Cloudy Days of the Road

Day 26 –

Tuesday, Sept 17 – Exploring Majestic Montana

It’s raining.

Raining on Bozeman

 I am so glad that we did our hike yesterday. We found a really good place to have a warm drink in the Historic downtown area of Bozeman at The Leaf and Bean. Joe got a good cup of coffee and I got a cup of Earl Grey Lavender tea. Mmmm. We shared delicious pumpkin scone.

We browsed in some stores and then bought some shoes at Schnee's. Joe’s were on sale and I got a nice pair of Clarks. All the Clarks were 20% off and because we were in Montana there was no sales tax!

 I also found some nice coasters in a store called Sassy Sisters. One of the sassy sisters (store owners) was there and she was so nice. We love Montana, but it is Oct. Not sure what we would think of it in January. I got a post office cancellation stamp and then we were on our way.

We just drove about an hour, and then stopped to take a tour of the Lewis and Clark Caverns. 

We hiked about ¾ mile to the cavern opening. Our guide, Tom, was so nice, funny, knowledgeable and a great speaker. He made it so fun by getting us involved by asking us questions. 

We were in the caverns for almost 2 hours. It was large and beautiful. The caverns have quite a history and a lot of work throughout the years has gone into making these caverns easily accessible to the public. There was a lot of descending and ascending climbing. We saw stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and a green pool. Some more “technical” descriptions were popcorn, drapery, bacon, straws, and grapes. We spent a lot of time here, but it was worth it. When we came out, it was raining pretty hard, so we scurried down to our car.

 

We stopped for lunch in Butte. We had some really good pizza at Broadway Café. From there we took a very pretty detour on the Pintler Scenic Highway.

We continued driving on Interstate 90 all the way through the top of Idaho and into Spokane where we stayed the night in another Ramada Inn.

Day 27 –

Wednesday, Sept 18 – Our final trek west

It’s not raining!! As of last night rain was predicted for this morning. God gave us blue skies, scattered clouds and cool temperature in Spokane instead.

 In the morning we went to Atticus Coffee and Gifts near the Spokane Riverfront Park. Joe had a cup coffee and I had a yummy cup of blueberry green tea. We shared a delicious pastry. I bought a can of the tea bags and a gift.

Then we walked around some of the Riverfront Park. It would be a great place to run. We saw ducks and a giant Red…. wagon.

We made a quick stop to view the gorgeous Columbia River Gorge and the wild stallion sculptures nearby. 

The Columbia River

Wild Stallion Sculptures

Our next stop was to see our friends, Mike and Val Davis in Bellevue. We visited with them at their home for a while and had a cup of coffee. A must when Val and Joe get together. We got to see the puppy show with their “baby” Gus 
(Yellow Lab). He did a great job!

Then we went to Red Mill. It is a really good hamburger (or chicken in my case) restaurant that was featured on Dive-ins, Diners and Dives. The food was really good and the company was even better! We picked up Missy and the way,

 so we got to visit with her too. On the way home, Mike gave us a sightseeing tour of Seattle. It was fun. There was a lot of traffic and Mike maneuvered through it like a pro.

We stopped off at the Fremont Troll. Mike dropped us off with Missy so that we could get a quick photo. We have never heard of the Troll before, but know we are educated! 

We got back to their home safely and headed to Joe’s mom’s home in Tacoma. It was really nice to visit with Mike, Val and Missy.