Seattle Fish Market

Big Sky to Yellowstone

Day 30, states 14, miles 6170

Big Sky, MT

Gallatin Valley, MT





Yesterday morning we ventured back in to Bozeman for breakfast at the Western Cafe followed by some shopping.  Natalie wasn't going to have anyone claiming her new bear, so she let Andi pick out her own from the same shop--a brown one that she named "Otis".  After stopping at our favorite resupply depot (Walmart), we headed down Hwy 191 and enjoyed the famously scenic drive  through the Gallatin Valley toward Big Sky and Yellowstone.   We arrived in West Yellowstone (the town in Montana, not the park) around 4pm and did some shopping.  I picked up some cowboy boots and a vest to go with the Stetson Natalie bought for me in Kalispell and Andi found a pair of moccasins.  After shopping and enjoying some of my new favorite ice cream (huckelberry), we headed in to the park.  Yellowstone quickly impressed us, and we could see why it is the crown jewel of the National Park system.  Around each corner we found a new breathtaking view, and we hadn't gone far before encountering some of the wildlife.  We stopped to take a picture in front of some bison just in time for Natalie to read to us from brochure that the park ranger gave us.   "DO NOT STOP ON THE ROAD TO TAKE PICTURES OF THE WILDLIFE.  DO NOT APPROACH WITHIN 25 YARDS OF THE BISON!  THEY ARE UNPREDICTABLE.  SEVERAL PARK VISTORS HAVE BEEN GORED BY ANGRY BISON!"

Alex and Bison

After surviving the Bison pictures, we drove the 50-mile circuit around the top of the park to Fishing Bridge, which is the location of the only RV campsite in Yellowstone.  This one, unlike other national park campsites, actually has electrical and water hookups and hot showers available.  But there is no cell phone or internet service, so Kirk and the kids had to suffer with just watching a John Wayne movie with us in the RV.  This morning we decided to take advantage of our location within the park and get an early start vistiting   Old Faithful.  We arrived early enough that there was still plenty of parking for our RV.  After getting the RV parked, Natalie made hot biscuits.  We discovered that we had cell phone coverage (and therefore internet) in our parking spot, so I was able to post this update.

More of Montana

Western Montana

After spending two nights in Kalispell, we started working our way down toward Yellowstone.  The drive across western Montana lived up to our expectations for scenic beauty, with lush green valleys and snow capped mountains in the distance.  Our first stop was in the state capital, Helena, where we explored the downtown area and enjoyed some Huckelberry ice cream and crepes.  Then we continued on to Butte--a small town known for its copper mining history (it should also be known for its industrial sized mosquitoes).  We camped overnight at the Butte KOA, where I convinced the kids to watch "Caddyshack".  This movie earned an unequivocal eight thumbs down from Natalie and the kids and a quick donation to the movie library at our next RV camp.  In the morning, we stopped by the World Museum of Mining--an interesting place that might have been more interesting if we could have convinced the kids to do the underground mine tour with us.

From Butte, we drove an hour-and-a-half to reach Bozeman.  In contrast to stale, blue collar Butte, Bozeman is a college town with younger crowd and more vibrant atmosphere.  We stopped by the movie theater so the kids (and dad) could see the latest "Transformers" sequel.  Mom was a good sport and endured it for the team.  After the movie, we set up at a great little RV park at the edge of town with the nicest owners we have met.  The wife gave Natalie and me a lift back into town, and we had a date while the kids hung out at the RV park.  We happened to be in Bozeman for "Musicfest".  The downtown area was only open to pedestrian traffic.  A good size crowed of mostly college kids (with a few of us older folk sprinkled in) enjoyed the live music, shopping, and eateries.  Natalie and I had some dinner at a pizzeria (I couldn't talk her in to a bison burger), and I bought her something to remember our time in Bozeman--a large stuffed black bear that she quickly named "Montana".

Musicfest in Bozeman, MT

Glacier National Park

Day 26, miles 5582, states 15

Glacier National Park

We have now hit the westernmost (Eureka, CA) and northernmost (Glacier National Park) points of our trip.  From here, we will be plotting a generally southeasterly course toward home.  We got somewhat of a late start leaving Spokane yesterday due to a prolonged stop at the Walmart Supercenter for some resupply and bicycle repackaging.  We had bought five new Townie bicycles and a fancy 5-bike carrier for our trip before we left.  The Townies are great bikes, but we began having problems with the carrier almost immediately.  One of the struts started to bend under the load, and the bikes began to slide and rub together, causing lots of scratches on our new bikes.  The worst part was that the whole thing looked like it was going to break off and cause a highway catastrophe.  So I swapped out the fancy but failing 5-bike carrier for a 4-bike model from Walmart that was 1/5 the price.  I also bought some straps to secure the fifth bike to the ladder and bumper on the rear of the RV.  The new arrangement is much more secure and makes loading and unloading the bikes surprisingly easier.

After squaring the bikes away, we drove through a slice of Idaho and then entered Montana and took a scenic route up to Kalispell, where we found a nice RV park on the river.  We discovered from the people at the RV park that most of Glacier National Park was still closed due to snow.  This was hard to believe because the weather we'd encountered in Montana to that point was some of the warmest we'd had since leaving Nevada.  But they told us that the southern portion of the park was open, so we decided to drive up and do some biking and horseback riding.  The journey to Glacier this morning was an easy 45-minute drive from our RV park.  We parked our RV at the horse stables and took the bikes for a ride along some of the trails before having lunch at Apgar Village and heading back to the stables to get on the horses for our trail ride.  We didn't get to see much of Glacier, but what we did see was striking.  And we have two more full days to see more of Montana before we head to Yellowstone.

From Starbucks to Hoopfest

Day 25, states 11, miles 5311



Pike's Place Fish Market in Seattle

The fourth major city we spent any significant time in was Seattle.  We considered renting a car at Fort Lewis and driving there, but decided to take our chances in the RV.  Fortunately, we were able find a parking lot within walking distance of the harbor that could accomodate our 32' beast.  It was just good luck that we arrived on a weekend day when most of the downtown lots had plenty of room.  We walked the few blocks to the harbor area, and Alex and I enjoyed a coffee and frappuccino from the original Starbucks shop.  Then we all checked out the famous Pike's Place Fish Market and enjoyed some awesome sandwiches at Three Girls Cafe.  Natalie and I both had a Pacific Northwestern, which consisted of fresh salmon on sourdough with red onions, fresh cucumbers, and dressing.  The kids weren't up for the salmon, but they enjoyed some more traditional sandwiches that were also excellent.  After Natalie and Andi did a little more shopping from the vendors in the harbor, we walked to the Hard Rock Cafe for an addition to Alex's t-shirt collection (but not for any food, thankfully).  Then we bought a couple of jackets at the Patagonia store before walking back to the RV and heading out for Mount Rainier.

George and Alex at the Original Starbucks's in Seattle

Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier is famous for hiding behind the gloomy Seattle area weather, but we were able to get a family snapshot with the peak in the background as we drove in on the 410 scenic route.  We rolled in to the park around 7pm.  This was our first actual overnight stay in a national park.  These parks are more for the nature lovers, and don't offer much in the way of creature comforts--not even the electric and water hookups that most of the state parks have.  Some have showers, but there were none at Mount Rainier.  There are also restrictions on running the generator.  So we all enjoyed a game of cards in the RV before calling it an early night and heading out for Spokane first thing in the morning.

Hoopfest in Spokane

Spokane was an easy drive across the state.  After crawling the RV up and down so many winding mountain roads along the coast, it was nice to get back on a smooth, 4-lane interstate for a little while.  And this one (I-90) even offered a pretty view.  For some inexplicable reason, Kirk had been dying to see the movie "Cars 2".  The poor kid has been miserable with his allergies during all of our outings, so Natalie wanted to let him see his movie in a climate controlled theater and let the family spend an afternoon "back in civilization".  We arrived in Spokane to find the entire downtown area closed off to traffic for the annual "Hoopfest" event, where thousands of kids come from all over the country to compete in 3-player basketball matches.  There were backboards set up in the middle of all the streets with thousands of kids shooting hoops.  The atmosphere was quite festive.  Even with all of this going on, Natalie was able to scope out a great parking spot just across the bridge that spanned the gorgeous Spokane River.  We walked across the bridge to movie theater, which was in a three-level shopping mall, and bought tickets for our movies.  Andi went with Kirk to see "Cars 2", while Alex, Natalie and I opted for "Super 8".  By the time our movies ended, the Hoopfest was done, and whole city had been nearly completely cleaned up as if the "Cat in the Hat" had come through with his picker upper machine and magically put everything away.  We had dinner at Red Robbin, walked back to the RV and drove to our camp, which is about four miles outside of town.  I think we were all impressed with Spokane.  It's a pretty town with friendly people.  We also found something here that we have been missing for the past couple of weeks:  plenty of sunshine and warm weather.

Spokane River

Dog Olympics



Alex and Andi in front of "Haystack Rock" on Cannon Beach

 Well, we had a close call with Sugar today.  We thought she might wind up with a new life as a snow dog living in the Olympic Mountains (see Andi's post below for details).  Since I last posted, we spent a couple more days on the beautiful Oregon coast, visiting Cannon Beach, Seaside, the Tillamook Cheese Factory, and the Columbus River Maritime Museum.  We also stayed at a couple more of Oregon's excellent coastal state parks (Cape Lookout and Fort Stevens) before crossing into Washington yesterday and following scenic 101 around the back side of Olympic National Park to Port Angeles where we had dinner at a local seafood restaurant and camped at the KOA RV park. 

On the road to "Hurricane Ridge" at Olympic National Park (just before Sugar's adventure)

The kid's celebrate Sugar's safe return

This morning, we drove the 17-mile trek up the mountain road to the front entrance of the park and enjoyed the wonderful view of the Olympic Mountains before our two-hour dog adventure (see Andi's post).  Shortly after Sugar was rounded up by our new friend, Austin, the rain and snow rolled in, and we crept back down the mountain at a cautious 20mph pace and drove to Tacoma and Fort Lewis, where the weather improved, and we made camp at the military RV park.  Even after all of our adventures with Sugar, we made it here early enough to have a little cookout and count our blessings again.

Sugar's Birthday Party

Day: 23

States: 11

Mile: 4852
Location: Oylimpic National Park

We're all getting up when my mom mentions something. "Today is a special day. It is Sugar's Birthday!" Alex and I gave Sugar a birthday rubdown. "June 24th." I confirmed. "Well, we are going up to the mountains today, but we'll have to walk after a certain point because the snow is too thick," My Mom said. "Snow?" I asked. "And Kirk will be on this road?" I asked, motioning myself throwing a snowball. Alex laughed. "His allergies are really bad so he's not going to come," my mom said. I shrugged. We leashed up the dogs, and headed down the snowy path. There were walls of snow. When we came to an intersection, we let the hyper dogs off their leash for a quick bathroom break/run around. Alex and I were behind everybody. When we caught up, I heard something I did not want to. "Where are the dogs?" I wasn't worried at first. They would always run ahead and come straight back. A couple we were walking with shrugged and looked around. We called and called, but they weren't coming back. The couple went on the snow covered trail for a bit to look. They saw Pinta and called her. But where was Sugar? My stomach lurched. They always came back together. Sugar was good about coming back. But getting lost in the woods where there are bears, cougars, and other things was something I didn't want my dog to get into. My mom reported that she thought both of the dogs headed for the trail. We looked around over the trail, but after a while the snow was to thick to pass. We weren't allowed to go off the trail, for my parents didn't want to add a kid to the search list. We decided to split up. Dad and I would wait on the trail and call while Mom and Alex continued on the main road. I called and called. My voice went as loud as it could go. "She probably found her way back to the RV," Dad said reassuringly. I called some more, and we got Pinta to bark. We met up with mom back at the main road. They were empty handed. My dad ran ahead of everybody to see if she went back to the RV. We trudged to the ranger station to report a missing dog. We were telling people to look all the way there. The rangers seemed very sympathetic, and ordered a dispatch. When we got back to RV. I went to the back and cried. I wanted my fuzzy white puppy back. One of less reassuring rangers said. "She'll end up in the pound or eaten by a cougar." The picture of my half eaten sweetie was too disturbing. I cried some more. A ranger tapped on our window. "Hi.We got word that someone saw your dog, and they are going to bring her up," the Ranger said. "Thank you," Mom said. Shortly after, my Dad came in. "Did you hear, George, they found her!" Mom said. "No they didn't. It was a mix up," Dad said grimly. Dad and Alex grabbed the bikes and rode up the main road further. They came back with no dog, but they did have news. "Someone saw her," Alex said. "When we asked her she said it was like fifteen minutes ago." Everybody was talking about Sugar, and I just looked out the window. All of a sudden, I saw a white flash go by our window. "Sugar!" I exclaimed as I ran out the door. I bolted out before she could leave me again. Our sweet girl with muddy paws curved back towards the RV. I hugged her head, and buried my face in her fur. I was so happy. A teenager was panting. "I chased her all the way here," he said. "Thank you so much," we cried. He said his name was Austin. Sugar won't even go near the door now. She was gone for about two hours. Thank you so much Austin!!!! You are the best.