Ruby Creek Lodge Cusick

We re entered the USA , at a little boarder crossing in the mountains, nothing there except the US and Canadian customs buildings. The lady customs officer was very pleasant and didn't give us a hard time, although she didn't like our herb garden. We have have had this garden since May when we were in Vermont, so its been across a few borders, but apparently the soil is a problem, and although we explained it was US soil she insisted that I ...

... first 30 miles were steadily uphill and we had a 10 mile descent down into a river valley afterwards. although this descent wasn't the zippiest, it was still a lot of fun because it had a series of wide, sweeping turns that we were taking at 30-35 miles per hour. there were even a couple of instances where we had to slow down to reach the recommended speeds on the signs for autos! at the base of the hill, we met up with the early risers and started in on the ...

... 12 years old and not on a fancy-shmancy road bike like ours. although the last miles dragged on, there were some great views from the hilly vantage points, and later, as we began to approach colville, we were cycling through really nice meadowy/pasture areas. when we hit town, we discovered that our directions to the night's lodgings weren't quite right (what's beginning to become a running trend due to some slightly dodgy mapping software), but after ...

... and Breakfast is our family home of over 6,000 square feet, where we have enjoyed raising our 15 children... Take a stroll and visit nearby Pend Oreille River." This morning a man by the name of George Douglas bought the Stevensons' breakfast in Priest River. Today the rain is pouring down, but Don plods on toward ...

Beautiful weather today; high temps in the upper 60's. Made 30 miles today. Backtracked to the northern outskirts of Spokane to stay at Solar World Estates, at the intersection of Highways 2 and 395, which, according to their website, "provides temporary ...

... about halfway up the lake and stopped for a break on a sandy south-facing beach. We anticipated a nice sunny time on the beach, but virtually as soon as we landed the wind picked up dramatically from the south and turned the calm water into whitecaps and the warm sun into a sunny chill. So we hopped back in the boats and paddled steadily into the wind for a half hour to get back to the Thorofare. Even that was a bit breezy as we headed ...

... Priest Lake, and had highly recommended the experience. We were ready to find a quiet campground away from highways and train whistles and by traveling on a side road for 40 miles, nearly to the Canadian border, we hoped to find that at Priest Lake...and we did. We did a bit of research first at the Sandpoint Ranger District, then later at the Priest Lake RD. We thought we'd take a look at the end of the road, the location of the ...

... round trip. Easy hike on pretty much flat area that ends at a lake and falls - hence the name. Iceberg Lake trail is a must. The first 1/2 mile you ready to kill the person who told you to go on this because it is straight up but it is a gradual climb after that. It is 10 miles round trip but worth ever bit of it. Take a sack lunch and eat at the lake it is unbelievable. You might even see some idiot jump in, we did!

... we got out of there. We finally arrived at East Glacier only to find that I messed up and we were staying at Saint Mary which ended up being where I wanted to stay in the beginning. We stayed and a hotel right at the edge of town within walking distance of the worlds best pie cafe. We ended up eating pie quite a few times. We just chilled the rest of the day.

... of the trail (even some elderly that could barely walk), but it was just me after a while. I wandered around a while out there. Continue driving by the Weeping Wall and Bird Lady Falls. Stopped at a couple points along Lake McDonald for pictures. At about 3pm I decided I might as well continue on all the way home so picked up some Red Bull and drove and drove...