Friday, 29 July, Little Diamond Lake, WA

We really slept in this morning, all three of us.  I think we really needed it.
When we did get up I took Bella out for a little walk and then we sat out and enjoyed our coffee.
About 10ish we decided to go for a little walk.  Rob showed Bella and I the clubhouse, pool and the little lake.  We walked back, grabbed some water and headed out.
We wanted to check out the area.  First we headed into the town of Newport which is basically where we are.  We found some really cool Wood carving Statues.  Would have love to have had either one of them up in Tahoe.

 This one has a bear within, a couple cubs, and the whole thing is shaped like a bear

This one just has bears with in and on.  It's stained and the address is carved into it as well.

Next we crossed the border and went in to Idaho.  We stopped in at the Albeni Falls Dam and Power Plant.  We did a little walking around this place and checked out the Visitor Center for some Brochures.

From there we went into a cute little town called Sand Point.  I believe we will be seeing more of this area as it is supposed to have some awesome Mountain Biking trails.  That will be for another day.  Today, though, we stopped in at a restaurant called Spuds and had lunch.  Rob had a BLT on a giant homemade hogie roll.  I had a tortilla salad.  Mine was quite yummy, but huge.

 We sat on their patio overlooking the marina.  It was fun, as there was a lot of activity.  Boats, Stand Up Paddlers, jet skies, walkers, etc.  It was wonderful.

 From there we drove up to Schweitzer Mountain Resort. 

 It was beautiful.  This is another place that is supposed to have good mountain biking.  They have a lot going on at the base camp. They have giant checkers and chess, they have a rock climbing wall, a bouncy flipping thing.  They had a big zip line

In the middle of the field is the landing platform for the zip line.

Here's a better shot of it.

And here is a picture of the resort center.

We went for a 2.5 mile hike out to a place called picnic point.  We followed a map of various ski trails to get out to it and had some nice views along the way.

This one is looking back at the resort and the ski runs.  During the summer they run a couple of the ski lifts.  One just to take people up to the top to check it out, and one that carries bikes so the crazies can ride down the ski runs.  We don't find that to be especially fun.  We'd rather hike.

Picnic point was a nice spot to have a snack and to enjoy the view of Lake Pend Oreille. There were some other lovely views that Rob captured as well.

 Like He and I

And Bella and I

We captured this one on the way back to the Resort center.

When we got back we desired adult beverages so we stopped in at a Wine, cheese, and beer bar.  I ordered a glass of wine, Rob a beer and we split a cheese and fruit platter that included french baguette and olives.  We sat out on a patio with a lovely view.

After we finished we headed back to the car.  Bella was off leash, as were a couple other dogs that she decided to make friends with.  One was a big goofy lab pup named Juno.  Bella kept scolding him.  He kept jumping at her and pawing at her and she kept nipping and yipping at him.  We moved on and she encountered Haggred, a very big Saint Bernard. She wasn't quite sure about him, but she tried to be brave.

From there we returned to our home on wheels.

I enjoyed a glass of wine and the peace and quiet, as well as the nice smells of a camp fire and then went to bed.  It was another fun day.