Clarkston, WA and Change of Plans

We arrived in Clarkston on Wednesday, June 26, in the midst of a thunderstorm.  We stopped for gas in Lewiston, Idaho, just across the river from Clarkston, and some of the streets were flooded!  The next day, the heat wave hit and the temperatures have been very high.

Here's what we saw a lot of during our drive from Wenatchee to Clarkston.  This is wheat area, as well as other grains and crops.   

In Clarkston, we like to stay at Granite Lake Premier RV Resort.  Our site, #36, faced the part of the Snake River called Granite Lake. 

See our bicycles in the picture?  Just beyond the green grass in front of our motorhome is a paved greenbelt multi-use path that follows the Snake River for 8 miles.  On Thursday, Dave and I rode the full 16 miles round trip.  On Friday, Dave played golf at Quail Ridge while I rode 13 miles along the bike path.  The only problem was that it was HOT, so we had to do it all early in the day.

The path from the RV sites to the bike path. 

On Friday morning when I finished my bike ride I saw this sternwheeler docked along the river.  The Queen of the West was being cleaned and rubbish removed.  It stayed in that spot for a couple of days and departed on June 29. To see the itinerary of the sternwheeler along the Columbia and Snake Rivers, click here. 

On Saturday, the weather was so hot that we decided to forego our attempts at exercise, and go sightseeing in the car instead.  Our destination was the Snake River Road.

We couldn't drive as far as Hell's Canyon on this road, but we saw some spectacular scenery.

Boaters and sunbathers were enjoying the hot weather.

In the afternoon, we drove to the Idaho side of the Snake River and explored Hell's Gate State Park.  We visited the new Discovery Center and watched the 30-minute movie about Lewis and Clark and their journey through Idaho.

From the grounds of the Discovery Center, we could see what I call "Big Rock" on the Washington side of the river between Clarkston and Asotin.  We had biked by there.  I don't know the actual name of that rock.

A view of the Snake River from the Discovery Center.

Also located in the state park was the new Jack O'Connor Center.  Do any of you know who he was?  I didn't know, but I learned that he was a famous big game hunter and author.  The Center houses his collection.    

We looked at the very nice camping spots, a few of which had full hookups, and as we drove back out of the Hell's Gate State Park, we saw this occupied osprey nest.

Now, about that change of plans.  We decided it was too hot for us in Clarkston, and was only going to get hotter.  We had planned to go from there to the Tri-Cities, WA, but it was predicted to be even hotter there.  So we decided to head for home on Sunday. 

We are now at home and it's hot here, too, but we will only be here for one day, and then we'll head to the coast, specifically Astoria, where the temperatures are much cooler.  So in a way, we'll be following the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the sternwheeler, from the Snake River to the mouth of the Columbia River.  As Captain William Clark wrote in his journal when they finally reached the Pacific Ocean, (sic) "Ocian in view!  O! The joy!"