Thanks again. It is really beautiful in this area. I've been fortunate that ever since I moved to Canada in 1973 I've always lived in a relatively secluded, beautiful place. The first was on Vancouver Island north of Victoria. I rented a log house on the property of a well to do lady and went to her house and cooked 5 nights a week. The house was on the ocean and a world away from Southern Calif. where I grew up. The first house my husband and I bought was on Salt Spring Island. That was a great experience for the time. We lived on a small lake. When our kids were small we decided it was time to move. A friend lived in Salmon Arm and when we visited him, we loved it. No taking ferries anywhere would have sold me on just about anywhere! Paul, we already have a McDonalds, A&W, Dairy Queen, Wendy's, Joey's Only, Dominoes Pizza, Subway and probably others that are thankfully slipping my mind. I call this the lousy resturant capitol of Canada. We are 45 minutes from a slightly larger town of Vernon that has everything except Cost-co. I'm perfactly happy to go there if I want to go to Wallmart or Home Depot but nobody asked me! The planning here is really pathetic. I've often felt that those in charge should be made to actually GO somewhere and see what is done in other places with a shoreline like ours. Where the wharf is in the pictures coming toward you is East. This area between the wharf and the nature preserve has been the subject for controversary since I've lived here. The person who owned the land between the wharf and the nature preserve walk wanted to develop it. I can't really remember what he wanted to do but whatever it was the city wouldn't let him. He was so frustrated at one point he was threatening to put an RV park there for spite. It was already zoned for that so they couldn't have stopped him. Gradually some buildings were built in this area. The first ones were government offices. That's where you went to get your drivers license and file claims about bad tennants. It was so weird. I pictured something like the Steveston area in Vancouver or Monterey in Calif. The vision was certainly lacking. Now there are a couple townhouse developments which are for retired people plus a big very expensive, care facility. The bay is very shallow and the railroad track runs between the town and the shoreline. That seems to separate the town from the shore in a weird kind of way. If you don't have particular buisness across the tracks, you don't go there. The property being fought over for wallmart is West of the wharf. I've been told it's the only spot large enough to accomodate the type of shopping center they want to build. I guess there are 'politics' to deal with no matter where you live. Sad....

Hi Lynda, we didn't do a whole lot! It was a very lazy time off but much needed! The girls got to hang out with friends and they enjoyed that! I couldn't believe the weather yesterday! It felt almost like a mini hurricane! I am now planning a trip for the last weekend in April! I really want to go to the beach so I'll head somewhere down towards the shore or down to Cape Henlopen! Then I have two trips planned for May, including a mini trip to Maine, and then in June it's time to go for the whole summer again! At least with this yucky weather studying isn't so bad! It's not like you will be thinking of how you could be outside! Believe it or not, I'm thinking it's time for a hair cut again! Pretty funny for me since it had been about 27 years since the last time it was this short!

Okay, so I found ALOT of free ones that seem pretty good. I will list all the ones that seem to fit what you want, then just google the campground names and you can find out all the info on them. Alot of the campgrounds I found are on this site: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/uma/recreation/campgrounds/pomeroy-cg.shtml Here is a list, let me know if you can't find info on any of them (when you google, add WA at the end so you get washington state) example: Davis Lake Campground WA look into these ones: *Davis Lake *Trout Lake *Sheep Creek *Big Meadow Lake *Williams Lake *Douglas Falls *Starvation Lake *Flodelle Creek *Skookum Creek *Dragoon Creek (really close to spokane, I've been there, not too great IMO) *Tucannon *Alder Thicket *Big Springs *Teal Springs *Godman so all these ones are free and most are already open, some open on June 1. Most should be within a few hours of Spokane. Alot are really secluded with only a few camp sites at each one. You should be able to find more info and directions online. (but get the book and you will never run out of new places to go). Happy Camping!

i love, love, love water! my preference is the ocean-love bobbing and body surfing! when i was young, it was my absolute dream to be a shore lifeguard...but, since my family didn't have a house down the shore and didn't encourage me to go anyway, i never applied. then, i went to college quite far from the east coast and that dream went out the window! i like the excitement of the power of the ocean and the soothing noise of the ocean and the smell of the ocean. also, really have found i love white water rafting! (though it's alittle scary sometimes and i'm thinking i'm getting alittle too old for it...) but, i do like any water...have done lots of swimming, canoeing and kayaking in my life. have a backyard pool which i love-except when i'm fighting algae or fishing out the dead! hope to retire near some water, though have no idea where-my husb is not as much of an ocean lover...