North to somewhere where it's not so hot! The Yukon perhaps?

Nampa, Idaho to Idaho's Panhandle (seeing the sites)
July 28- August 5, 2016

The heat of southern Idaho forced us farther north to check out some areas of Idaho we'd never been to before. We drove north along the beautiful north fork of the Payette river and stopped in the town of Cascade.  It lies along the river on the edge of a large and beautiful valley.  It also borders Lake Cascade, a reservoir that was formed when the river was dammed.  It must be a big ranching area because we saw hundreds and hundreds of cows grazing on the lush green grass of the valley.  They have a beautiful RV park right along the river which provides visitors (especially children) with a very fun place to play.

We were in Cascade to visit Laura's cousins Lee and DeAnn.  They have retired to a wonderful home in this charming town. 




DeAnn and Lee on a portion of their huge deck.  As you can see their house is on a beautiful treed lot.

Although they live on a hill they have built an amazing raised bed garden. 



The Garden - extraordinaire!
It's shored up on the downhill side with big rocks, placed there with a lot of hard work on Lee's part.
They've built a unique and very effective framework over the entire length of the garden (I'm thinking it's
probably 60+ feet long) which they can cover with netting or plastic as needed, depending on the weather conditions.
On the left hand side of this picture a section is covered with netting while the next section is covered with plastic and the section on the far right isn't covered at all.  It's all set up with hoses for watering and the vegies they get from it are delicious.  Believe it or not Lee has a full size Troy-built rototiller which he uses to till the garden soil when needed!  Wish I could see that action!

We stayed at their house for several days and we had such a good time with them, talking, seeing the town and playing tile rummy.

The rivers of Idaho draw huge crowds of people to the state to experience white water at it's best and the north fork of the Payette is one of those rivers. The town of Cascade has a beautiful new park (Kelly's Whitewater Park) which allows residents and tourists to enjoy a white water experience without having to float miles and miles. 



Kelly's Whitewater Park in Cascade, Idaho.
A bridge over the fast water channel in the foreground takes you to the man made
island where you can practice your white water skills in kayak's, canoes or tubes.
You can also just play in the water if you prefer.

This is the fast water channel alongside the man made island.
The park offers rental equipment all types of white water fun.

The park also has volleyball nets, picnic facilities and a beautiful building for programs, etc.  I believe the entire facility was financed by a wealthy individual in the area.  What a gift to the community.

Although we hadn't planned on it, our next stop was Riggins, Idaho.  We just happened to spot a small campground from the road as we were driving into town.  It looked so inviting we turned around and went back to check it out.  It turned out to be the most wonderful find.  Our shaded site was right along the Little Salmon River.

Looking downriver from our campsite.
It doesn't get any better than this.

Looking upriver from our campsite!

It was such a pleasant place (and temperature) we brought
the computers out to catch up on email, etc.

 We continued northward, taking scenic (and very curvy) routes in order to see as much of the countryside as possible.  Our circuitous route took us along the Clearwater River, through some beautiful high farmland, along the east side of Lake Coeur d'Alene, through more farmland and on up to Bonners Ferry, just south of the Canadian border.

The Clearwater River

Northern Idaho Roadside.

The Kootenay River at Bonner's Ferry, Idaho

 We thoroughly enjoyed our time visiting Northern Idaho. It has such beautiful scenery and an interesting history which we learned as we visited the historic markers along the routes we traveled.