The first stop
after Yellowstone was Bozeman, Montana. After looking at
the perhaps the skankiest motel room at which we'd ever had the
pleasure of checking out (it even had cement floors... and tried
to charge $70!), we ended up staying in a new, surprisingly
decent Microtel by the highway. Downtown seems to be on
the rebound after years of neglect. We passed a pleasant
evening in a nice pizza & beer place packed with young
Bozemanians.
Although our next stop, Missoula,
was quite close via I-90, we took the circuitous route through
historic Virginia City to make sure we got to spend our quota of
time in the car. Virginia City is an amazingly in-tact
19th century town that was purchased by a Montana
rancher/history lover in the 1940's. Even though we were
pretty sure they didn't sell that much taffy and cappuccino
during the 1860's, it's impressive to see so many original
buildings so well preserved.
It was well over 100 degrees by the
time we arrived in Missoula, but at least we were able to
quickly find lodging at the Thunderbird Motel - we were sold by
the cool neon sign. We loved Missoula! With its
beautiful river running right through downtown, great bike
paths, surrounding mountain scenery, it seemed like a great
place to live. We biked around the university, and down
the river paths watching all of the Missouligans keeping
cool floating down the river on innertubes, kayaks, inflatable
rafts, etc, until late into the evening. Here's where we
plug Missoula's wonderful "Scotty's Table", where we had the
best meal we've had for looong time. Nice work, Scotty.
The next morning at Thunderbird's continental breakfast we
chatted with an interesting guy named
Joshua that just
finished mountain biking from Mexico to Canada to raise
awareness of Alzheimer's. Tales of riding through the
desert with little water, killer headwinds, and fist-fights with
rabid raccoons made us feel like we were living in luxury in our
cheap motels.
Before heading to Spokane, we
headed north to see the National Bison Range wildlife refuge.
It's basically a safari, where you drive a 19-mile loop spotting
wild herds of buffalo, elk, deer, and if you're lucky (we
weren't), bear and other animals. A really cool side trip,
with one of the best parts being it's basically just you and the
animals, since it's not a very popular tourist destination.
And the drive to and from the range and onto Spokane, was filled
with spectacular Montana mountain and river scenery.
Lunch was in Wallace, Idaho, the
silver capital of the U.S.! There may have been as much
wildlife at the pub we went to as there was in the wildlife
refuge - only these animals had paid a visit to the taxidermist
prior to coming into the restaurant. We made it to Spokane
and tried biking around town, but it wasn't nearly as cyclist
friendly as Missoula. So we ended up taking the
well-signed city driving tour. A very nice (and LONG) tour
of the outskirts and parks of Spokane. Despite the lovely
parks, we probably won't be moving to Spokane any time soon.
A long drive across Washington to
Vancouver the next day, so we hit the road early and didn't plan
any stop-offs along the way. But we couldn't resist a
couple of quick detours after consulting our guidebook. We
took the HollyWash tour. First visiting Roslyn, which
provided the setting for Northern Exposure, then having lunch in
North Bend at Twede's cafe, of Twin Peaks fame. The rest
of central and western Washington was desert landscape
surprisingly reminding us of New Mexico, while western
Washington will now forever be associated with horrendous
traffic in our minds. It definitely feels like we're in
the northwest now, and we're looking forward to exploring
Vancouver.
Thunderbird motel in Missoula
Resident of the National Bison Range in Montana
Prong-horn deer grazing at the National Bison Range in Montana
The real life setting for Northern Exposure -
Roslyn, WA |
Caroline checking out the historic buildings of Virginia City,
MT
Downtown Virginia City, MT
Missoula residents tubing through town
Kayaker on the rapids in downtown Missoula
Stack-o-antlers, shed by elk at the National Bison Range
Twede's Cafe of Twin Peaks fame in North Bend, WA
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