Winter Excursion 9, Day 243

We spent most of the day in camp. Cath did some laundry and I continued to spruce up the truck.

We did venture out to Wally World for a few supplies. As I've mentioned before the traffic was horrible.

Back at camp we sat outside enjoying the 70 degree weather. We are hoping it stays like this!

Winter Excursion 9, Day 242

We left camp around 1030. First stop was for gas. The price of gas here is the highest we've seen since we started this trip. It's $4.39 on post! 

Next stop was the car wash. The truck was filthy, dusty, and bugs smashed all over the front. It now looks new again.

We went to the Ft Lewis commissary for a few items. We were totally impressed. It is one of the nicest commissaries we've ever seen. 

In the afternoon we headed to a local brewery for a little refreshment and some soft pretzels.

Back at camp we sat outside and enjoyed the shade. It's been a fun, relaxing day! 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 241

We left Liberty Lake around 0830 and started the 325 mile drive to Joint Base Lewis McChord Fam Camp near Tacoma, WA.

We started seeing some more snow capped mountains just to the west of Spokane, WA.

We got this view of Mt Rainer just before we crossed the Columbia River.

This is I-90 going down into the Columbia Gorge.

The drive was not too bad until we got off of I-90 onto Rt 18. This was about 50 miles from our destination. That last 50 miles took over 2 hours. The traffic in the Seattle-Tacoma I-5 corridor is horrible. We saw two accidents and had numerous stops and slowdowns. After 275 miles of interstate this 2 hours of traffic was nerve racking to say the least.

We finally got to our campsite. It is the same one we were in 6 years ago with Jacob.

It has lots of shade which was nice as temps are hovering around 90. We will be here for five days.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 240

We did absolutely nothing today! It was relaxing!

We did manage to play a card game in the afternoon.

We did get a few pics of some of the local residents.

Here's a nice whitetail.

Look close (zoom in) here's a nice young moose.

We are off to more points west tomorrow.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 239

We left camp at 0800 and drove 140 miles to Dayton, WA to visit Cath's sister, Maggie, and her husband Bob. It was a nice drive on the backroads through eastern Washington. Along the way we saw deer and even a moose!

We had a fun visit with Maggie and Bob. They took us to lunch at a great bakery in Dayton. The sandwiches were delicious.

We left around 1500 and drove back to camp.

It was a fun day!  

Winter Excursion 9, Day 238

We left Lolo, MT around 1000 and made the short (197 miles) drive to Liberty Lake Regional Park Camp Ground southeast of Spokane, WA.

We stopped at a rest area on I-90 to eat lunch. This rest area looked very familiar, think Deja Vue. We thought about it a few minutes and realized we had stopped here with Jacob on the way to the Family Reunion 6 years ago!

After gaining an hour, we're on West Coast time now, we arrived at our campground around 1330.

Here's Site #6. It is very unlevel fore and aft! Notice the truck.

The campground was almost empty when we arrived, but was full by dinner time. It's a small campground with around 20 sites.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 237

We slept in this morning and then had a nice breakfast. We did a little camp maintenance and relaxed.

We took a short drive to Lolo Hot Springs. The landscape scenery was beautiful, but the Hot Springs are just a ski resort that is for the most part closed right now.

We played some cards and then headed out for an early dinner.  Lolo Creek Steakhouse is famous in this area. It opens at 1700. We got there at 1645 and there was already a line to get in when it opens. I would guess by 1715 every table was occupied and there was a waiting list for folks still outside. The food and drink was excellent. Here's a few pics.

We had a good time and a great meal!