Cascade - Poison Creek

We left Moscow on Saturday morning, headed back to New Meadows to pick up our boat where we had left it at our neighbor's cabin, and went to the Poison Creek Campground in Cascade where our friends, Ron and Sharon, had moved to finish out their camp hosting job.

We had a nice spot and what is even nicer when we camp by Ron and Sharon, is that they share their electricity with us! We had a good time fishing and visiting with them.

The mosquitoes got pretty bad towards evening, so we ate a meal and spent some time in our screen house.

Terry's brothers (he is the youngest) both came up and camped with us too. They look like the three Howard Musketeers!

Terry's brother Ron out fished everyone by catching this nice bass. He had a hard time deciding whether to eat it or turn it loose. He finally decided to turn it loose.

We left Cascade Lake on Saturday and we are headed to St. Maries, Idaho. Why St. Maries everyone asks. Well, I lived there for about ten years, from age 3-13, and we still have friends there. I will tell you all about it in the next post!

Moscow-Baseball

We left McCormick on July 15 to go to Moscow where our grandson was playing in a state All-Stars baseball tournament. We went as far as Grangeville and spent the night and then went on in to Moscow the next day. We got permission to park in the parking lot right next to the park where the games were held. We found a great spot under a tree, with a picnic table. There was also a nice playground for the kids. It was great because Sean played two games a day and we could eat and hang out where we were parked and didn't have to travel. Shay and his family stayed at my niece's home at night in Pullman, WA, which was only about ten miles away. She and her three kids came to the games each day. My brother, Ron, from West Richland, WA, also showed up for a game. That was an added treat to see him.

We would carry our chairs, blankets, and snacks from field to field to watch the games.

Sean was the pitcher/second baseman/fielder on his regular team in Idaho Falls. He played fielder/second baseman on the All-Stars team. He is a good little player. Their team had some tough luck in the timing of a couple of their games, but they did okay. It was a lot of fun being able to be their with all of them and watching Sean's games.

McCormick

Each year for the last 20+ years, my family has gone camping at McCormick Park on the Snake River at Hell's Canyon, starting the weekend after the 4th of July weekend. My brother Bill and his friends from Oregon started it and the rest of my brothers and sister and families have built on it. There have been years when we have had close to 60 people there all together. Two years ago, all of our kids and their families, except Jill's husband were there. This is the same park where Terry and I were camp hosts for two months last summer. This year, almost everyone pooped out on us. Only us, our daughter Jill and her family and some friends of theirs, and my sister Lorrie showed up on the usual date. I think my brother Bill will be there in August after his 40th !!! class reunion in Emmett. I think that maybe some of us will make a trip down while he is there. Bill forgot to tell us he changed the date! I am not sure he knows that he is the main draw for the get together. I hope someone tells him so that next year we will have more of our family and friends there again! I know that he reads our blog, so this is giving him due notice!

We still had a lot of fun, even with the few that came. Of course, it seems like there is usually a rattlesnake sighting! Jill's husband, Dan, did the honors of cutting it's head off. We found it slithering across the lawn down by the river.

Not all of the kids were brave enough to touch it. But, we can always count on Jill's son, Boe. He seems to never be afraid of things like that.

The fishing was great! Even 4-year-old Kamber could reel those crappie in one after another. We had a big fishfry one night and still took fish home. The pontoon boat is always a great hit on the Snake River. You just have to remember to "duck your head" as we go under the bridge going up to Brownlee Dam. We haven't lost anyone yet going under it, but there is always a first time. As the grandkids get older, they kind of test Grandpa's theory that there just may not be enough room to go under it unless everyone ducks their head!

One hot day we took the boat out and found a nice calm spot. Almost everyone jumped in and got cooled off. Dan and Jill took the plunge together.

Typical of Boe, he did a fancy sumersault into the water!

Kamber was a little more skeptical about getting in. She did eventually get talked into it, though.

They told me the water "wasn't too bad after you got into it." Don't ever believe anyone when they tell you that! It was VERY cold, but refreshing. We couldn't talk Terry into getting in. I think the climb back up into the boat worried him. Thank goodness he was still on the boat to pull the rest of us up!

This is a typical picture of my sister Lorrie and Terry and the main activity of the day, besides eating. We are looking forward to going back in August when Bill gets there, and hope to have a lot more there next year.

Cascade-Blue Heron

After getting hom from Girls Camp at Sagehen, we spent a couple of days in Emmett. We enjoyed having Sunday dinner at the Manwarings. Hopefully, someday they can join us on some more of our adventures. They are supposed to be retired, but we are beginning to wonder! We then left for Blue Heron Campground on the lake in Cascade.

Friends of ours, Ron and Sharon Vickery, are camp hosts at Blue Heron Campground. They invited us to stay at the park as their guests. We had a really nice time. Ron showed us how to catch perch and we had plenty left for both of our freezers after the fish fry.

Our son Ryan and his family--wife Lori and kids Wesley, Ryley, and Chaz--came up and camped with us for a few days. One of the funnest things we did was watch the fireworks set off at Cascade over the lake, in our pontoon boat out in the middle of the lake. What a sight! It was really dark when it was over. The light on the back of our boat is no longer there, so we had to hang a lantern over the back and then use a flashlight to find out spot on the bank where we moored. It must have worked because we had another boat follow us in, using our lights to find their spot. There were so many boats on the lake that it looked like it was on fire with all of the boat lights heading back to camp after the show. I think this will be a really memorable 4th of July for us.

There are a lot of sailboats that use Cascade Lake. In fact, they had a big race the day we left. A lot of them have cabins in them and are self-contained. One year, Cascade was able to get a grant and they put in a floating dump station for boat holding tanks. We went out and took a close look at it.

We took a boat ride one day and Ryan decided to jump in to cool off. Wesley pretty much will do anything his dad does, so he jumped in with him.

Then Ryan talked Chaz in. He thought that was pretty cool. Hopefully he won't think he can just jump off of Grampa's boat any time we are out on it!

He had to talk a little harder to get Ryley in, but he finally succeeded.

The Blue Heron campground used to be used only for day-use, but they changed it an now allow a few RV's to park, and a lot of tents. In fact, on a busy weekend, there get to be almost too many tents. But, we put our tent up for the kids to use and then put up our screenhouse to keep a little space around us. It worked well.

Ryan and Lori have moved a lot during the time they have been married. Hopefully, this is the last move. When we got back from Cascade, Ryan went and got the moving truck and they filled it with all of their stuff. Ryan has a new job in Payson, AZ, where Travis and his family live. He will be the Athletic Trainer for their high school. Hopefully, this will be the last move they will have to make for a long time. We wish them good luck!