Spokane and Family!

I last left you in Boulder with weather threatening, again.    The nasty clouds moved away over the plains and the anticipated storm was a non-event.   Phew.

Since then, we had an uneventful (but very windy) trip through southern Wyoming, northern Utah and into southern Idaho to a few days stay in Heyburn, Idaho.  

We usually try to stop at the little Riverside RV Park, owned and run by the City of Heyburn.    It sits beside the Snake River and is very green, and quiet and run by a couple of friendly hosts.    It's a great place to just decompress and relax after days of interstate driving.     

See Dave in the shade?

There isn't a lot to do in the immediate area....City of Rocks is about 50 miles south and on my list......but this time we really wanted to sit in the shade and rest up.    This long driving trip is beginning to catch up with us.       We enjoy walking beside the River in the morning or evening, when the heat calms down a bit.

Small pleasures....we discovered acres and acres of a new to us crop - Sugar Beets! Thanks to Google, we finally figured out what it was, our best guess to that point was Kale!  The other enormous fields were planted in Barley (headed to the huge, nearby Coors Barley plant), and potatoes (ear marked for the McCain french fry producer's processing plant).   

The other "interesting" thing we discovered was in a large grocery store.    We thought it was a grocery store, the large sign on the building said "Stokes Freshfood Market".    Except it was a good-sized hardware store fully integrated into the grocery store.     At the end of the plumbing section aisle we found lunchmeat.   Walking through the salad dressings we came upon an area of electrical supplies and shelves of assorted nuts and bolts.     Very disorienting to say the least....  We got all the things on our list in one stop!       Ah well, the things you find on the road.

Fully rested we left Heyburn, drove through Oregon and into Washington to the last planned stop before Spokane - Walla Walla.     We had decided on a couple days there, to do a few wineries and dinner at another favorite - Brasserie Four - but an imminent arrival cut our visit short.   

Probably one of the best meals we've had on this trip! 

Way more important things happening in Spokane.   She's here and healthy and 10 days early!    Maybe she couldn't wait to meet her family!     More to follow. 

Jesse and Annabelle