This is our last day on the road - about 5 hours more and we should be in Walla Walla relaxing at my friend's home. Good thing since last night's experience has left us a little surly, especially since the clerk didn't want to refund our pet deposit or compensate us for any of the problems with the room. I meant to take a picture of the motel sign welcoming hunters, but we just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. Even skipped the complementary breakfast! The next hour saw us swooping up and over Lookout Pass where Idaho meets Montana, and arriving in my hometown of Wallace. We had breakfast at the Wallace Inn (just off to the right in the picture below) where my friend was quick to point out the three different kinds of birch trees outside the window. I'd mentioned my fleeting fear that I might lose my inspiration if I wasn't surrounded by birch trees, so she wanted to remind me I'd find them out here as well.
Then it was on to Coeur d'Alene and into Washington State (the panhandle of Idaho is very narrow - about 75 miles along this route). At Spokane, we dropped south into the Palouse where we were soon back into smoke-filled skies. As opposed to forest fires, this prairie was burning stubble and scrub brush but it was no less serious than the Montana fires. In fact, it was so smoky that there was a definite pall over the land, leaving me with such a sense of doom. Very unsettling.
We arrived in Walla Walla early in the afternoon, all three of us ready to be out of the car and not headed for a motel. My friend lives in a wonderful old Sears kit house sitting on multiple lots. A creek runs along the property and the backyard is huge and tree-filled. Need I say, Jesse deemed this a 5 star establishment!
My things weren't due to arrive in Sandpoint for a few days, so I looked forward to decompressing, borrowing a computer to catch-up on mail and blogs, and spending some time with my god-daughter.
I didn't take many pictures along this part of the trip - I guess because it is such familiar territory to me. So I provided links if you'd like to see what this area looks like.
End of day four - a successful and safe trek out west...
Then it was on to Coeur d'Alene and into Washington State (the panhandle of Idaho is very narrow - about 75 miles along this route). At Spokane, we dropped south into the Palouse where we were soon back into smoke-filled skies. As opposed to forest fires, this prairie was burning stubble and scrub brush but it was no less serious than the Montana fires. In fact, it was so smoky that there was a definite pall over the land, leaving me with such a sense of doom. Very unsettling.
We arrived in Walla Walla early in the afternoon, all three of us ready to be out of the car and not headed for a motel. My friend lives in a wonderful old Sears kit house sitting on multiple lots. A creek runs along the property and the backyard is huge and tree-filled. Need I say, Jesse deemed this a 5 star establishment!
My things weren't due to arrive in Sandpoint for a few days, so I looked forward to decompressing, borrowing a computer to catch-up on mail and blogs, and spending some time with my god-daughter.
I didn't take many pictures along this part of the trip - I guess because it is such familiar territory to me. So I provided links if you'd like to see what this area looks like.
End of day four - a successful and safe trek out west...
1 comment:
Marvellous! Thanks again, Sheila
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