Mead, WA
Monday, September 30
Time to move campsites - finally! After staying in Coeur d’ Alene for the past week, I was ready to move onto a new adventure. Andi was returning from Minneapolis today, so after Janie, Aden, Tory and I were up and dressed I unhooked the RV and readied it for travel.
Before we left Coeur d’ Alene, we had to drop off our rental car. Janie drove the rental car to Enterprise while I followed in the RV with the kids. The drop-off process was fast and easy, and the four of us were on our way to the Spokane Airport by 8:30am.
We arrived about 30 minutes before Andi’s flight arrived. I parked in the cell phone / waiting parking lot and pulled out the slide on the RV to give us some room. Tory and I did a little writing practice while we waited.
Soon, Andi sent a text message to say his plane arrived. I swung the RV through Arrivals, Andi jumped into the RV, and away we went. I’d made reservations for us to camp at an apple orchard that evening in the gorgeous Greenbluff area north of Spokane, but I don’t think Andi liked my plan of touring around apple orchards all day. He suggested we visit the nearby town of Newport, WA instead.
While we mulled over plans, Andi parked the RV in a nearby Ramada Inn parking lot and we made lunch. Hands down, the best feature of our particular set-up is the ability to pull-over and eat wherever we are. We do this almost daily! I set slices of deli meat, beef sticks, cheese, cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, hummus, sliced apples and crackers on the table and we all assembled our own plates of food.
After lunch, we drove an hour northeast of Spokane to Newport, Washington. There wasn't too much to do in this sleepy town on a Monday in October. Andi parked the RV at the old-fashioned soda called Owen’s and the five of us — Andi, Janie, Tory, Aden, and I — walked around downtown.
We decided to hunt for a geocache and found one in front of an old antique store. Janie had never geocached before, so the kids were excited to show her how it worked.
Tory found the geocache hiding in a big wooden box, and the kids were excited to see it had trinkets inside for them to trade. Aden picked a baseball, but threw a tantrum when we told him he’d have to leave one of his trinkets behind. He knows how geocachers work, but wasn’t willing to give up his tiny plastic polar bear. We all waited for Aden to make a decision — baseball or polar bear. Finally, he decided to keep his polar bear and leave the baseball for someone else to find.
The five of us continued to walk down the streets of Newport, stopping by the library so the kids could look at books and play with the toys for a few minutes, and then ending back at Owen’s Old-Fashioned Soda for ice cream.
Andi and Aden split a hot fudge sundae, and Tory decided she wanted one of those for herself. Owen’s made their own ice cream flavors and I loved that they were served their desserts in old-fashioned glass dishes. After we enjoyed our ice cream treats, we piled back into the RV.
I suggested we go back to Greenbluff since I’d already made a reservation to stay at an apple orchard. I knew how pretty that area was having visiting with Janie and the kids on Friday. Andi thought camping at a state park sounded better, so he drove the RV to Riverside State Park just outside of town. Unfortunately when we arrived, a sign posted at the gate said the state park was closed for winter. I suggested we drive back to Greenbluff where I already had a reservation that evening, so that’s where we headed.
We arrived to Hidden Acres Orchard in Mead, Washington around 6:00pm. The drive-way to the orchard was long and winding, and we weren’t sure how far into the orchard we should drive. An older woman came out to greet us on the road. We let her know we had a reservation through Harvest Host (an RV membership that provides camping at breweries, wineries, farms, and museums), and she told us that the farmer left for a family emergency earlier that afternoon. The woman called another relative who agreed to let us inside the farm gate to camp for the night. As we pulled in, the farmer’s five-year-old daughter came out to greet us. Tory and Aden were so excited to meet the girl, and the three of them promptly ran off into the apple orchard to play.
The woman said we could park anywhere in the orchard, so Andi selected a spot off the side of the road near the tire maze. The setting was beautiful with rows of apple trees around us and Mt. Spokane in the background.
Andi grilled a steak for dinner which we sliced on top of salad greens. It was a quiet night in the orchard. Tonight’s forecast called for the area’s first frost.
