Anacortes, Washington, Coeur d'Alene and Williams, Idaho and Missoula, Montana

We have spent the last two weeks making our way from Vancouver Island, British Columbia to my cousin's home in Laurel, Montana. We took the ferry from the island and entered the USA in Anacortes, Washington. A Customs Officer and a Department of Agriculture Inspector boarded the RV and went straight to the refrigerator, and confiscated our cherry tomatoes. We must have miss-read the rules because we thought that as long as they were in the original package we could bring them into the US. They also confiscated the Christmas Cactus that Josie has raised for five years from a small cutting her daughter gave her. Something about the soil might be contaminated was the reason given, but when they returned the planter it still had a lot of potting soil in it. We did not find any of this in the current customs regulations that we had looked over before we came back into the USA and when we re-read them after they confiscated the cactus. This plant had been in and out of the USA to Canada and back with us three times before, so I guess we were repeat offenders, part of the notorious Christmas Cactus Cartel. 

In Anacordes, we stayed six nights at the Fildago Bay RV Park which is owned by the Samish Indian Nation. We had a fantastic site that looked out on Fildago Bay. There was a three mile walking path along the waterfront and we walked 3 miles every morning. The park encourages folks to pick up things they might find on the beach and add to an "Art' project in the park. We celebrated Josie's birthday with a great dinner overlooking one of the many marinas on the waterfront. 

From Antecordes we drove over the Cascades to Coeur d Alene, Idaho. Along the way we saw many areas that had recently been burned by brush and forest fires. There were air quality alerts all across the Northwest and visibility was very low in many places. We had planned on driving for two days and staying in Missoula, Montana for a week but I waited too long to make reservations and could not find any RV park in the Missoula area that had room for a week. So we booked a site in Coeur d Alene for only three nights since that was all they had available. We did not do a lot of sight seeing this stop since we had visited here a few years ago. We did need to make a stop at Camping World to pick up a few things for the RV. I was able to play, Circling Raven, a nice golf course that a winter friend in Texas had recommended I play. It is part of the Coeur d Alene Nations Hotel and Casino. It was a great course but the distant views of the Idaho Rockies were obscured by the persistent smoke from the fires. 

We made the 50 mile drive to our next stop Wallace, Idaho which claims to be the Center of the Universe. Seems the mayor declared it to be that a few years ago and since no one can prove it is not it has become a tourist attraction. We were here for only one night but we kept busy the whole time. We did not know the Huckleberry Festival was this weekend so we checked it out and enjoyed a Huckleberry Shake. They had already sold out of Huckleberry Pie. We dropped into a collectibles store on Main Street and Josie found a treasure trove of the Hall Orange Poppy Pottery she is collecting. She has a Doughnut shaped tea kettle that was an anniversary gift to her parents in the 1940's and we are always looking for matching pieces. Wallace was founded during the Gold and Silver rush in late 1800's. The Oasis Hotel in downtown was opened as a brothel to service the many miners that swarmed into the area. We stopped in to take the tour, and they say that it operated until 1988. The Wallace RV Park is also part of the City Limits Cafe and Northern Idaho Brewery. We had a great dinner with a couple of beers at what has to be the only RV Park and Brewery in the nation. While walking around town, we saw that they had a Melodrama that evening at the local Theater so we attended and had a fun time. We were in Wallace for less than 24 hours but had a ton of fun. We are adding Wallace to the list of places we are going to return to and spend more time. 

Our next stop was in Missoula, Montana. On the first night in town I went to a Missoula Osprey baseball game in their new stadium. Not many teams can say they have a real mascot nesting in center field. The young Osprey could be heard calling throughout the game. The next day we had our first rainy day in over three months. The lady who checked us in told us to go see the museum that was inside a local store. The AXMEN store sells all kinds of home and ranch supplies but the owners have a great collection of antiques hanging from the ceiling and on the walls. We then took the tour of the Smokejumpers Training Center, which was very informative. Josie was so moved that she decided to take a training jump.  On our last day in town we rode the Missoula Carousel, one of the fastest Carousels in the world. We really liked the sign on the ticket booth.  We then walked around along the river and into downtown for dinner. We were amused by the sculpture entitled Squashed Cat on one of the sidewalks. 

​Tomorrow we drive east.