Lanius Travels

  As we move west, our next stop is the Thousand Trails Park at Leavenworth, WA.   Anyone been there knows it’s 14 miles outside Leavenworth in the Lake Wenatchee National Forest.  We got there early on Sunday since we only had 80 miles to drive that day.  Luck was with us and we were able to get full hookups and find satellite for Direct TV.  It gets harder and harder here in the Northwest.                                                                                         Monday morning on my walk, I was able to take this picture.  It was overcast so we decided to go to the ranger station (closed) and then just explore.   This is a view of Lake Wenatchee from a view point high above. Some of the back roads were still closed.  They had more snow this year then ever.       Went to Los Companieros , a favorite Mexican restaurant in Leavenworth.  Decided just to do some more exploring and headed out Icicle Road, Hoping to get to a trail called Icicle Gorge, but cons

We finally got away from Lewiston, ID on Tuesday  after the windshield wiper motor came in.  Got to Crescent Bar around 6:00 pm.  Beautiful weather and we got a spot facing the water.  The next day, we played around on the tennis court , pickleball of course, and then went out in the kayaks for a couple of hours.  Wednesday was windy and we couldn’t really do anything, but on Thursday and Friday,  Pickleball first, then a couple of hours of kayaking.  High 80’s during the day and 50’s at night.  It’s a rough life, but somebody has to do it.  We’re heading to Leavenworth today.

Now we’re in Lewiston, ID. We got here on Wednesday, June15th. Of course, we didn’t have to use our windshield wipers except to clean the windshield until we left Boise, heading for Lewiston. It’s raining, and they stop in mid stream. Luckily it’s not raining too hard and we’re able to see enough to get into town. On Thursday morning, we’re supposed to meet Jessie Dawson and some of the other pickleball players at the Airport Tennis courts to play. But we have to take the rig down to a shop to get the wipers fixed. You know, we’re in the Northwest now and need wipers, not like in Arizona. They order the part and instead of leaving on Sunday as planned, we’ll be leaving on Monday after they get the part in. Being retired, we just change our plans. Thursday is rainy, but not raining. We go meet the other players at the Lewiston High School to measure off the courts for play on Friday. It’s a small tournament, but some decent players. We didn’t have partners for the doubles,

After Bryce Canyon, we thought about going up to the Grand Tetons, then over to see Wayne and Nancy in Clyde Park, MT. After checking the weather, we said “NO WAY” This was Friday, June 10th and it was going to snow in the Grand Tetons that weekend. So we headed to Idaho. Friends, Dennis and Linda Forbes, from Happy Trails came over to the RV Park on Sunday just to check in. On Monday, they picked us up and we headed to the Pickleball courts near their house. Dennis teaches and had around 14-15 players there. The courts are temporary courts on concrete slab, but they have 3 marked off. They had painted the lines on two tennis courts right next door the day before, but they needed to dry. Of course, I forgot my camera that day so no pictures. That evening, we had dinner at Dennis and Linda’s place in Eagle, ID. Nice time and good food, really enjoyed it. On Tuesday, we went to the only real pickleball court in town. Another Dennis has one in his back yard. IT is a very nic

  On Tuesday after “The Wave” we headed out and went to Ruby Inn and RV Park right outside of Bryce Canyon.  Just rested for Tuesday Evening. Next morning we needed to rest my toes from hiking so just went over to Grosvenor Arch in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.   Have you ever seen Baby’s Breath on the plant, I hadn’t.  If you arrange flowers, this area has all the already dried flowers you need. Next we headed for Krodachrome State Park.  They were awarded the name by Kodak after National Geographic did a story on them severalyears back. Thursday, we hiked the Fairyland Trail in Bryce Canyon.  This is the most strenuous hike in Bryce, but is only a 8 mile loop.  The scenery was awesome.   There are so many pictures and so many views, that it’s hard to pick out which ones to post.  It was a fantastic hike with many ups and down.  We really enjoyed it. Today, we just took a 3 mile hike of the Navajo Loop and Queen’s Garden.  It was really crowded.  In all our ot

We finally left Happy Trails on Wednesday Morning, June 1 for our summer travels. The weather was still under 100, but we wanted to get away. Got to DeMotte campground on Wednesday afternoon. This is a NF Campground about 4 miles outside the Grand Canyon North Rim Park, no vacancies in the campground in the park. That’s 4 miles outside the gate, it’s another 12 miles to the actually park area. That afternoon we drove over to the East Rim View Pt. It was cloudy, but still the view was great. We were just out checking the area in case we could find a good spot to dry camp for free. (in DeMotte’s it’s dry camping, for a fee) What a difference in temp! It was close to 100 in Surprise, and 334 miles north still in AZ, the high was 74 with the low at 28. Thursday we decided to do some jeep touring to get used to the altitude change. Just on dirt roads without even going into 4 wheel drive we were able to see a part of the rim in the Kaibab Forest. The above shot is a panoramic