Northwest Loop

September 2 & 3, 2005

The trip has started and we are happy campers. Our first night was at Goose Lake in South East Oregon (left), then the Winnemucca RV Park in Nevada (right).

September 4, 2005

Last stop in Nevada was the Mountain Shadows RV park at Wells.

Nevada seems to be very dry, barren and somewhat boring, but we are just passing through so we may not be seeing all there is to see.

September 5 & 6, 2005

We took a brief look at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and, of course, checked to make sure all that white stuff was really salt. We then passed by the Great Salt Lake, but failed to take a picture of it (It looks pretty much like a big lake out in the desert.) and ended up at Bear Lake State Park.

September 7 & 8, 2005

We spent a couple of nights at the Grand Teton National Park, so we had a full day to drive up close.

September 9 - 11, 2005

We spent three days at Yellowstone, then decided to leave before we got snowed in.

September 12 & 13, 2005

We stopped for a couple of days at the Spring Creek Campground and Trout Ranch in Big Timber, Montana, just to catch our breath -- and dinner.

September 14, 2005

One night spent at Indian Camp RV Park in Wyoming on the way to Devils Tower. Nice enough place for a quick stop.

September 15, 2005

The Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming is rather impressive and gets even more so as you get closer and closer.

September 16 - 18, 2005

We saw the Crazy Horse Memorial, visited the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, drove through Custer State Park, then spent an extra day relaxing at our campsite.

September 19 - 20, 2005

The South Dakota Badlands is well worth visiting, if you have never seen them.

September 21 - 22, 2005

Before leaving South Dakota, we stopped at the bustling Spearfish KOA campground for a couple of nights resting up. The park was not completely empty, as we did have one or two distant neighbors.

September 23 - 24, 2005

We dry camped in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota. It was cloudy with scattered showers, but worth the look around.

September 25, 2005

We had a one night stay in the very busy KOA in Billings, Montana.

September 26 - 27, 2005

We took a slight detour just south of Great Falls, Montana, to check out the local ranchers' hay sculpture contest. All the various artwork was constructed mostly from hay.

Then we spent a couple of days at Dick's RV Park in Great Falls, just resting up.

September 28 - 30, 2005

We drove up the "Going To The Sun Road" at Glacier National Park but found we were only headed up into the clouds instead. Then the rain started so we settled for some stay-at-home time at the Meadow Mountain RV Park in Hungry Horse, Montana.

October 1, 2005

The Polson KOA overlooking Montana's Flathead Lake was a nice place to stop and we would probably have stayed longer had the weather been more cooperative.

October 2 - 3, 2005

We headed west trying to get through an east moving weather front and ended up at the Blackwell RV Park in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho where the Spokane River enters Coeur d'Alene Lake. Right on the river and probably a nice spot if you were here for water sports. Very wide open with a feeling of being in a drive-in movie parking lot.

October 4 - 6, 2005

Next stop was the Icicle River RV Resort in Leavenworth, Washington, where we just happened to luck into being there for the Leavenworth Oktoberfest.

October 7 - 8, 2005

We spent a couple of nights at the Midway RV Park in Centralia, Washington, as a stopover on our way to the Oregon coast.

October 9 - 11, 2005

We spent a couple of nights at Cannon Beach, Oregon where we went strolling on Tolovana Beach with a view of Haystack Rock.

October 12, 2005

We spent our last night at South Beach near Newport, Oregon before heading home.