprise.  Though they offer a tour of the penitentiary, we didn't take it.  We spent all of our time in the garden.  We were fortunate enough to run into the membership manager on our self-guided tour and he not only explained about the garden but gave us some good recommendations on what else to do/see in the city.  We had planned to go to the Idaho Historical Museum, but it was closed for remodeling.

 

 

 

 

 




   

We went in search of a good spot for lunch.  We took out my handy-dandy tourist map and decided to research the 13th Street area called Hyde Park.  It's on the National Historic Register, and reminded us of a small version of Capital Hill mixed with the Fremont District.  It was only about 4 blocks, but very quaint and all the businesses were housed in old original houses and buildings.  Quite cute.

Lunch at 13th Street Bar and Grill:

In the summer

Took the long way home to view some of the residential areas of Boise.  Stopped for groceries.  Dave (finally) stopped for a long overdue haircut.

Day 79, Thursday March 24

Last day in Boise.  Spent the morning catching up on mail (this park has horrible WiFi, so doing mail or anything else internet related takes forever) and doing laundry.  In the afternoon we headed into downtown to visit the downtown core.  First, we went to the state capital that is right in the middle of downtown.  Unlike some capital buildings, they didn't offer organized tours.  We picked up a self-guided tour brochure and walked through the murals and brochure descriptions on our own tour.  Boise was not Idaho's first capital city.  

In 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln signed the law that created the Idaho Territory, Idaho's first Territorial Governor, William Wallace chose Lewiston as the capital city.  By 1864, gold discoveries in the Boise Basin shifted the population south, and the Territorial Legislature chose Boise as the permanent capital.  It took 20 years to decide on a location within the city for the government structures.  In 1885, the Territorial Legislature approved construction of a centralized government building.  By 1905, the Capitol building's lack of amenities and limited space prompted the state legislature to fund construction of a new Capital.  Construction began in 1905 and was completed in two phases.  Phase one, which included construction of the central section and dome, was completed in 1912.  Planning and construction of the east and west wings did not commence until seven years later, being completed in 1921.  Remodeling projects during the 1950s and 1970s accommodated a growing state government, but crowding, failing mechanical systems, and decades of hard use eventually left their mark on the aging building.  Fortunately, the state of Idaho recognized the need to save the historic Capital by restoring it and maintaining the building as a working seat of government.

Most of the structure was made of sandstone taken from nearby Table Rock.  Using labor from the nearby state penitentiary, convicts were responsible for transporting the 10-ton sandstone blocks from the quarry, as well as construct the roads used for transport.  Quite ahead of it's time, the heating and cooling of the building was from a geothermal water supply 3,000 feet below the property.  The structure had it's own independent power plant located on the rear of the Capital.  Coal was fed into the boilers automatically and the building was cleaned by mechanical vacuum cleaners.  The heating and cooling was governed automatically.  The architect used as much natural light as possible, harnessing sunlight via light shafts and skylights to light many of the corridors, rotunda and interior spaces in the Capital.  Today Idaho's monumental Capital stands completed.


As we walked through the capital building, we noted the extensive use of varieties of marble, especially the large beautiful marble columns supporting the rotunda.  What we discovered is that these columns that appear to be marble are faux, having a finish composed of scagliola...a mixture of gypsum, glue, marble dust, and granite dyed to look like marble. Columns consisted of a 3/16th inch sheet of gypsum, glue and pigment affixed to canvas and applied to a plastered surface. The surface was brought to a perfect plane and polished down to resemble plate glass.  Scagliola originated in Italy during the sixteenth century and grew in popularity because polished marble, though popular, was expensive and heavy.  The scagliola imitated marble and disguised the columns' structural function.  Because this marbling was an ancient technique, especially during the remodeling phase, it was quite a task to locate craftsmen who still knew the art.

After our visit to the Capital, we wandered around the downtown area and ended up down in the Basque block of Boise (where we had dinner a couple nights before).  Idaho is home to one of the largest populations of Basques outside of Spain.  This block is the center of the close-knit, active Basque community in Idaho.  The majority of the Basques living in the Boise area came from the province of Bizkaia (between Spain and France) and began working in this country as sheepherders, miners and loggers.  One of the primary buildings on the Basque block is the Basque Museum and Cultural Center, which houses interpretive exhibits on the Basques and their history in Idaho.  The center also serves as a school to perpetuate the culture and distinct language of the Basque.  It was late by the time we reached this area, so we didn't have time to visit the museum (next time).

We did have time to stop into the Gernika Pub and Eatery for a local beer.  This building was saved from demolition by the Basque Museum and Cultural Center and now serves as a local gathering point for many in the community.  Much of the menu is ethnic with specialties like solomo (marinated pork loin with pimentos), lots of lamb dishes, chorizo, beef tongue, croquetas and tortilla de patatas (egg, potatoes & onion with bread).  They make their own beer and cider too.  It's a tiny little L-shaped place that probably didn't hold more than 50 people.  The kitchen was at the end of the bar and didn't look hardly large enough to turn around in, much less cook.  Quite unique.





Because this was our last night in Boise, we headed to a new Boise restaurant called Sockeye Grill and Brewery.  We go to a local brewery and would you believe Dave ordered wine with dinner?  Geez!  I thought I trained him better.

     

Day 80, Friday March 25

Wow!  80 days on the road and it's moving day again.  This time we're not going very far:  Wildhorse Casino and RV Park in Pendleton.  We discovered a large commercial bakery across the street from our RV park and while Dave took care of chores, I went to the bakery to pick up a couple maple bars.  Oh my gosh.  This place was huge.  What a wonderful bakery.  There were cases and cases of pastries, pies, cakes, cookies and breads.  I really had to control myself (horrible sweet tooth).  In addition to the 2 maple bars, I walked out of there with a bearclaw, loaf of home made bread and a key lime pie.  Good thing we were leaving.  It was a nice sunny day for travel.  It was pretty pleasant until we got into Oregon.  Heading into Baker City, we could see storm clouds up ahead.  As we got closer, we realized they were snow clouds.  We dodged the first few with just a couple splatters on the windshield.  The farther into the Blue Mountains we went, the probability of dodging the snow turned pretty bleak.  

It started snowing in North Powder, though not sticking.  We had snow on and off to La Grande.  Once we started climbing out of La Grande, the blowing snow got heavier and started to stick to the side of the road. 

The Blue Mountain Summit was at 4,193 ft, and it seemed we should be going down hill.  Instead, we kept going up and down hills, never descending much.  When we finally got to Emigrant Springs, the descent into Pendleton was very steep and slow, but the sun was shining!  Wildhorse Casino  is located on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla reservation and in addition to the casino, they run a hotel, RV park, golf course and Tamastslikt Cultural Center.  We've been here before (not in the motorhome) and decided as long as the weather was decent, we'd stop and play golf.  We pulled into our site and the folks next to us had 2 dogs in a pen.  Cassey and the dog next door had constant staring contests.

Cassey's new friends

Day 81, Saturday March 26

This morning was a little overcast, but the forecast was for sun in the afternoon with temperatures in the low 60s.  Our tee time was at 1pm, so we felt we'd be OK.  We took a drive into downtown Pendleton, stopped at Pendleton Woolen Mills (beautiful stuff, but nothing I could afford) and cruised Main street.  Got back home in time to have lunch and get ready to head across the street to the golf course.  We were paired with a couple of local guys that had a family of 3 sons golfing in the group ahead of us.  The course wouldn't let them go out as a 5-some, so made sure the fathers were golfing with us.  The course manager even stood behind us when we teed off to make sure the four of us went out alone.  We thought when we got out of sight of the clubhouse that our partners would join their sons.  We had such a good time golfing together, they continued with us for the entire 18 holes.  A really nice couple of golfers.  One raised potatoes for the french fry market and the other had a contract with Fred Meyer to supply flowers.  The sun was out, the wind blew (as it always does in Pendleton), but we had a fun day golfing.

Day 82, Sunday March 27

Moving day.  Again, we're not going very far, so we didn't need to be moving very fast.  Our destination today is Kennewick.  Plan to spend a few days visiting wineries, golfing and enjoying our last stop on the Road of the Gypsy.  Woke up this morning to heavy rain, wind, hail and sun.  Got the coach ready in between the rain showers, and left Wildhorse about 10am.  The sun was shining, but heavy winds..about 23mph with gusts.  We headed out Hwy 84 toward the Columbia River, but the wind gusts on our right side were so bad, we pulled off at Hwy 395 exit toward Hermiston.  We were able to drive through farm country and small towns at a slower speed.  We intersected Hwy 730 and headed east up the Columbia River toward Pasco.  Hallelujah, the wind was on our back side.  Saw huge white caps and surf crashing on rocks on the river.  Turned north toward Pasco and we were getting the winds on our side again, but the winds had increased to closer to 30mph.  Glad we were close to our destination.  We pulled into Columbia Sun RV Resort in Kennewick about 1:30.  This is a very nice park right off of I-82, just north of Hwy 395.  The winds were so strong, we decided to not put our slides out on the driver's side until the winds calmed down.  It's now 7:00pm and the winds are letting up, but we'll still see winds throughout the night...much lesser though.  The next few days will be breezy and sunny, but nothing like today's winds.

Day 75, Sunday March 20

Yesterday’s trip up the Colorado River was so interesting, we decided to explore the Lower Colorado Scenic Byway today.  This was a totally different adventure.  The road is only 17 miles long before it turns to dirt and continues into Canyonlands National Park.  We drove the road as far as it was paved (again, not having the appropriate car to explore off-road).  This portion of the scenic byway follows the Colorado closely, with the river on one side of the road and steep reddish-orange sandstone cliffs on the other.  After turning off Hwy 191, it isn’t long before we were in the deep gorge of the Colorado River.  About 4 miles along the byway, we came upon lots of rock climbers in an area they call Wall Street.  It looked like many were just learning the sport because they weren’t climbing very far up the cliffs. 

A little further down the road we looked for a site we’d read about that had petroglyph panels along the cliffs.  It wasn’t too hard to find because the numerous cars gave the location away.  Once you found the elevation of the inscriptions, they were pretty easy to spot.  

It was hard taking photographs because the petroglyphs were on a rock that was a black color.  It was hard to see the detail through the lens at that distance, but when I got home and put them on my computer, I really got some good shots.  

Further down the road was a turnout and description of dinosaur tracks.  The rock with the tracks was halfway up a not-very-defined trail of boulders.  Dave hiked (crawled) up and took a photo (I learned my lesson and decided this climb was way too difficult for me). 
Unfortunately, the photo had something funky going on with it and I couldn't dowload it to the blog.  

We passed a number of trail heads to places like Corona Arch, Bowtie Arch and Jug Handle Arch. You can be hiking for months in this area and never see all the arches and rock formations. The paved highway ends at the Intrepid Potash Mine where potash, a mineral often used as a fertilizer, is extracted by flushing large volumes of water through an extensive system of underground tunnels and then evaporating the water in ponds. They had an exclusive rail line to haul the potash out of the river canyon to a major distribution center. We got some pictures of these ponds from up on Dead Horse Point State Park, before we knew what they were. The river canyon widens at the site of this mine, and provides a beautiful view of the sheer cliffs of Dead Horse Point State Park above.

Dave was itching to get a golf club in his hands, so in the afternoon, he went to the local golf course for some putting and chipping practice.  Because tomorrow’s our departure from Moab, we decided to go out to dinner for our last evening.  There was a huge Jeep Rally in town and most of the people who arrived in our RV park in the last few days were towing a Jeep.  

They signed up for off-road trips of differing difficulties and they all went out in caravans into the desert (some were climbing slickrock trails over boulders..yikes!).  Anyway, the restaurant we went to was Zax right on Main Street.  We sat outside and watched all variety of Jeep and other off-road, street legal, vehicles parade by.  It was pretty entertaining.

Home to do clean up and packing for our early departure tomorrow.

Day 76, Monday March 21

Moving day again.  Today we headed north to what we thought would be northern Utah for our nightly stop.  After we mapped it, we decided we could make it farther north than that, so ended up in Declo, Idaho.  The day was clear and sunny.  We hated to leave the nice weather in Moab, knowing we’d be heading into colder weather (and wetter) north.  We drove north to I-70 and then picked up US-191 north toward Provo.  Because the weather was warm, we weren’t too worried about snow going over Soldier Summit.  

The scenery on US-191 was pretty much desert the whole way to Price, with cliffs in the near distance that were home to some major mining operations.  We saw lots of rail and trucks moving coal from places like East Carbon and Wellington.  We soon discovered that as the canyon narrowed, we were travelling through the middle of these mining towns like Price, Spring Glen and Helper.  Outside of Helper, we began our climb over Soldier Summit (elev. 7,477 feet).  At 11:30am it was sunny, but windy.  When we reached the summit I checked the temperature and it was 54 degrees and the road was clear.  We did see some patches of snow alongside the road, but that was all.  Smooth sailing.  We picked up I-15 at Spanish Fork and took the freeway all the way north until Tremonton where we branched off on I-84 toward the Idaho border.  The drive through northern Utah and southern Idaho was beautiful.  Most all of it is farmland and it’s all starting to green up with spring.  Just before we came to the intersection of I-86, we saw lots of signs that said we were in high dust storm areas and not to stop on the highway.  Fortunately, it wasn’t blowing enough that we had any threat of dust storms, but we could see how this would be a possibility with the right conditions.  We did pass multiple gates that could close the highway as needed, so it was obvious the signs could be a reality.

forgot to take a pic of our site

Our RV site for the night was Village of Trees RV Resort.  It was a good location, just off I-84 on the Snake River, in the town of Declo.  The park had lots of large trees and all pull-through sites, so we didn’t have to disconnect the car.  There was a new bridge being built over the Snake River on I-84, so part of the park looked like it was housing construction workers.  The park was large enough to keep the “resident” campers in a separate section from the “transient” campers.  It was a very nice park with a pool, fishing pond, gas station, grocery store and café.  After registering in the communal grocery store/café, I told Dave we weren’t eating there.  The whole place smelled like grease.  I’m sure the food was fine, if you like deep fried (and have the option to wash your clothes after you eat there).  We experienced our first rain in a couple months at night.  It didn’t rain all night, but we had showers periodically.  Back to the winter clothes that Dave said he didn’t need to bring.  It’s nice to have that fleece again!

 Day 77, Tuesday March 22

We didn’t plan to travel any further than Boise today.  It shouldn’t have taken more than 2-3 hours, but we were heading into a storm cell that was predicting winds at 30mph with gusts to 40+mph.  We left at 10am, and decided we’d try the interstate and see how difficult it was.  If the winds were too bad, we’d resort to the old side highway where we could travel at a lesser speed.  The wind was on our nose (not good for the gas mileage, but oh well) most of the trip and we kept our speed at about 50mph and stayed in the slow lane.  The truckers were moving by us at 70mph, but we just kept on driving at our own comfortable speed.  Even Cassey came out for most of the drive (now that we’re on our way home, she’s getting braver).  All the wind was in front of a storm that we finally caught up with as we approached Boise.  Hail!  Not just rain, but hail.  At least it cleaned the windshield of bugs. 

 With a quick lunch stop and a gas stop, we got to the Boise Riverside RV Park at about 3pm.  We plan to be here 3 nights. 

Our view out the windshield

The RV park is located in northwest Boise on the Boise River and there is a bike/hike trail right in front of our coach.  Dave had been behind the wheel for a long time and after we got hooked up, decided to take a short hike on the trail.  After he got back, we went into the center of Boise for dinner.  We ate at a fun restaurant in the old part of Boise (kind of like Pioneer Square with the old brick buildings and original brick on the insides) called Bardenay.  Their claim to fame is that they were the nation’s first restaurant distillery.  They have 3 locations in Idaho creating liquor on site.  Each site specializes in a different spirit:  ginger rum, amber rum, dark rum, rye whiskey, vodka and flavored vodkas.  Oh yah..and their food is great too.