Hi to all,
Excuse the group email, this is the easiest way to reach all of you in one fell swoop.
We left the beautiful town of Spokane. We had a one night visit with a work friend of D's who I loved because he laughed at everything I said. I realize for most of you that would not be a ringing endorsement but, hey.... the picture below is taken of Spokane with Canada geese flying by.
Today we traveled across the panhandle of Idaho,( that was quick,) and landed here in Kalispel after driving thru breath taking scenery and unbelievably strong squalls. Rain so profound it was like a hose on the windshield. Being somewhat oblivious we forgot the time change and ended up having lunch around three and had to race to find a hotel. We like old downtowns and are in a hotel that is more than 100 years old. Dinner was down the street in an Italian restaurant, cioppino baked with a lid of pizza dough. Sounds silly was delightful.
Going to bed. Will send pictures of the rainbow from our hotel but for now, a good night to all. Stay warm and dry.
X0, S
On Sun, Sep 16, 2018
We so looked forward to Glacier national park and hurried out of Kalispell to get there especially looking forward to the "Going to the Sun Road". Alas, the fires prevented that adventure and so we skipped the West side of Glacier and had to drive over to the east entrance at St. Mary's. What could have been a 44 mile trip through Glacier national park was not possible. Instead we had to take the long haul. More than 2 hours later, we went through first a gorgeous highway 2 a very pleasant and lovely drive. That ended and then we had to drive on to highway #49 a nightmare of smokey, foggy, twisty turny experience. We finally arrived at St. Mary's entrance. I was not at my best.
What was worth the price of inconvenience and hairpin turns was being able to drive the Going to the Sun road from the east side St. Mary's to Logan point. So beautiful, at 6,000 ft. definitely the Alps in our own country. I was so enamored of the views that I took many pictures. Unfortunately I had taken the first as a selfie, and as many of you know, I am without qualification the worst at selfies. So I forgot to turn the camera around and took many pictures of the top of my head. For your enjoyment I included one of my idiot shots, the rest deleted.
Because we weren't the only ones coming from the West side of the park, no rooms were available at the lodge. So the Mom and Pop "Red Eagle" got us and we reveled in its mediocrity.
Next day we travelled to Helena, only getting lost once. And oh those wheat fields do go on for miles and miles. I didn't realize how slow a MPH of 70 can feel when everyone else is going 80 plus. My excitement was stopping in Bynum, pop. 30, to see the dinosaur museum. Did you know Montana is rich in dinosaur bones? Great finds since the 70's. Loved it. D, tolerant and kind at my exuberance.
Got to stay 2 nights in Helena, good food and great hiking trails.
Below is a Helena mural, the view of a glacier and the idiot selfie.
X0 to all. S
Someone once said, "it's so great to be imperfect, it
brings such joy to others."
I've had some blond, imperfect moments on this trip.
We were approaching Yellowstone and I said to D, "there's a bunch of white
smoke, I think we should report a fire..." and then driving into the
park, "I smell sulphur! " Needless to say he merely rolled his
eyes and didn't point out this is the land of geysers and hot springs.
He has had his moments also. We were in the hot spot of
Salmon , Idaho (see small plaque below) when in a diner these two elderly
hunters walked in and sat down at a table across from us. D remarked to
them, "I see you did your shopping at the same time", they had
identical camouflage jackets and were not amused by the comment. I rolled my
eyes heavenward.
Not much to report in Salmon...
Rolled on to Missoula. As we were driving I read
about a marvelous Carousel that was given to the city of Missoula with
the understanding that it was to be in continuous use for all of the
children and people. The entire town got involved with the craftsman and
dedicated 100K hours to finishing it. It so delighted us it was our first stop
in the city. Ornate, lovingly carved horses, dragons and gargoyles graced the
beautiful carousel. Of course riding it was much more fun than just
viewing so we plunked down our $1.50 and hopped aboard our steeds.
We loved Missoula and had 2 splendid meals there. Today we
had the itch to go home so we drove first to Coeur d'Alene and after we got
lost (I wish that was an unusual occurrence) we had a small lunch in a lovely
park on the lake.
Now we are in Ellensburg after a delicious meal at the
Yellow Church cafe. We are in bed early and returning home a week early. Why?
Our clothes are dirty and we can smell the barn. We will be trotting home after
another vision check for D on Thursday. He has yet another surgery mid
October.
Goodbye to the mountains and hello to the Sound. Good night
good night.
X0 to you all. S
On Fri, Sep 28, 2018
We ended up going as far as Ellensburg on our last day of our trip. What a surprising delightful little city. Ate at The Yellow Church cafe and walked into town but it was dark so I wrangled a promise from D that we could mosey around the next morning.
The morning was cold but beautiful and after breakfast we went on our Ellensburg walkabout. My favorite part of the walk was the house of a couple who have allowed artists to put eccentric sculptures all over the yard around their house, a collection started 40 years ago. Below are a some of the statues and decorations. When I wrote in their guest book I urged them to come to SJI to see Kevin Roth's creations. Also included is D being captured unawares as I took a picture of him sipping coffee in front of a lovely old Ellensburg building.
And on our last day of our travels, I thought I'd impart a valuable travel tip. I believe I mentioned we stayed in a very inexpensive motel near the downtown of Missoula which was a plus, since we love walking everywhere in small cities. Got back to our motel, both of us full from an excellent meal but oh so tired.
We like to sleep with the window at least cracked open, and so we did that, then read and went to sleep. At 2 am a train whistle sounded so that, deaf as I am, I was jarred awake, concerned the train was going to hit the motel. Back to sleep....then the 3am another train sounded it's horn..blasting away. Did I mention I wasn't wearing my hearing aids? Poor Mr. D, who has good hearing said when he did sleep it was fitfully. No kidding.
The hot tip is : check your surroundings and if train tracks are within a block of your motel, reconsider. Or if you do decide to go ahead just realize that the train is one reason the cute motel is very inexpensive. Oh and I did finally figure out to close the damn window.
Good night to all and hope your sleep is peaceful.
X0 to you all, S
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