Lots of pie
We left the hotel in Missoula and continued on I-90, to get to
Idaho around 100 miles further west, but already at the second exit,
we met a sign telling that the interstate was blocked due to a traffic accident,
and
then we were led onto a road that went parallel to the freeway. We had to stay
here for around 8 miles
and along the way we passed the traffic accident.
It turned out to be a big truck that had overturned across the interstate, and
blocked it completely.
Fortunately, no-one appeared to be injured, but they were busy emptying the truck
of goods and as it was done by hand so looked like it would take some time to
clear the road.
When we got back on the interstate at the next access we continued through
grassy hills, where it was once again cattle that dominated.
Around the border of Idaho the landscape changed, the mountains got
higher, and they were now overgrown by different kinds of conifers. It all
seemed so very green, but maybe it was due to the rain that fell while we were
on our way through the mountains.
When we stopped at a rest area we once again saw a lot of the small rodents,
which we had seen in Utah (Uintah chipmunk).
At the border between Montana and Idaho, we changed time zone to Pacific time,
and thus we earned an hour.
It was our second visit to Idaho, and if the first was short, this wasn't much
longer.
Idaho is quite narrow up north, and as we went through at the narrowest point,
it were only about 65 miles on the interstate. Along the way we passed
Look Out Pass, 4,775 feet above sea level, and we drove through Idaho's silver mining district,
with towns such as Kellog,
Silverton, Kingston, Pinehurst, Cataldo and Smelterville and all was located in the
Silver Valley.
This is also the case of Wallace, claiming to be both Center of The Universe and "The World's Silver Capital".
The latter claim is raised by Taxco in Mexico, so who is right, I dare
not say.
We
crossed the border to Washington shortly after the city of Coeur d'Alene, and
thus ended our Idaho adventure for the time being, and we were back in the state
where we started about three weeks earlier.
Immediately after the border we left the mountains, and after Spokane, where we
'enjoyed' a bunch of road works on the freeway, it was grass prairie that
characterized the surroundings of the interstate.
As we got further west, we met, however, more and more cultivated land.
We stopped in the town of Sprague, where we refueled and grabbed a bite to eat
along the way.
And then it was back
to the interstate. Around the 1.30
pm we passed Moses Lake, where we originally had planned to stay for the night,
but it was to early so we decided to continue all the way to Seattle.
From a distance of around 125 miles
we could see Mount Rainier.
As we crossed the Columbia River near the town of Vantage, we made a brief stop
and enjoyed the views of the rivers and on the gap we drove through.
Here we read on a sign the story of the Wanapum Indians who had lived on the river.
The Wanapum's was a very peaceful, religious tribe that lived mainly on fishing
and was never in conflict with the whites.
Therefore, no treaty was ever signed with them, and therefore they were never
given a reservation.
Today the tribes is
practically exstinct.
After Ellensburg we drove up into the Wenatchee Mountains, and continued through
several mountain passes
before we
began to descent to Seattle.
In the town of Cedar Falls we left I-90 and continued on Washington Road 18
heading southwest, as we were not going into downtown Seattle, but to Sea-Tac,
where our hotel was.
The road then went through the small suburbs of Seattle, where the there were no
signs, but we managed after all to find the hotel without too many problems, and
at 4.30
we were back where we started the tour.
We dragged our luggage out of the car, and it was the first time since we left
the same hotel, the car was completely empty.
All our "junk" (brochures, maps etc..) stacked in the back seat was removed and the
cooler which had served us, if not well, then at least satisfactory, were placed
next to a dumpster.
"The Moor has done his duty, the Moor can go" (Quote: Schiller).
When all was carried up, we relaxed for a few hours, and then we went
out to have dinner.
We actually wanted to eat at a Tony Roma's which according to the hotel's own
brochure should be close by, but no one at the hotel seemed to know where it was
located. The best route description we thought that we got
from an Indian or Pakistani limousine driver, but either he
didn't know it, or we had misunderstood something, as we followed his directions
in vain.
Finally, we changed out minds and had dinner Shari's Cafe and Pies that we
happened to drive by.
The restaurants in this chain is more cafe-like than Tony Roma's, but still OK.
I had some fried fish with grilled prawns and Dorte a T-bone steak, which
she had been talking about for the whole trip.
The place was known for their pies, so the waitress asked if we would end the
meal with a piece of pie. As we had to decline,
she asked instead if we would like some pie to take home.
We said yes, so we could have a piece with our coffee later and selected pie
with mixed berries.
It turned out that she brought us a whole pie - and so we had to explain that we
stayed at the hotel so we did not have access to knives, etc. No problem, she
said, and cut the pie in pieces, and put both knives, forks, spoons
and napkins in the bag.
Back at the hotel we brought coffee from the front desk, and when reached the
room, we opened the box of pie, and found that she had cut it into 5 pieces.
We started to share one of these fifths between us - but that was all we managed
and we left the rest at the hotel room, when we left next morning.
But we were also both well fed and tired after a very long drive.