Eastern Washington with a side of Idaho

August 19 - 26
Newport, Washington

Newport was a last minute decision detour for us. When checking the weather forecast for the place we had intended to go, I saw that the week ahead would be in the upper nineties. Our destination campground had no shade or pool offered, but I thought we would be able to swim in the lake and river the park bordered. Upon further investigation, I discovered that the beaches were all closed because of high levels of fecal bacteria in the water. Eww. Once I decided we should stay elsewhere, I came to find that everyone in Washington was going camping that week and there were very few vacancies. We ended up heading north to the Little Diamond/Newport KOA in the eastern part of the state. Not much to do in the area, but at least our campsite was shady and wooded and the kids and I were able to go to the pool.

Bernie spent most of his time standing guard in the woods and protecting us from wayward squirrels.

On Don's day off, we headed across the border to Idaho to hop on a day cruise on Lake Coeur d'Alene. It was a gorgeous, sunny day, though a bit breezy out on the water. The cruise also took us on the St. Joe River and served lunch. It was a wonderfully relaxing way to spend the day, though it was a good thing the kids brought some books to read. Otherwise, they would have had to spend all day looking at the scenery. God forbid.

Lake Coeur d'Alene

Crossing over into the St. Joe River

Nesting osprey

 

Most of the week was pretty low-key, hanging around camp and making a couple of trips into Spokane for groceries, laundry, and Camping World (of course). We did hit a few good restaurants like Conley's Place, which was like an Irish diner. I discovered that an Irish quiche is quite tasty! My favorite place was the Flying Goat that served artisan pizzas. My kids really went out on a limb and ordered cheese pizza. So much for being adventurous eaters!

We were also able to catch the solar eclipse - it was around 85% where we were. It was a tad anti-climactic, but still cool.

I let the kids choose what they wanted to do on our last day in town, and they really wanted to find a place like the Fun Spot back home. So, back to Spokane we went to the Wonderland Family Fun Center where we raced go-carts and played indoor glow-in-the-dark miniature golf. We actually all had a lot of fun.

At least we all have white teeth!

All in all, it was a relaxing week. But, we were more than ready to move on to the Olympic peninsula!