July 30 - Helena to Billings, MT

We left Helena a little after noon. Today's field trip was to the Elkhorn Ghost Town. The last leg of the journey was 11 miles down a dirt road. Both on the way there and back to the main road, we saw small groups of cows that had gotten past their fences. They posed nicely for us. :) The town was a booming silver, gold, and lead mining town in the 1870's. It was neat to see the remnants of buildings and the cemetery nearby. Only two of the buildings were open to the public, the rest of the buildings are privately owned. After our short trip to the ghost town, we left for Billings. Tonight we ate at Outback Steakhouse, ran to Walmart, and then back to the hotel to do laundry and get our car organized. We'll head home tomorrow, stopping long enough in Fargo to switch our belongings to our car and return the rental car. It will be about a 13 hour driving day, but we need to get home so that Ron and Ronnie can get ready to leave for Alaska. Look forward to more installments of this blog next week coming to you from Alaska.

July 29 - Spokane, WA to Helena, MT

Our day started out bad and got steadily worse. First, Ron had to pay for breakfast, which he doesn't like doing. Next, he took my toothpaste to work with him. Anyone who knows me knows I brush my teeth at least three times before lunch, so this was quite a hardship. Next, after Ron finished at the Spokane Reserve Center, we headed to a store called the Scrapbook Superstore located in a nearby mall. Ron settled into a Barnes and Noble with an iced coffee and a warm rice krispie bar, sure he'd be waiting awhile. Well, the Scrapbook Superstore changed its name to Scrapbook Paradise, and it certainly didn't live up to its name. It was a tiny store in the mall with old products. I probably shouldn't admit it, but I have more items in my loft. So, we left the mall before Ron even finished the rice krispie bar and headed to get lunch, which was awful. About this time, we decided that Spokane was not getting high marks in our book. We headed out of town making it almost to the city limits before getting a speeding ticket from a motorcycle cop, wielding a radar gun, parked by the side of the road. We were not going any faster than the traffic around us (which was quite heavy). Spokane went to the bottom of our list of cities we'll visit again. Thank goodness, the panhandle of Idaho (and a much better rest of the day) was just around the corner and around the corner and around the corner..... The sign pictured was very accurate. We went around more corners than I care to remember! The scenery was gorgeous, though. The lake pictured is Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho. When we entered Montana, the mountains and curves continued. I drove for 2 hours and it was a bit nerve wracking! The little red trailer shown was parked at one of the rest stops in Montana. It was being run by former Marines. Their sign said they had free coffee, tea, lemonade, cookies, and stories. Nearly all of the rest stops that we stopped in have had something similar, sometimes run by churches or other groups. As we were leaving, the wind started blowing very strongly, and it started to rain. Luckily for us, we were getting off the interstate right around this point and getting onto a smaller road. We made it to Helena (see the picture of the Capitol Building) around 7 pm. We did a quick Target run and ate at Applebees. Now, we're in for the evening. Thank goodness our terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day only lasted for about the first hour of our drive!

July 28 - Everett, WA to Spokane, WA

The quilting picture at the top shows how I spent my morning while Ron was at the Reserve Center. Today we drove from Everett to Spokane. Our first stop is always lunch since Ron works all morning at the Reserve Centers. Today we got a burger to go from a little burger stand. They claimed to have the best burgers in town - they could be right. The burgers were delicious! The first part of today's drive was mountainous and filled with dense pine forests. The mountains slowly gave way to some buttes and then quickly became flatter, agricultural areas. We sped past alternating fields of peas, sweet corn, potatoes, alfalfa, and wheat. Now, before you are too impressed with my knowledge and recognitions of farm crops at 75 miles per hour, there were signs posted between the highway and each field. How cool is that?! You'll have to take my word for it's coolness - I was driving and Ron was sleeping. I didn't think he'd be pleased to be woken up to take pictures of crop signs. Pay attention to the size of the cars as they drive past the buttes. Also, take note of the cars crossing the canyon on the elevated roads. I mentioned to Ron that I wouldn't want to be them. He gave me a funny look as he told me our side of the highway was also that high above the canyon. I could've gone all day without knowing that. (I don't know why I didn't just logically figure that out - denial, I guess.) The hard to distinguish, dusty picture is a dirt devil. It would've been easier to photograph with a darker background, but in person it was pretty neat. It looked like a tornado coming from the ground up. There were several of them in a field that we passed. We ate at a microbrewery in Spokane called Shenanigan's for supper and then went for a long walk along the river on the Centennial Trail.

July 27 - Portland, OR to Everett, WA

Today we got up and headed to the coast. For the first two hours of driving, all we could see were tree-lined roads. It felt like we were driving in northern Minnesota. We drove into Seaside, Washington which was the end of the Lewis and Clark Trail. It was fun to see the northern Pacific Ocean, although it was a bit cold and windy. The water was so cold that it instantly turned our feet numb. After leaving Seaside, we drove to the Lewis and Clark museum at Fort Clatsop (where they wintered over in 1805). The replica of the fort was first built in 1955, it burned in 2005, and was later rebuilt. Fort Clatsop was filled with huge trees – you can get a feel of how big they are in the pictures. The one with my hand was actually the top portion of the tree. The base was much larger, but off the trail further into the woods. When we left Fort Clatsop, we headed for Kirkland, Washington. (We did stop for lunch in Astoria, Washington - fish and chips from a stand near the water.) Rachel and Veronica live in Kirkland and Bill and Connie were in town. We went out to eat with them at the Olive Garden. (Thanks for dinner, Bill!) It was fun to see them and also to meet Rachel’s fiancé, Nate. Our hotel was a short drive away in Everett, Washington. Ron will work at the Everett Reserve Center on Monday morning.

July 26 - Portland, Oregon

As you can see by the pictures, today was spent driving as little as possible. We slept in and then went shopping. I shopped at Craft Warehouse (huge!) and Arts and Scraps. Ron shopped at Joe's, buying rain gear and boots for himself and Ronnie for their upcoming trip to Alaska. He also bought a new hat. We had burgers and Oregon raspberry shakes for lunch, then it was back to the hotel to read our new books and take a nap. We ate supper at Olive Garden and then killed a little time at Barnes and Noble before going to see "The Dark Night" at the theater. All in all, it was a very relaxing day. Tomorrow morning we're back in the car and headed for Seattle.