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. 

We have spent the past three weeks on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. We took the ferry over form Port Angeles, Washington and it was quite an adventure driving the RV with the Jeep behind it on and off the ferry.

We were on the island to visit with our friends, Tom and Diane Murphy and their dog Pepper. We spend the winters with them down in Arizona and we parked the RV near their home in the small town of Cowichan Bay, for the first and third week of our stay.  We enjoyed visiting with them and had great meals at their home and one evening at the local seafood place down on the water. Josie and Diane would go out exploring in their new Smart Car while Tom and I would play golf. On one of those days Josie had her hair cut short again, and  donated it to "Children With Hair Loss"

We all visited the town of Chemainus which is known for its murals. We also toured the town of Duncan which is famous for its totem poles. Duncan also has the worlds largest hockey stick attached to the front of their Hockey Arena. We shopped at the Duncan Market and one evening we attended an outdoor concert in the town square. 

We started the third week of our stay with a happy hour at the Murphy's house, where we met their friends, Cliff and Joanne and Linda and Gord. August third was Tom and Diane's 39th anniversary and we shared a great meal with them at a scenic restaurant on the water in Mill Bay. Cliff and Joanne invited us to their home on Cowichan Lake one evening and we enjoyed a great dinner and an unusual sunset due to forest fires farther up the island. 

We visited the BC Forest Museum and rode the old logging train and took in the exhibits about the history of logging in the area. On our final day on the island the ladies attended a matinee performance of the musical "Grease" while Tom and I played golf. Later that evening we had dinner at the Cowichan Bay Hotel on the waterfront. 

We spent our second week on the island 100 kilometers up the coast in the town of Parksville. The RV park was right on the ocean and the tide would come in and go out over 1 kilometer each change. You can see the difference in the tide in the first two pictures below taken from the same spot. The Parksville Beach Fest was going on and there was music everyday on the boardwalk. As part of the festival, they had a sand sculptor contest. and they were all very good. We visited the Cathedral Trail with Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar trees that are over 800 years old, and then checked out two of the local waterfalls. On our way home from the big trees, we stopped at the Coombs Marketplace where we saw their "Goats on a Roof" The market was built by a Norwegian immigrant who copied the style of the roofs of his home town in Norway where the houses are built into the side of hills and the goats wander freely over the tops and eat the grass on the roofs. Tom and Diane drove up from Cowichan Bay twice. The first time we looked over the sand sculptures and then had a nice lunch at a beach side restaurant. The second time it was my birthday and Tom and I played golf while the ladies went to the beach. Later we had a cookout and pigged out on the four types of cake Tom and Diane brought for my birthday. 

Tom and I played seven rounds of golf at seven different courses during our three week visit.  All of the courses had fantastic scenery and wildlife. For our last round, we played Bear Mountain, a Jack Nickolas course with spectacular views of Victoria, the Straights and the Olympic Mountains. Many of the courses had wild blackberries growing in the rough and I could not help but eat a few.