Friday, September 9, 2016

Making Travel Plans for Fall and Winter…

Hidden Lake Trail Glacier NP MT 122

Our month here in Kalispell Montana is nearly up and it seems to have flown by  although I am starting to get a bit antsy to get back on the road. It probably hasn’t helped that the last several days have been chilly with intermittent rain showers. I have never liked temperatures in the 30’s and after a few mornings of it, I have had enough!

Trip to Two Medicines GNP 005Trip to Two Medicines GNP 012

I have begun to map out our fall and winter plans and thankfully it seems to be coming together. Before talking about them I want to mention today’s photos. These are all photos taken of Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park.It is definitely one of the gems of the park. This beautiful natural lake puts its many moods on display depending on the given weather each day. We just love this lake and decided we would share some of its beauty in this blog about our future plans.

DSCN7202Trip to Two Medicines GNP 015

We will leave Kalispell on Monday and head over to Libby, Montana for a day or two to take in its sights. From there we will overnight at a casino in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Next we will move down to Couer d’Alene Idaho for a few days followed by a five day stay at a COE park south of Pasco Washington on Lake Umatilla. Then we will wander along the Columbia River until we stop in one of our favorite big cities, Portland Oregon, for a week.

Hidden Lake Trail Glacier NP MT 124Trip to Two Medicines GNP 013

Moving from Portland there are no reservations so we will simply figure out a way to get from there to our next reservation on November 4th for a month-long stay in San Diego at Mission Bay RV Park. After San Diego we head east and will spend a week in Gold Canyon Arizona on December 19th and then a month at Mesa Regal in Mesa Arizona.

Hidden Lake Trail Glacier NP MT 126Hidden Lake Trail Glacier NP MT 123

After our month at Mesa Regal we are planning something different as we’ll head across the border to Mexico to spend 10 days at Puerto Penasco with friends Steve and Mona Lisa along with a few of their friends. Hopefully we will hear soon about these February reservations so we can begin in earnest to plan around that.

Hidden Lake Trail Glacier NP MT 128Trip to Two Medicines GNP 007

Additionally, in the middle of all this we will fly into Raleigh, North Carolina to attend our daughter Katie’s graduation ceremony. She will have completed her Doctorate in Physical Therapy by then and we don’t want to miss seeing her walk the stage. During those 4-5 days we will be leaving our motorhome at a Freightliner Dealer to have it serviced.

Hidden Lake Trail Glacier NP MT 125Hidden Lake Trail Glacier NP MT 127

Well those are our fairly solid plans including some locked in reservations mixed with ambiguity, my kind of fall and winter travel… 

19 comments:

  1. How long in Portland? We'll be there October 14-16 and 27-30 on our way to and from Vietnam. Congrats to Katie. Any ideas where she'll settle?

    I get your dislike of the 30 degree days/nights. We feel your pain! Travel safely

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are in Portland from 9-27 to 10-3 so it looks like we will miss you two... are you making a run to San Diego this year? Will be there most of November. Katie will likely stay in the area initially and then move on from there.

      Delete
    2. Unfortunately, no. Penny is in Detroit the first week (I am looking to go somewhere that week) and we are in London after Thanksgiving. Visitors and other committments fill most of the rest of the month. We'll figure something out in the future.

      Delete
  2. SHRIMP! Hope you are in Puerto Penasco when the boats come in. We'll be getting ours across the bay in San Felipe. Sounds like you have a great Fall/Winter 'jello' schedule in the works.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are certainly hoping to bring back some great shrimp...

      Delete
  3. Yes. How long in the Portland area and when? We have a spot kind of close.

    We're heading to Kalispell on the 19th and thinking we may be passing you on the way.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks like the south west and a bit of Mexico is in the works, hope it all works out, enjoy the winter plans. We find a month in one place is way is quite a long time for us too, so very seldom do it if ever anymore. Enjoy the coming months.

    ReplyDelete
  5. One of our regrets is that we didn't stop and spend some time in Couer d’Alene. We were in a hurry to meet our daughter at Yellowstone. Dang.
    We love Portland too!
    Sounds like some great plans for the fall/winter.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hope to see you down the road. We plan to be in the Mesa area in Nov and Dec. Travel safe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It would be fun to see you two! Hopefully in Mesa!

      Delete
  7. I have many questions about your residence. Are you from Oregon? I understand that in living full time in an rv you need a domicile or a home state. Do you have a state? How long must you live there to be a residence? Do you use someone's address? We live in CA, have a daughter in Texas and two sons here in CA. Going to Texas means changing our Medicare and Supplimental, all our insurances, and bank. Do you have a state for that? Thank you. We are thing to figure out what to do but I'm interested in what is your status? We leave in March but will have to make changes to insurance in December. Thank you for your help and enjoy your traveling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are residents of Texas and our daughter in NC gets our mail for us. There is no length of time you must live there to be a resident.

      Delete
  8. Kootenai Brewing! We'll see you in San Diego if not before on our treks south.

    ReplyDelete
  9. We're in Havre tonight and it's going to be cold tomorrow. Good thing we brought winter clothes with us when we thought we might have to spend the winter waiting for the house to sell. I really thought September would be a beautiful month to be doing this trek. Hope you find some better weather.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are going to be boondocking in Libby Monday night and we too expect to be cold there...

      Delete
  10. Whew, lots of plans! Mesa Regal is our favorite park in the Phoenix area. Can't beat the acitivites and entertainment! I remember you had to ride bikes there last year :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. In Portland if you have not been there already consider visiting Cascade Brewery, the premier "sour beer" brewery in the country. http://www.cascadebrewingbarrelhouse.com/

    ReplyDelete