Last Day in Newport, WA

What are we going to do today for our last day here in Little Diamond Thousand Trails/KOA Park? I dunno.....let's see what Sparky comes up with! The day didn't start off very well. Sparky woke up at 5:00 AM, which is totally unlike her. Eldo is the early riser around here, what's going on? (I dunno...I just couldn't sleep this morning!) It's a good thing she did. The "neighbors" across the road have a black lab that they just let run loose and do his business wherever he feels like it, which, for the second day in a row, happens to be on our campsite. After watching the elderly gentleman let his dog out, then watching him watch his dog poop in our yard at 5:30 AM this morning and do nothing about cleaning it up, Sparky got mad and marched over there a few minutes later, not even bothering to change out of her p.j.'s but just throwing a coat on over them. BUT she did collect herself before speaking. (E. asks with a surprised look, "You went over there in your PAJAMAS?!" and just shakes his head). Now, before any dog lovers get upset, know that Sparky used to have dogs, several of them over the years, even a black lab for quite a few and she loved her dogs. She just doesn't appreciate a dog being let run loose in a campground and having them shit where they shouldn't. Let's follow the campground rules, that's all she asks. It says right on the campground brochure, "If we poop, you gotta scoop!"

So I march over there, and calmly say (although I am fuming), "Sir, we would appreciate it if you would clean up your dog's shit when he shits on our campsite. You know, they are supposed to be on a leash and not be running around loose." (Having been a former school teacher, Sparky is big on rules and when Sparky uses the word "shit" instead of "doing his business",  or "poop" she is really mad!) Sorry about the language. The guy's son, who didn't have anything to do with the dog this morning, and who was about in his twenties, was like, "Oh-- sorry." The elderly guy (no longer a gentleman in my book) grunted, turned his back on me and went inside. Gr-r-r-r-r......That is the first time we have encountered a careless dog owner but it probably won't be the last. Then, to add insult to injury and especially to the dog, they left him alone for the entire day from about 8:00 this morning till well past seven this evening. He cried and whimpered and howled sorrowful cries most of the day.

OK, I've had my rant today....Eldy is wondering what we can do today to move on...I know, let's take Sparky to Michael's Craft store this morning! That's the ticket! (What a guy!) One more visit to the town of Spokane? Maybe we'll check out the 21 hole disc golf course in Spokane on North Columbia Circle on the southwest side of town. Well, after seeing how far it was to the disc golf course (over an hour) we decided to conserve on gas in the car and money so we didn't go anywhere and didn't do anything but plan some more for the upcoming months. I knitted like crazy to keep my ADD in check today and tried to stay out of trouble for the rest of the day by not bothering any neighbors. I did make friends with a little girl named Olivia and her grandma. Olivia wanted to show me where you can see squirrels on a hilltop behind her camper. I love talking to little kids and get all caught up in their enthusiasm. ( E. says that's because my Sparky is a kid herself!) Yup, I sure am! I don't ever want to get completely grown up.

I rode my bike for five miles around the park and down some county roads this morning. Saw a flock of wild turkeys cross the road in front of me and three deer. No photos, wasn't fast enough for them! Went for another bike ride this evening around seven and saw another deer. We're going to miss the pine forest, the wonderful smell of the pines, and the peaceful park here. I would say we are going to miss the cool nighttime temperatures which have been in the high forties and low fifties, but it's going to be colder at night at Glacier, in the thirties. (Woo-hoo! Snuggling weather!)  We would definitely stay here again on the Thousand Trails side of Little Diamond/KOA park.

Off we go tomorrow to Coram, Montana, less than five miles from the entrance of Glacier National Park. It's going to be about a 270 mile drive, piece of cake for Eldy, but according to the GPS, it's a 6 hour drive. We'll be taking highway 2 east most of the way.  You can't go a more direct route because of mountains and no roads.  Eldy drives at 55 miles an hour for better fuel mileage, so we have to figure that in as well when we drive.

Photos in and around the blog are from the last couple of days here in Newport. Nothing exciting going on but butterflies flitting around....  :-) But it's relaxing... (If Sparky can sit still long enough to watch 'em! says E.)

We will be on the road tomorrow and hopefully we'll have good internet access and enough activities to keep posting daily! If you don't see a post, it's because of a bad internet connection or a really dull day. (WHAT? Never a dull day around Eldo and Sparky). Truth is, yes, we have dull and boring days, but Sparky tries to keep those to a minimum..Hmmm-n-m-m, did I hear a faint sigh in the background?.....See you on the highway tomorrow....