Sandpoint Ski resort trailride

We enjoyed the stay at Ponderay, ID just outside of Sandpoint and on Lake Pond Oreille. In the summer the ski slopes and Nordic cross country trails are opend up to mountain bikers, hikers and trailrides. Photo 1 shows a view of the ski resort condo's. It felt really strange walking through all of this and the ski lifts to get to the horses, but there were tourist families and mountain bikers and hikers everywhere. On the drive up the mountain there were many switchbacks, but there were often widened spaces to pull off and usually a car or two were there. We found out that it was huckleberry picking time. In photo 2 we are at the summit and behind us you can see the lake where we went fishing the day after this ride. I am on Shadow, a Tennessee walker, quarter horse cross and she was full of energy, but very obedient and willing. My two riding companions had never been on horses before but were a lot of fun. Occasionally we went through the steep, rugged close wilderness and couldn't see the path for the limbs brushing our legs, but other parts were the wide Nordic cross country trails and we could ride side by side. Scotty, the young boy, even got to lead the ride for awhile because his horse was accustomed to being lead horse. It was a very relaxing and pleasant ride. Photo 3 is of Matt, our guide on Scully, and behind him is a better shot of Lake Pend Oreille and we could see the marina and dock where we would leave for the fishing trip. 4th photo is one of the descending Nordic trails and in the upper background you can see one of the more daring ski slopes. Matt made fun of me when I told him "No way", but we did agree we'd ride up and down it all day on horseback. 5th photo shows our final descent to the corral and shelter which is a domed tent with cattle panels. It is easily removed for winter sports and the gentle slope there is for tubing on the snow. more my speed. The last shot is from the boat on our fishing trip on Lake Pend Oreille and in the center of the mountain you can see the light colors of the ski resort and ski slopes. We rode from there to the right for 3 hours, almost to the summit of that peak.

Sandpoint, Idaho (about July 23)

I have gotten so off on my dates and my postings, but hopefully I can catch up. If I had been more attentive, I would have documented each stay in my calendar. We were actually at a small town called Ponderay, outside of Sandpoint. We fished and both of us got the bull trout we need for our trout certificates. The first 2 photos show Ken and his bull trout and a nice rainbow. Picture 3 shows both our rainbows (photo 4 is my rainbow) after we returned to the dock. One lady passing by during the photo asked why my fish was bigger than Ken's, and we couldn't help but laugh. The last photo is of my bull trout and our guide, Captain Ken as a matter of fact. We kept calling them Captain Ken and Customer Ken. It was a lot of fun and the boat was quite comfortable almost like a houseboat and immaculate. From the lake, Lake Pend Oreille, pronounced Ponderay, we could look up the slopes of the mountains and see the ski resort where I rode horses the day before. It was a beautiful lake and area.

Kamloops Wildlife Zoo

Our stay in Kamloops was brief, but Ken found an opportunity to keep up his poop scooping skills after my trail ride in Eric Valley. The beautiful black warmblood wouldn't leave him alone. We did visit their zoo just outside our RV park and they had a nice "birds of prey" presentation. The second picture has an owl on the center post and shows the amphitheater where the birds flew loose and free right over our heads. Pictures 2 and 3 show the Harris falcon and it was really beautiful. He would fly so low over our heads that your hair would blow in the current from his wings. Picture 3 is the falcon on the rail right behind me. The last picture is a red tailed hawk. The lady was very informative and really knew how to entertain the crowd, especially with so many young children. It was a nice presentation. We had the oil changed and tires rotated on the truck here. We had put a little over 9,000 miles on the truck and over some really rough and really steep terrain.

Kamloops

Kamloops, BC, was the largest metropolitan area we have visited. The terrain in that part of British Columbia is high desert and very rugged. The city is very modern and Suzy even got a haircut. As we traveled through Cache Creek,BC, we had to choose Kamloops or Kelowna. Suzy just said Kamloops, and we were very glad we did. The day after we arrived in Kamloops they were evacuating Kelowna and the Okanagan lake area because of 3 out of control forest fires. The highways were closed, and we figure we would have been evacuated right after arriving. As a result we enjoyed our brief stay in Kamloops. Suzy got a trailride in through Erin Valley. Just her and the guide Devin. Her short little paint, Elisha, was full of life and energy, but very well behaved. The terrain was pretty rugged and we zig zagged up the mountain and had to detour often because of heavy trees blown across the trail on numerous occasions. We had come through a big rain, hail and windostorm just before we reached Kamloops. It was great fun, because we broke some new trails to detour, had to dismount once because of a huge tree along a cliff edge and got to trot and lope. The view from the summit showed two valleys and from the return road we could look up at the summit and ridge we had just circled(last photo). (PS don't ask why there are 3 of the same picture; I'll figure this out soon.)

Totems

After our trip to Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK, it was time to leave Whitehorse and theYukon Territory. As we trekked down through the Yukon and British Columbia we traveled through numerous areas known for the First Nations totem poles. We were surprised to learn that the totem poles are not an ancient tradition, although it is an old part of their culture. We stopped at one small village where they were developing their museum. The totem poles set in the ground are part of the village and represent and honor different people or families. The faces and figures and top symbols represented values or characters of the person or family. The ones outside are the newer ones, and Ken said some looked as if they had been done with a chain saw. The museum wasn't really open, but we wandered under the porch roofs and came upon some really old totem poles. They are always made out of cedar, and it would sometimes take up to 2 years to complete them. The older ones had much less detail left. If a village changed locations, the poles were left to mark the place they left. We also learned that some totem poles were for the interiors, as support poles or at the entrance to lodges. With the appearance of white settlers, paint became available and was used to enhance some of the figures. Wish we had had more time to explore more of these.

Houston & Deer Park

Yes, we made it to Houston, but Houston, British Columbia, on our trek back toward the states. Had to get a picture of Mr. Squirrel with the Houston sign. Their claim to fame is the largest fishing rod in the world. Ken had to have his picture with it to give it perspective. We visited their community market and, to Ken's delight, a Mennonite lady had bags of homemade egg noodles like his mother used to make. They discussed the process, including the use of brown free range eggs. He bought all she had of the small noodles. We have some soups to make when we get home. We stayed overnight and the RV park was really pretty. The flowers in these northern regions are just gorgeous. Their colors are so vibrant and deep that they look fake. They aren't fake, but indeed very real. The wooden pot with blue flowers is made from a hollow tree trunk. The gnarly growths on each side of the trunk are called "burls" and they often remove the burls to make beautiful bowls out of them.

Looking at our direction back into Washington state and into Idaho, we found Deer Park, Washington, so we had to drive through it. Not much there, very small but pretty. We barely got the picture showing the sign.

incredible Salmon Creek Glacier

July 15 You pay your dues to get to the summit and view the glacier, more on the road elsewhere, but the view is incredible. I knew very little about glaciers but know they are hundreds of feet thick with a flow pattern or textures and crevices and beautiful blue, especially icey aqua blue, streaks. I was never interested in glaciers, but have decided they are pretty impressive. Photo 1 shows one frozen flow between the mountains with the crevice and photo 2 is the same view, but notice the deep crevice and blue colors. I hope the colors show up. Photo 3 is from the summit and shows the curve of the main body and thickness. Photo 4 is the same view from the summit but shows how high the elevation is with the clouds below the mountain tops. The last photo is from the summit and is the right flow with the heavy textures and crevices and change in colors. It was a most breathtaking and humbling sight.