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Montana, Where The Sky Is Big  

07/14/07-07/16/07 - Montana, Idaho, Washington

Heading through the northwest, way faster than Lewis & Clark did

(Shutterfly photo album - CO, WY, MT, ID, WA)

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