SEATTLE TO MONTANA – 8/31/14 – 9/1/14

We visited with Joe’s Uncle in Seattle and lives in the heart of downtown.  He took us on a walking tour of downtown.  We visited the Public Market at Pike’s Place near the waterfront.  We bought some cheese at Beecher’s Cheese store where they were making cheese curds.  There were food vendors of all types and beautiful flowers everywhere.  Downtown Seattle was similar to any large city in the US, except it has lots of hills.  Many of the streets are being modified to be more “pedestrian friendly” with wide sidewalks that accommodate tables & chairs outside restaurants and benches along the street. 

 After our walking tour of downtown, we visited Chinatown and had a delicious lunch.  We then drove around passing the Space Needle on our way to the locks on the waterfront.  We were unable to find a parking place so we drove to a large dog park across town at the abandoned Sand Point Naval Air Station that has been repurposed for the community.   It was a good day, seeing some of Seattle and visiting with family.  We plan to visit this area again.

On 9/1/14, we left the Seattle area headed across the state of Washington.  Once you leave the Cascade Mountains the landscape looks a lot like upstate New York with rolling hills, pastures, and farm lands.  One thing we saw in Washington that was seen in other states that had large open spaces was the wind turbines again.  As we neared the Idaho boarder the land transitioned into desert like bluffs and hills with very few trees.  One stop that was very picturesque was Horse Heaven near Spokane, WA. 

The town of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho was one of the prettiest towns we went through.  The town was nestled around a mountain lake.  Every turn we took was a picture worth taking.  Trekking from Coeur d’Alene to Montana was a slow trip due to the steep hills and sharp turns on the I-90. 

One thing of interest we saw that was unique was a motor home towing a pick-up truck with his boat, motor, and trailer perched on top the truck.  That made for some interesting conversation and speculation as to how that boat and trailer got on top of the truck.  That still has us puzzled.

Idaho had some pretty vistas.  The part we drove through was only about 70 miles wide before we entered Montana on our way to Butte where we camped for the night.  We traveled nearly 600 miles that day.