Retroblogging the megatrip: part 8b

So with the EMP in our rearview mirror, Holly reminded me that I had whipped us out of the downtown core without feeding the kids. D'oh! Now we were pushing into the afternoon and had a bit of a drive ahead of us. At the end of our time on Vancouver Island, we had done two things that affected our day: first, we decided that the best way to break up the trip back east would be to spend the first post-Seattle night in Spokane in NE Washington State. Second, we were tracking the progress of a pretty nasty forest fire across the northern edge of the state and making sure that none of the road closures and detours would affect our route (that's foreshadowing, by the way). In order to get as strong a push across the state as possible, we were hoping to get the kids fed and then squeeze a good nap out of them. We hopped on the I-90 and eventually found a Subway somewhere near Issaquah to get some fuel for the road. Strangely, Max didn't destroy his sandwich. He didn't touch it much at all, actually (more foreshadowing). We piled everyone back in the van and headed east toward Spokane.

The drive was absolutely gorgeous. I believe we passed through the southern edge of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and it was stunning. We had good tunes, all three kids fell asleep, the view was amazing and then we hit a really slow patch of traffic trailing a pair of construction trucks that were driving side-by-side well under the speed limit on the two-lane highway. Pro: the traffic slowdown enabled us to spot our first Hawaii plate...con: the boys woke up and Henry, in particular, wasn't terribly happy. Eventually, the trucks pulled off and we realized that there was a small area of construction along the road and the trucks were in cahoots with the workers to try to calm traffic going through the area. There wasn't really any warning that this would happen so we were puzzled for some time. Henry fell back asleep and the big boys occupied themselves while we pressed onward.

Apologies, but these two van shots are the only pictures we took in the NW corner of the state. After having had enough of Holly's penchant for cranking the A/C while I was fairly comfortable, I fashioned a Snuggie out of one of the car blankets to allow me to drive in comfort while she froze herself in the passenger seat.

I think this picture is taken somewhere around Snoqualmie Pass, a place where the I-90 likes to split apart around huge ravines. In the background, you can see the other side of the highway. Definitely a cool aspect of the drive in this part of the state.
Once we got out of the forest, the landscape changed drastically. Farmland, no hills, few trees and a yellow-brown hue all around (probably due to the dryness that caused the forest fire conditions). Here's a picture of what we were driving through. You can sure tell there's something going on north of the road...

We were doing OK until somewhere around Thorp when we were forced off the main road and had to take the Vantage highway through a winding valley as a detour. We weren't sure what caused the detour - despite the fact that the air was thick with smoke and the smell of fire was everywhere, we were pretty sure that it was a major accident that bumped us onto the side road. This is roughly what the sky was looking like at that point:

After a bit of driving, we came to a pull-off where we stopped for a bathroom break and watermelon snack. The wind was absolutely whipping everything around here and it was pretty tough to catch your breath. We poked around and it turned out that we had pulled over here at the Gingko Petrified Forest. There was a Ranger station and some trails as well as some warning signs to watch out for rattlesnakes. Holly took the kids to look at some of the petrified wood specimens, but you couldn't touch them or see them very well as they were all in boxes beside the trail. It was a pretty neat stop though and we would have missed it entirely had we not been detoured. Here are some pictures:

I love Henry's squint against the wind and Leo's exposed belly.

Henry getting blown around a bit.

Checking out some petrified wood.

The boys on the path through the "forest".

It seems that spelling classes are not included in ranger training.

Another crazy shot of the sun.

Leo mugging in the parking lot.
We got back on the I-90 and I was looking forward to getting another good driving leg in, but after a few minutes we passed through Vantage, closed the Columbia River and then saw a sign saying that there was a Wild Horse Monument up on the nearby hill. Holly thought this was worth checking out so we pulled up the loop and parked while Holly wandered off to see it. Fact: this monument is called Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies. Another fact: Wild Horse Monuments on far-off hills are not closer than they appear. By the time Holly got there, took some pictures and came back, it had been about 30 minutes and she had just about fallen down a rocky slope (Holly adds: It didn't look that steep but it turned out to be a nasty grade with the "path" made of loose gravel. I was wearing flip flops and trying to rush. I'm very surprised I didn't end up really hurting myself. The view at the top was spectacular!). It was definitely time to hit the road. Here are a couple of the shots we got.

A look at the bridge over Wanapum Lake. That's Holly in the foreground.

This is a look at the monument from the parking lot. It actually looked really cool, a bunch of horse sculptures silhouetted up on the ridge.

This is Holly's best picture of the horses from up close.

Although this one shows the van in the parking lot (the second visible vehicle).

Holly remarked that it was a bit of a bummer that most of the horses were covered in graffiti.
After hours of driving in a smelly smokescreen, it was time to pull off the road for dinner. We decided to hit up a pizzeria in Moses Lake where they just happened to be showing a CFL game on some sub network of ESPN. And not just any CFL game, but a WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS home game!!

Kismet.
We ordered a giant olive/mushroom/meat pizza (one of the kids' faves) and both Leo and Henry picked at their food while Max didn't really eat anything again. Hmmmm. After dinner, we just had to blast through to Spokane, another 90 minutes up the road. The kids got their "driving after dark" iPad time and then conked out. On the outskirts of Spokane, Holly Hotwired us a deal at the Ruby2 Motel, a funky little place that was way too close to some major train tracks, but was otherwise perfect for our needs (sleep, wake up, leave).
Except that we couldn't leave in the morning because Max decided he wasn't feeling well at all and was now running a fever. I went to the office to get a recommendation for a clinic, popped Max in the van, got lost twice due to strange street renaming issues but then eventually tracked it down. It took about 90 minutes to be seen, score a prescription and have it filled. The scrip itself was shockingly expensive, but the rest of the process was pretty painless. I especially liked how the visit cost a certain amount of money but, because we were willing to pay the fee in a lump sum, the visit was discounted by almost 50%. I didn't quite get that part, but I accepted it.
We grabbed Max a smoothie, returned to the motel to pick up the rest of the family and then got ready to go. But first, we had a couple of stops to make. Stop 1 wasn't really a stop, but more of a drive-by. In hustling Max around town, I spotted one of the most magnificent things ever and had to show Holly. We didn't get a picture but it just so happens that there are a few online. Check it out:

Yes. Guy. That is some magnificent hat signage. After basking in the glory of the hat, we sought out a place to finally change the oil and transmission fluid in the van. They were pretty quick, but we still had time to grab a bagel. After that pit stop, we set out to pick up some Gonzaga gear (we support the Bulldogs every year during March Madness) and hit up a couple of sports clothing stores...but came up short each time. It turns out that you actually had to go on campus to get some swag so we took the opportunity to snap a couple of pictures in a campus courtyard before taking off.

We were hoping to leave Spokane by about 9 or 10 in the morning, but with all of the stuff going on that morning, it was about 1 pm when we left. We were trying to get to Idaho Falls, ID that night so we had a seriously long drive ahead of us (over 500 miles). The drive from Coeur d'Alene east through the panhandle of Idaho was gorgeous. Lots of greenery and elevation changes made the drive memorable. It was also notable that there are a lot of attractions in that part of the state involving mining and precious metals. The boys' grandpa would have a field day there. We pulled off the road for a break in St. Regis, MT where we picked up Coke, ice cream and blue liquorice at a massive gift shop. We also learned, via billboards, about Testy Festy...wow, Montana. Classy. The only other take-away from the drive to Butte was our 140+ km/h race down a hill to catch up with a car because its license plate looked strange. Sure enough - New Hampshire. Another tricky one off the list!

The kids were really, really, really good in the van most of the time. And almost entirely without electronics. I am eternally grateful that we seem to have some serious road trippers on our hands.

This was right as Coke launched its "Share a Coke with..." campaign so I thought this was a pretty big score in St. Regis.
We hit Butte for a late dinner, but the sun was still up enough (unfortunately) for us to get a look at the town on our way to a restaurant. Butte was pretty run-down and had seen better decades. Our restaurant (The Hanging 5) reminded me of some of the places I'd eat at on the road in the U.S. with my folks back in the 80s...and they had a retro feel back then, I'm sure! The food was alright, but the kids were really squirrelly from being in the van for such a long stretch. And we still had 200 miles to drive. Ugh. We eventually got out of town, threw on some cartoons, got the kids to fall asleep, then I put on a cool Grantland podcast with Julia Collins, the woman who ran up the second longest winning streak in Jeopardy! history. FINALLY, we pulled into Idaho Falls at roughly 1:00 a.m. and the dude at the front desk sent us to the wrong wing of the hotel. Then we found out that our room was on the second floor of the motel wing so, by the time we got everybody squared away, the kids were nice and awake and it was 1:30. Frustrating, as we were supposed to get an early start for Yellowstone in the morning. Oh well. It was what it was. We finally drifted off to sleep, thinking about what the next day would bring.