Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Vacation Story, Episode III: Return of the Norwegians

July 3rd Waking up that morning, all our hopes rested on C'oeur D'Alene coming to our rescue. I got up that morning, sat by my parents and said, "I really hope C'oeur D'Alene calls." Shortly after saying that, my mother's cell phone rings. And who is it but none other than our saviors! It was, indeed, C'oeur D'Alene, saying we could come a day early! So then, it was decided. We would take the tour of the Grand Coulee Dam that day, and also try our best to stay away from Sunbanks as much as possible for the remainder of our stay. Off we went then! First we went to this information center that overlooks the dam; got to watch an informational video about how the land structures were formed in Eastern Washington and Idaho and such. The center itself was kinda dorky, but oh well. Off again to the dam itself! It's... well, big, to put it lightly. Unfortunately, we couldn't see too much of the inside of the dam since 9/11, but what we did see was flippin' awesome! Everything was just big, big, and bigger as we went along. I wish we had brought our camera. We assumed they wouldn't let people take pictures, but nope. XP Oh well. After that, in order to avoid having to go back to Sunbanks, we found a park to eat lunch at. >.> My brother Kyle though was being a big pain at the time. Heh, kinda funny that Eric was so nice on vacation, yet Kyle was just... worse than ever. *sighs* Oh well. Again, after eating lunch, we did all we could to avoid going back to Sunbanks. I think we did end up going back for a couple hours, but then we decided to try and find a place to fish. Eheh, not exactly a lot of great places around the area though. However, after looking for a bit, we came across a pond full of the biggest fish I've ever seen! Of course, we parked the RV and set up right there! At first, it was really exciting. We were so looking forward to eating some fresh fish! But then the first hour went... and then a second, and a third. We tried every kind of bait and lure too, but none of them were biting. After awhile, we started to suspect something... turns out, it was carp all along. T_T Frickin' carp. *sighs* Kyle and I started to think it might've been carp after awhile, considering they looked just like the carp you can catch in Animal Crossing. See? Games really are helpful for real life! And, what hit the nail on the head was when some people drove up and said, "Huge carp in there, huh?" -_- Of course, we acted like we knew it was carp all along. "Yeah, they are big!" *sighs* We're such noobs... We tried, in vain, to find another spot, but there just wasn't anything. But still, at least we got to avoid Sunbanks the whole time. So off we went back to that horrid place, to spend one last night before we escaped it's presence forever! July 4th Ahhh! What a glorious day! What a splendiferous, glorious day! It was so great being able to leave Sunbanks. It truly was the worst campsite I've ever stayed at. And we finally got to leave! Off we go to Idaho! This is where the story becomes more of a blur... well, more like, not too much to talk about. I shall do my best to recall it though. Obviously, twas a long drive. Ain't it always? By now, we were very much used to all the clanking going on in the RV when it was in motion. Even our dog, Nick, was pretty accustomed to it by then. But anyway, once we arrived at the campsite... it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Again, wish I had pictures to show you all (still don't know why we didn't take more). Still, twas MUCH better than Sunbanks. Oh goodness, yes. We got a much bigger campsite this time around. Actually, we got lucky when it came to our campsite. Most of the RV spots were similar to the one at Sunbanks: just a big enough spot to park an RV there and have a small little bench alongside it. Plus, we were right by the center of activity. We were finally able to do our laundry. The bathrooms were also much, much, MUCH nicer here! They clean them every day, so that's why. :P So, even though we couldn't celebrate July 4th like most people were, we at least were able to escape the nightmare that was Sunbanks and move on into good ol' Idaho. July 5th... and 6th... and 7th Seeing as the last few days of vacation were a bit of a blur, I shall be leading you along by events rather than days for the remainder of the post. Fishing Only three days left. Only a couple chances left to catch a fish! On the fifth, we went out and got some one-day Idaho fishing licenses. Then, on the 6th, we all woke up early (yet again) to go out and try one more time. We were actually able to find a couple of good spots. We definitely got bites, but so far no fishies. Then we went down to this one spot. By then, I myself was tired of fishing, so I let the boys go and have their fun. Wonder if I should regret that or not... Anyway, just as I was walking back to our RV to get some stuff, I hear all this hollering coming from where the others are fishing. And what do you know, I missed out on Eric catching a fish! A big one too, I might add. This time, we did get a pic of him with the fish, so I can share that later. By now, it was nearing 11 am, and we weren't getting bites anymore after Eric's bigg'un, so we headed back to camp. Heh, lucky Eric got to gut his own fish. I was safely stowing myself away in the RV though, I really didn't need to see any of that. Since we actually had luck this time around catching a fish, and since we only had this one day left for fishing anyway, we went back to a couple spots later in the evening. But what we luckily missed out on in the morning was here for us in the evening: bugs. -_- Lots of 'em. I tried to fish again for a bit, but there were just so many flies buzzing about, I couldn't stand it. Plus, this time, there were other campers about by the rivers. Despite that, Robin came really close to getting a big one. It just barely escaped! Too bad; so, in the end, after all that money, we got one fish. At least it was a darn good fish. Yes, even I ate some. Didn't even taste like any fish I'd ever eaten; tasted more like chicken than anything else. Dinner would've been a lot better had we had even one more fish to eat. Through all that however, we enjoyed ourselves fishing. I know Eric really loved it. Maybe we might just go again sometime... Idle I must say, I did not take full advantage of the fact that we were out in this beautiful place. By the time the last few days of vacation came, I was tired. Tired of my brothers (particularly Kyle), tired of bugs, tired of the heat, tired of sleeping in such a hot and cramped space... So, even though I know I should've gone out there and done more, most of my last days were spent inside the RV, where it was cool. Finally, my electronics came in handy. Played some Super Mario World, watched some anime on my CD/DVD player. I wasn't the only one, though. My two brothers were inside the RV most of the time, too. Kyle practically never left it. >.> Twas pretty easy to tell by then that we wanted to go home. Eheh. More problems... blah Tain't too big a problem, but still. When we came back on the 6th from fishing, twas night time. We were all ready to get to bed. Yet what do we find when we go back to our spot? Someone sharing it with us. Oh joy. Mainly, they were using our hookups, but still. Wasn't something we really wanted to see. However, by morning they were gone. So meh. Wasn't a huge problem, just we'd already dealt with so much. July 8th Finally, twas time to say goodbye to C'Oeur D'Alene and go back home. We left pretty darn early too. It was decided we would just go the whole 6 hours, no need to stay another night at a different place. Nothing in particular to say about the ride home, just that we were all anxious to get back. I remember I was watching .hack//Roots practically the whole time on my CD/DVD player. Heh, twas a good way to pass the time. Man, I can't tell you how happy I was, personally, to see green again. How joyous it was to be back in Western Washington! Ahhhh, such a good feeling! And what was even better was driving up back into Monroe. Then seeing our house. Then stepping into our house! Oh yes! Nick was even excited about being home. You'd think our cat, Max, would've missed us too, right? No, just our beds. -_- All he wanted when we got back was for one of us to open the door to our bedroom. Stupid cat... and I actually missed him when we were gone, too. And so, the unpacking ensued. I quickly unpacked, I just wanted to be able to settle in and not worry about it. I was very happy to have my own bed again too. Our vacation had its ups and downs (quite a few downs, really), but overall it was nice. Really, it was the last vacation we had all together as a family. And what a vacation... Fin God Bless

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