Day Eighteen

Up early at 7am in order to be ready to watch Everton kick off at 8am. Worked like a charm and settled down to watch the first half whilst simultaneous packing the last few things.

Rooney scored just before half time and we were out the door pretty much on time at 9am. Ann drove the first stint whilst I tried to watch the second half in the car. Succeeded in seeing a few odd seconds but the signal was not great to get any real success.

We retraced our steps back towards Bozeman in order to pick up the I-90 eastwards. Made good headway as it wasn't too busy. Stopped once at a rest stop but otherwise kept racking up the miles. Eventually arrived at Billings Airport just after 12.30pm. Parked up and walked in to the terminal. Within two minutes of us getting there this happened.

Hello, Father

We packed him into the car and headed a few miles back west to the town of Laurel. Had lunch at the Owl Junction Diner. The waitress got an impromptu lecture about the solar eclipse.

Nipped in to Walmart to pick up supplies for the next three days before fuelling up and heading south towards Wyoming. Travelled for about an hour and then arrived at our destination which was the Go Away Ranch.

We didn't

Unloaded the car and had a look around our secluded log cabin in the Beartooth Mountains.

Home on the range

Sat out on the veranda and did a quick FaceTime chat back home. Also saw some wildlife knocking about.

Rabbit rabbit rabbit

Ann made a version of cottage pie for dinner which was difficult considering we were missing various things in terms of implements, etc. It was remarkably good.

We sat outside to eat and enjoyed the magnificent view before eventually retiring indoors and Ann inevitably found Harry Potter on TV.

I am now writing this with two people who have gone to sleep.

States visited - 7

Rabbit watch - high

Fathers found at airport - 1

Day Seventeen

Up and ready to go by 8.35am. Didn't need to shower as our activity negated the need to.

Drove an hour north east to Bozeman. Parked up and signed in here http://madisonrivertubing.com/

Got our stuff and then got on the classic American yellow school bus which proceeded to take us halfway back the way we had come. Unfortunately that couldn't be helped as to do the trip you need the shuttle bus to transport you back, otherwise you'd end up 5 miles from your car.

The bus dropped us off at Warm Springs Creek on the Madison River. We had three tubes, one each for us and one for the cooler. We filled it with drinks and snacks and we were ready to go. Ann befriended some Texans who were also on the trip.

There was an annoying family who had a waterproof speaker playing pop music which wasn't really what we wanted to have as we cruised peacefully down the river. We tried to avoid them but kept ending up next to them. I decided to act and jumped off my tube at a fairly shallow part to stop us for a while. The water was moving much faster than I realised and it was a battle to just hold the three tubes still against the current. After a while the annoying family had disappeared into the distance and I managed to scramble back into the tube and get us going again.

We ended being pretty much last out of all the groups which suited us just fine. We sat back and cracked open the cooler. Apologies for the poor sound quality in this clip.

After a while somehow we ended up catching up and then overtaking nearly everyone, luckily we also flew past the annoying noise and had peace at the front. Had a bit of a chat with the Texans who were at the front as well. It was more of a shout across the river really.

We did then get stuck in the shallow water and slowed dramatically. The Texans disappeared at a rate of knots and we had to battle to get out of it and back into the current. Eventually we did.

We got and dried off. Whilst waiting for the bus back to Bozeman, somehow Ann got us invited to stay with a couple from Lincoln, Nebraska. Lincoln is where we are watching the eclipse, so they asked if we had somewhere to stay, which said yes and they said well if it falls through come and stay with us. They gave us their phone numbers and everything.

Eventually we got back to Bozeman. Got changed and drove back to the motel in Ennis. Had a very late lunch at about 4pm and checked on the flight status of dad. He was only an hour away or so. FaceTimed Paul and Helen who were also tracking his progress. Spent most of the conversation making sprinkler noises at each other.

Had a quick shower and then headed out to here http://virginiacity.com/

It is basically a town that still looks old except for the cars parked all the way through it which ruins the actual appeal of the place. We added to those parked cars and mooched around a bit. Some of the buildings are untouched from the mid 20th century. Still full of the things that were left there.

Courthouse from 1876

Cars

Saw a beam in a building that five people were hanged from. Bought an ice cream. Bought a book. Got invited into an art gallery party with free wine. The woman who invited us in had a long chat about England and then Donald Trump. She apologised to us for him. We had a look at some of the art, some was decent, some wasn't.

Eventually we managed to sneak off and headed back to the car. Drove back to the motel. Saw some deer on the way.

Oh dear

Dad then FaceTimed us from his hotel room in Denver to say he had landed and made it into the country.

Off to bed soon as Everton kick off at 8am.

States visited - 7

Deer watch - high

Sprinkler watch - high

Day Sixteen

Woke up late. Very late. It was nearly 9am. Breakfast finished at 9.30am, so we had to get up quick and dash down. We did so and then went back to the room to get ready.

Had the sudden realisation that I forgot to include in yesterday's blog the fact we had run over/nearly run over some sort of creature as we were driving to the hotel in the evening. Neither of us saw what it was completely, nor do we know if it got out of the way. There was no thud on the car, no blood on the front, I didn't see anything cartwheeling away in the rear view mirror so it may well have got out of the way as quickly as it appeared. We think it was a mammal of medium size, maybe a prairie dog up to a wolverine in size. It was brown and furry and noticed us when we were about 4/5 metres away doing 70mph. I thought I managed to get the wheels either side of it hoping it would duck underneath!

We were packed and on our way by 11am. We headed south on I-15 again. It was 80mph limit and beautiful scenery just as it had been the night before. Ann managed to take a few snaps out the window although it is difficult to focus on something at 80mph.

Not blurry

We left the I-15 at Boulder. Stopped for fuel, which turned out to be the cheapest we've bought yet at $2.39 a gallon. Cut down south on the highways ducking under I-90 before Ann spotted a small diner in Harrison called the Town Haul Diner. Turned around and pulled in. Had lunch, it was very nice. A good spot.

Haul Good!

Headed on the short distance down to Ennis and checked into here http://rainbowvalleylodge.com/

Sat around for a while before heading out for supplies. We have a kitchen, so decided to buy some stuff and eat in. Ann had scrambled eggs on toast. She was very happy about this. Now she is watching old western TV shows/films as I am doing this a lot earlier after last night.

Looking forward to getting wet tomorrow.

States visited - 7

Miles driven - 3000

Day Fifteen

Got woken up by my phone ringing at 7.30am. No idea who it was, but it was a London number. I didn't answer it. That rude awakening prompted us to get up. Nipped down for breakfast which was actually very good.

Facetimed mum and dad to make sure dad was ready for his trip and his subsequent arrival in Montana on Saturday.

Then packed up and rolled on out. Ann decided to do some driving today, so she took the first leg. Stopped literally next door to the hotel in order to get some stuff in for a packed lunch, the premise being we wouldn't have to worry about finding somewhere to eat in the park.

Headed on up to the west entrance of Glacier National Park. Paid our $30 and drove in. First stop was the Apgar Visitor Centre which was very busy. Had to wait to get a parking space. Used the facilities and bought a fridge magnet. Most annoying thing was that there were too many good magnets. Some places you have to choose the least worst magnet as they are all fairly poor and then somewhere like here you can't decide because they have five or six really nice ones.

We then started the long, slow drive along the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Our plan was to drive the fifty or so miles and just stop whenever something looked nice. That proved to be a lot of stops.

The first was at the north end of Lake McDonald. There was a small road leading to a bridge across it. Parked up and wandered to the bridge to take some photos. Ended up staying for about an hour and a half because we decided to climb down the rocks to the river and walk up the gorge to the waterfall at the top.

Bridge over the River McDonald

Arty

When we eventually decided to move on it was already lunchtime. We thought we would find somewhere nice to sit and eat. So we did.

After lunch we headed on up the road, reaching the top at Logan Pass before heading down the other side. We stopped numerous times on the way and took lots of photos. Here is just a selection.



Heavens Peak

Stanton and Vaught

Back down the valley we had come from

Baby mountain goats

Glacier

Random snow

St Mary lake

Near the Weeping Wall

Finally having made it across to the east entrance we stopped two final times. This was to make sure we got to see two sections from Forrest Gump. He runs across the bridge at the east entrance and also along side St Mary Lake.

Like that mountain lake. It was so clear, Jenny

Run, Forrest

Eventually we had to leave this wondrous place. We could have stayed for longer but realised it was gone 6pm and we had 160 miles to drive to the next hotel.

Luckily the route we followed was pretty much deserted. First Highway 2 and then even I-15 when we hit it. 80mph speed limit and we saw literally four cars over the 83 miles we covered on it.

Arrived just after 8pm at the hotel. Checked in then ate the rest of the food we had as we couldn't be bothered to go out again.

As ever, Ann is asleep. Not surprised, it is 12.40am. I'm tired.

States visited - 7

Bear watch - low

Goat watch - high

Glaciers seen - plenty

Day Fourteen

Up earlyish. Not as early as we planned. Went straight for a swim. Pool was cold although a decent length.

Had a decent if busy breakfast. Packed up and hit the road. Headed east along I-90. Switched back into Idaho.

Made a stop at Wallace. The only reason for this is that it was the town used for the filming of Dante's Peak. Parked up and had a wander about. Found certain parts of the town from the film. They did dress it up a bit and paint in a CGI mountain.

Missing mountain

Found a mining museum so had a look about it. It was fairly interesting. The town was built on the back on the silver mines. The rest of the town was mainly shops full of old tat. Tried to find a fridge magnet but failed.

Headed on east on I-90 entering Montana for the first ever time before turning off ready to head north. Stopped for fuel in St Regis.

Carried on northwards stopping to pick up supplies and then stopped to have lunch overlooking Flathead Lake.  The entire journey was again fabulous in terms of scenery.

Completed the last few miles up to Kalispell only for the sat nav to be confused by a new section of road. Eventually found hotel. Realised we have lost an hour moving back into mountain time. Decided to make another meal in our room as we couldn't be bothered to go out.

Ann is now watching Independence Day, although this is the modern one.

Tomorrow promises to be a good one as we head into Glacier National Park.

States Visited - 7

Total States Visited - 46

Day Thirteen

Up just after 7.30am. Had breakfast in our room after yesterday’s discovery that it wasn’t included. Today’s cost 50 cents as opposed to yesterday’s $28.

Checked out just after 9am. They tried to give us another room’s bill with about three breakfasts on it but we spotted their game.

 
Loaded up and set off east. Sat nav wanted us to go on the interstate but we didn’t want to so we set about using Highway 2. Although it was a short distance it was a longer journey due to the speed limit and towns encountered. We knew this would be the case and didn’t care. We just didn’t feel like driving on the interstate.

It turned out to be a good move. Once we got out of the suburban area around the outskirts of Seattle we hit countryside and the drive was really enjoyable. We had to climb up the Cascade Mountains and through the edge of the Wenatchee Forest and then hit the plains of the Columbia Basin.

Scenery was great and the roads were fairly quiet. Stopped for fuel in Coles Corner other than that not much happened.



Bavarian

One highlight was the town of Leavenworth, which is Bavarian themed. Apparently it was a failing logging town in the mid 1960s so an idea was coined to turn it into a German style town. It worked, it is now seen as a very good holiday town. Even the Starbucks and McDonald’s were Bavarian in style.

Starbucks

Maccy Ds

We also saw two of these. One we managed to film and one get some photos of it. The second one was bigger but much further away.

Bigger

We stopped for lunch at Doxie's Diner in Wilbur. http://places.singleplatform.com/doxies-diner/menu?ref=google

It was decent food. Quite a few flies were buzzing about which was a bit annoying.

Arrived at Spokane Valley just before 5pm. Checked into the Comfort Inn and Suites. Hotel seems very nice. The pool looks great, so we are going to hit it early tomorrow morning.

Went out to dinner at IHOP. Ann was very pleased to get some broccoli on her plate. I have never seen someone so pleased to eat it before.

Now having a quiet night before heading further east into Montana tomorrow.

States visited – 6

Bavarian towns - 1   

Day Twelve

Up at 6.30am. Breakfast at 7.15am. Ann told me breakfast was included with the room. At the end we got billed for it. Presume she was wrong and it wasn't included.

In the car and underway by 8am. Arrived at Anacortes by 9.10am. Stopped in Subway to get a packed lunch. On the quayside at 9.35am. Boarded ship with this company http://www.island-adventures.com/

Got settled in to some seats and waited for us to cast off. We did just after 10am. Headed out into the San Juan Islands and into the fog. Visibility wasn't great at all but the rumour was that it was going to get better as we headed out. First of all we pulled up near James Island. There were some seals on the rocks although the fog made photography almost impossible.

Some foggy seals

As we pulled around into a bay the fog cleared a little and we also saw two bald eagles sitting near their nest.

Legal eagle

We then headed out to try and get a glimpse of the big tamale, Orcas. We eventually broke through the fog into some clear air. The skipper was in contact with other tour boats trying to get the low down on the location of the Killer Whales or any other type of whales for that matter.

Unfortunately it wasn't to be. We were out for nearly five hours and covered about 100 miles but to no avail. On the plus side there was a child on board who screamed in a tantrum for about half an hour. Ann wouldn't let me go and punch it in the head.

Eventually we headed all the way back to shore, pretty gutted that we didn't see any whales. We had such high hopes for the trip and it was meant to be one of the big highlights of the holiday but they were just not about today.

The skipper said they have been out about 400 times this year and this was only the fifth time they hadn't delivered whales to their customers. They do have a guaranteed sighting policy though which means if you don't see any whales they will keep taking you out until you do. Therefore, we now have a free trip for two when we would like to go again. Unfortunately that won't be this holiday. Apparently the record they have for the time someone took coming back for their free trip is 15 years so we should be ok to wait a couple.

We had a gander around the shop when we got back to shore before heading back to the hotel. The traffic back was really heavy so it took us quite some time to get back. I-5 seems to be busy at any time of day, on any day, at any location. Will be glad to get away from it.

Popped out for dinner to 112th Street Diner. http://112thstreetdiner.com/

It was very quiet, presumably as it is Sunday night. Very clean and food was good. Finished up with a old fashioned chocolate milkshake.

Heading back east tomorrow.

States visited - 6

Whale watch - low

Eagles seen - 2