So back to the trip:

We woke up on Day 5 — exactly the halfway point — and had a perfect, slow, halfway-point day.

Sleeping in a little was the first order of business.

Laundry was the second.

A 10-day roadtrip for four people in one car can only handle so much luggage, so we packed only for 5 days, and I told everyone I’d do laundry on Day 5 and we could “repeat.” It was a perfect plan. I knew the hotel we were staying at (we’d been there before), and knew we’d have a leisurely morning (not having to be on the road asap), so while we enjoyed the nice continental breakfast in the dining room, I got two quick loads done. Then we re-packed, loaded the car up, and prepared to head to Kalispell later that evening.

But first — we had a whole afternoon with Ricky! The original plan was to bring him to Kalispell with us (and Glacier National Park), but it was his first week of school, plus he has a few new jobs at the newspaper, and he just didn’t want to shirk off everything, so we understood.

We hung around the University of Montana campus a little, visited the bookstore, then met Ricky in “The Oval” (the center of campus, shown below) and he took us on a little tour. Continue reading →

The drive from Seattle to Missoula takes 8 hours along Highway 90, and is very pretty. Ricky had let us know ahead of time because he’d made the drive a few times already. You go through some cute little towns just west of Seattle. (Stopped in one to find a grocery store for fresh fruit, and encountered an engaging, no-nonsense grocery clerk who acted like the town sheriff, taking her town very seriously. Chris wants to retire there now.)

After that, Ricky warned us we’d hit some boring, dry patches, but then you cross into the Idaho panhandle and get the pretty pine trees again. He told us we’d enjoy the Fourth of July Pass and Coer d’Alene. He was right. You really think you’ve never seen so many pine trees in one place: 

Continue reading →