Day 18: Columbia Valley

Another North American Road Trip

Day 18


Monday, July 6th


With no morning hike to tempt us out of our tents, we slept in, had an oatmeal breakfast at the campsite, and drove out around 10:30. 


Upon a second sighting of a group of “goats” from yesterday outside of Radium, we have determined that, perhaps, those are the sheep. None of them had the iconic big spiraling horns I was expecting. And with their coats shedding off they are a bedraggled little flock.  




We stopped in Radium at the information centre and asked about a hike for today. They gave us a recommendation in the Columbia valley, a HooDoo hike. 


We drove South and followed the instructions on the pamphlet to the trailhead. We hiked up the trail, until we were on top of the hoodoo formation. The views out over the Columbia River, near its headwaters, was very lovely. 









We were hot, and the mosquitos were again targeting Bryan, so we hiked quickly back down to the cruck. The estimate for how long the hike would take was 1.5 hour. We did it in 50 minutes. 


Then we headed on down the road and started thinking about lunch. Depending on whose watch you trusted, it was either 12:30 or 1:30 at this time. We chose a town up ahead on our route, and I started looking at reviews and comments to pick our restaurant. I decided on Delight-full.  The prices were reasonable, the portions generous. I got a turkey, avocado, and bacon club sandwich. Just what I wanted.  And both the boys built a bowl with chicken and rice. Yum! 





Then we kept driving.  We crossed the border back into the U.S. and added Idaho to the list of states we’ve visited on this roadtrip. We are meeting friends who have offered to let us stay with them at a family home near Sandpoint. When we arrived at Sandpoint, we were just a bit ahead of them, so we decided to walk around in the pedestrian area. 




Our friends recommended an ice cream place, the Panhandle - and I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only did they have four flavors for me to choose from, but two of them included chocolate. I got myself a split scoop and enjoyed chocolate pecan and peanut butter chip. Delicious! This is what non-dairy ice cream should be like. (It should be made with a non-dairy milk, not water.)


Then we met up with our friends. We freshened up and went out to dinner at Dish Cafe overlooking the river. I had the most amazing Thai mango salad. 




Then we went for an after dinner walk through a park and back through the neighborhood. Tomorrow we will go do Silverwood waterpark with their family. We are looking forward to it! 

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