Venturing Into The Great Unknown

Our morning started, bright and sunny, 23°C, with a slight haze in the sky, as we headed towards Shoshone Falls. We drove the three miles out of town to the top of the road that leads down to the falls. Directly ahead of us, on the steep, dusty gravel road, was a grader – ugh. We decided that following it down the hill, amid a cloud of dust, just to see the falls which were at very low levels was just not worth it. We pulled over at the top of the hill and took some pictures of the surrounding canyon, and agreed we would wait until our next visit to Twin Falls to see the actual falls.

We jumped on the I-84 and headed toward Boise – I was quite amazed to see that the speed limit was 80 mph (130 kph). As we headed west the sky became hazier and hazier; almost like a smoke hanging in the air. It even started smelling like smoke which was quite disconcerting considering how dry the area is. After researching it further tonight, it turns out that it was smoke – caused by the King fire just west of Lake Tahoe (almost 500 miles away).

With the exception of the weird haze the drive to Boise was quite enjoyable. The magpies that we have seen along the sides of the road for the last couple of days continued to dart and flit about, and we also saw a couple of long (and I mean long) trains.

When we arrived in Boise we stopped at a scenic viewpoint. Due to the haze in the air we weren’t even sure what the scenic view was, so we got back in the car and continued on to the downtown core for lunch. After driving around the block several times, and trying to figure out how the paid parking worked, we finally arrived at our Food Network stop.

Bar Gernika is a Basque restaurant that serves ridiculously good food. Mum had the Solomo & Salad (pork tenderloin & pimientos) and I had the Lamb Dip with croquettas. The bread that it was served on was absolutely perfect and the creamy garlic house dressing that came with the salad was divine. (They were even nice enough to give us the recipe). I definitely want to go back on our next trip to Idaho.

We then headed over to Trader Joe’s, a supermarket that Mum wanted to go to, for some fruit (which they sell by the piece, not the pound) and other supplies. On the opposite corner was an objet d’art that I believe is a representation of the Boise River. Regardless of what it is, I thought it looked neat and took a picture.

We then headed out of Boise on the Interstate, getting off near the Idaho-Oregon border onto US-20; which we continued on for the rest of the day. This highway took us through the Columbia Plateau which was quite beautiful scenery, and surprisingly quiet traffic-wise. I was even able to take a picture of the scenery, standing in the middle of the 65 mph highway – totally kewl!

Over the last few days I have been continually surprised about the landscape we’ve driven through. I never pictured Idaho and Oregon as being desert-like…I have always thought of them as mountainous, with lush farmland in the low-lying areas. This has definitely been an educational experience.

We arrived in Burns around dinner time and after a brief rest, headed out to dinner at the local Apple Peddler. I have never heard of the restaurant myself, but it seems to be a chain in the Pacific Northwest. Both Mum and I enjoyed the light dinner we had, and found the price quite reasonable. I will consider this as a possible stop on future trips if there are no local Food Network restaurants to stop at.

Well that is it for today. Thank you for reading and I will talk to you tomorrow.

L

Today started out as a cold and overcast morning that threatened rain. We grabbed a couple of bad coffees from the so-called breakfast at the hotel and headed west over the Teton Pass. Once we got on the way the sun started peeking out from behind the clouds and by the time we were over the pass, it was a beautiful day. Before long, we were out of the mountainous terrain and entered a prairie-like landscape, covered with wind turbines. It is nearing the end of harvest season and, with the dry weather, the soil is loose and prone to blow in the wind. Although the dust devils weren’t as pronounced as some of the ones we saw in Western Washington, we saw quite a few but we unable to photograph any.

As we drove towards Idaho Falls, the clouds appeared ominous, with dark tails that threatened possible storms. About 11:30 we stopped in Idaho Falls for a walk, before enjoying a picnic lunch of leftovers next to the Snake River. While we were sitting next to the river, the sun burned off a lot of the clouds, leaving wisps in the sky.

After lunch we headed downtown to get a few pictures of the falls as well as a closer view of the Tabernacle (as shown above).

We then headed towards Craters of the Moon National Volcanic Monument, just outside of Arco, ID. As we neared Arco, the prairies turned to more of a desert landscape, and buttes (which are actually just hills, not true buttes) rose from the sagebrush. We also drove past the Idaho National Laboratory, which is a 2,300 sq. km complex that employs over 4,000 employees and does nuclear research in numerous fields. Not long after, we arrived at a lookout which was about a mile from Craters of the Moon. We stopped, surveyed the landscape and decided that it definitely looked interesting enough to take a closer look. We both thoroughly enjoyed both our walk along a path that marked the different types of lava and lava flows; as well as the seven-mile drive through some of the lava fields. We have decided that we need to come back and visit this place next time we are in the area again.

We continued on towards Twin Falls, and watched as the mountains disappeared behind us. Coming around a corner just before I descended one of the last hills we encountered today, I happened to notice a lone creature at the top of the ridge. I pulled over and managed to get a photo, of my first Pronghorn. It wasn’t the greatest picture, but rarely do I get to see an animal for the first time AND get a picture of it.

We continued on into Twin Falls, and checked into the hotel. Twin Falls didn’t have any restaurants that were featured on a Food Network show, but my research on food sites had led me to Idaho Joe’s. We checked with the girl at the hotel’s front desk and although she hadn’t been there herself, she had heard great things about the place.

Man were we glad that we went there. Mum and I shared the boneless hot wings for an appy; followed by a Caesar Salad for Mum and a Blue Cheese bacon burger for me. It was heavenly. I even had my first bite of cornbread, which tasted pretty good for bread made from corn meal. Not only was it a great meal, but they also sold a steak seasoning that we had seen advertised at Pickle’s Restaurant in Arco. We both got a jar as it seemed to be kismet.

Well, we’ve now come to the end of our day, and I am off to bed.

Talk to you soon and thanks for reading.

L

What an exciting day! Not only did I take another state off my to-do list, but I was able to get so close to a Bison that I could have almost reached out an touched it. After a quick breakfast at the hotel we headed to Walmart to grab some picnic supplies, and then we were off towards Yellowstone. Before too long we left the flat plains of Bozeman and entered the Gallatin River Valley (as shown below).

The Gallatin River is one of the three rivers that converge in Three Forks, MT to form the Missouri River. The weird thing about the river is that it flows northwest, so as we traveled south beside the river, it seemed to flow “uphill”. Before long, we arrived in West Yellowstone and headed into Yellowstone Park. It wasn’t long before we were greeted by our first Bison – man they are HUGE!

After taking a few pictures, we continued on, stopping occasionally for photo ops and also because of wildlife on the road. For lunch we stopped at Canyon Village and had a picnic of last night’s steak frites and some fresh bread we had picked up. Then, we were off again…on a mission to see if we could find a bear or elk to photograph. We stopped at the Mud Volcano, and despite the strong sulphur smell, decided to walk around and take some pictures. The pictures below are of Mud Volcano and Dragon’s Mouth Spring.

After we left Yellowstone, we entered Grand Teton National Park. It is quite a drastic change in topography; with Grand Teton soaring almost 14,000 feet in the air. Although we arrived in the afternoon when the sun was directly behind the mountains, I was still able to get a couple of good pictures of the trio of mountains (Grand Teton, Mount Moran and South Teton).

Part of the reason that I was able to get pictures was because of the clouds that rolled in bringing some drizzle; and in turn, a double rainbow.

Before we knew it we were in Jackson. Jackson, is the epitome of a touristy ski resort town. The downtown streets are laden with outdoorsy shops and resorts line the highway. The hotel we are staying in was a tad difficult to find, but eventually we found it and brought in our bags, quickly freshened up, and headed off to dinner. Sidewinder’s Tavern was our Food Network stop for today and unfortunately it was a disaster. The service was sub-par and the food was mediocre at best – definitely not a place that I will ever recommend. I guess after visiting over 30 restaurants thus far, we were bound to find a dud. Maybe, on a different night, with a different waitress, and a different order of food it could be good. But, as it stands, I have to give it thumbs down.

Well it has been a long day, and my intermittent WiFi has made this blog take longer than normal to write (I can’t complain though, the front desk had a sign that warned of sketchy WiFi because it is, Wyoming of course).

Thank you for putting up with my rant and I will talk to you tomorrow.

L

Last night I had remarked that I hoped we would run into fewer wrinkles…well we did, sort of. After my shower this morning I turned on the Weather Channel just in time to see that there was a freak snowfall in Bozeman last night. Then, as I was checking out, I heard that the I-90 had been closed around 1PM yesterday near the WA-ID border due to a chemical spill and was not expected to reopen until noon today. As the desk clerk was explaining how I should detour around it, another guest came by and told us that they had ‘just’ reopened it. That was awesome news as the detour would have added at least an hour, if not more, to our day’s drive. With that we were off towards Coeur d’Alene and a late breakfast at Jimmy’s Down the Street.

I ordered the same thing as I did last year which was the Chicken Fried Steak Skillet and Mum got a poached egg with bacon and hash browns. Although the food was superb, the service was lacking a bit compared to last year – they were quite friendly, but we had to wait a while for a coffee refill and also to pay our bill. I did, however, get to leave a license plate for them that they are going to put on the wall near their picture of Guy Fieri (I feel privileged). We left Coeur d’Alene around eleven, quite a bit later than planned, and continued on eastward to Montana.

Since today was a driving day, we didn’t make very many stops. We stopped in Wallace, ID (Silver Capital of  the World) for a pitstop and also Missoula for a quick lunch of leftovers in McCormick Park on the banks of the Clark Fork of the Missoula River. While there we saw a Northern Flicker and a huge osprey nest. (I forgot to mention yesterday that we saw a Magpie and also some White-tailed Deer).

After lunch we continued on our way, watching the ever-changing scenery. In Butte we noticed a huge white statue on the top of a hill; our nightly research informed us that it was “Our Lady of the Rockies” and it was set atop the Continental Divide. We also passed through the headlands of the Missouri River (the longest river in North America), and not far from there, Mum espied a couple of young female Rocky Mountain Elk grazing near the Interstate.

We finally reached Bozeman around seven o’clock MDT, and not long after checking in, headed to dinner. As planned, we went to the Copper Whiskey Bar & Grille. We both ordered the Irish-style Potato Soup to start and I had Steak Frites (rare) and Mum had the Avocado Caprese Salad. That was the best steak I’ve had in years (probably since Mum and I stopped in Moose Jaw on our Cross-Canada trip in 2010), and I look forward to having the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

I think that pretty much covers our day, though if I forgot to mention something, I can blame my fatigue – that was a long drive today.

I’m leaving you with some pictures from Jimmy’s, and a couple from our stop in Wallace (I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to take many today).

Talk to you soon.

L

Today was a very, very long day. We started the day by having our GPS take us on a ridiculous tour of Everett suburbia. Once we finally reached US-2, we were on our way to Leavenworth. It was a nice leisurely drive until just before we entered Leavenworth when we encountered this…

Water bombing helicopter outside of Leavenworth

After talking to a very cute State Patrol officer, we found out it was not a huge concern and that there was no evacuation eminent. Thankful for that, we went looking for parking. The parking was almost as bad as it was last year when we were there on Memorial Day weekend, but luckily we found a spot near Riverside Park. We parked and then headed up to explore the quaint little Bavarian-like village. It is definitely a town that we want to visit again but next time we think we’ll stay there overnight so we don’t feel rushed.

We walked around most of the village, but decided against going to the Nutcracker Museum because it didn’t open until 2. Mum was fine with a stop in the nutcracker gift shop instead. We also stopped in the bookstore for a book on the founding of Leavenworth and also stopped in a clothing store where I was able to pick up two skirts for a very good price.

After Leavenworth we headed east, stopping in a park next to the Wenatchee River for lunch and then we headed towards Spokane. Again, my GPS let me down and it ended up sending us on US-2 over to Spokane, instead of across I-90. Oh well, we made it…eventually. We then proceeded to miss our street and had to drive around the block a couple of times until we found the hotel.

Then we decided to head out for dinner. Again, my GPS went squirrelly and we ended up on the wrong side of Spokane. I entered it into Google Maps and we finally arrived 25 minutes later. Waddell’s Pub & Grille was a very good a very nice, and not too loud, sports bar. Mum and I, being still full from our lunch decided to share the sampler platter that came with wings, onion rings, poppers and cheese sticks. It was quite good but we still ended up needing a doggy bag.

Hopefully tomorrow we will run into fewer wrinkles, and hopefully tonight I can get some sleep. I will leave you with some pictures from Leavenworth and also one from the Moses Coulee near Waterville, WA.

Talk to you soon.

L