Cedars Inn Spokane Liberty Lake

My friend Diane just reminded me that I hadn't finished the story with the jade earrings. Here is a photo of the finished product. I love them. The jade is actually a very pale green color (all jade starts out white and is affected by other minerals as to the colors). The settings are silver and I am very happy with them indeed.

Here I am trying to pack for yet another trip. Everything out ready to put 1/2 back....then another 1/2 back in a day or so. The good news is that we have really no restrictions on weight (other than the standard 2-bags at 50lbs each) and neither Southwest nor Mexicana is charging for baggage. No way I'll need that baggage limitation but I still worry about having to carry the stuff around!
Spokane, Washington, United States nomadgal

Finally got the truck back, all fixed and running beautifully. Decided to get on the road, though it was already 2 pm. Headed south along Flathead Lake through green forests and valleys to I-90, then west, west, west. All uphill, what a climb, to Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, then downhill into Washington State. Spent almost two hours trying to find Riverside State Park in the city of Spokane, finally set up the camper and tried to settle down for the night.

... UK – and for anyone who has never heard of it this is rodeo for under sixes or those under 40lbs.  The kids are dressed in chaps and given a helmet and then loaded onto a sheep – the longest ride wins.  We keeled over with laughter to see these little kids gripping on to the sheep then swinging under their bellies and dropped to the floor.  This would be a great crowd puller in the UK.  The kids that won were then going to be in the grand final on the Sunday and the ...

... from London and having had the luxury of sampling some of the best restaurants in the world, our expectations were not that high.  The chef was leaving the next day to start a bistro in San Francisco so he was excited at what he had prepared for us.  He introduced each course with a tantalising description told us how he had done what and why (working with corn so it does not get too sweet").  We sampled corn chowder which was light and fluffy, had our ...

... at home and this was a Ford Focus but that didn’t stop him breaking the world record rally course time and nearly giving Steve a heart attack on the way! We got there in one piece and off we went to the clubhouse to sign in. Here I found that we were playing a top 50 US course famous for one particular hole "The floating green at Coeur d’Alene!" – the ...

... poem about two loyal friends who mined and one promised the other that should he die that he would cremate him so he finishes his day warm.  It is funny how little country /western songs you know especially when our music library only has a few Johnny Cash cds so we are fairly green on Tom’s country/ blue grass music repertoire.  Mind you he was good and we sang along when we could, thankfully the American contingent held their own. 

... br>Ufem wäg zrug hämm** no amene see ghalte, das isch dänn äs panorama gsi. Ab** lueged doch sälb**, ich find äs chunnt sogar uf dä fotene ei*****masse üb**e au wänns in ächt no viel schön** usgseh hät.

Am zweite tag hämm** eus dänn id wildnis gwagt und händ drum fascht 10km schott**strass uf eus resp. Und** d'räd** vo eusem 'toyota 4runn**' gno. So hämm** en ändlich mal chli a sini gränze bracht, isch ja ...

... and never grip the side of the horse with your legs.  The stirrups were longer and you bottom wedged into the saddle pretending that you were balancing a bowl of punch between your legs with a curved back – as if you were riding a Harley. Forget posture, slouch those shoulders and you are off.  The only similarity was that the balls of your feet were on the stirrups. 

It was hard to erase all that we learnt and we looked a couple of ...

... aunt, uncle and brother and wife.  This world is small.

Our log cabin was spacious, comfortable and clean.  Everything laid on with a view of the valley and the horses.  We freshened up and started to unpack the RV and then it was dinner and a chance to find out who the Green’s knew that we knew and meet our other guests, a lovely couple from Philly called Siggy and Nancy who we have nicknamed Sid and Nancy.

We were invited to a ...