650 miles, 3 states, 2 days with old friends in Spokane, 2 days with Erin’s cousin in Missoula and 1 state park, $389.66 UNDER budget.
I don’t know if you can tell, but our mileage total was a little lower this week.
After spending so many nights in Banff we realised a slower pace for a little while may be a good thing, hence the slower pace and lower # of places visited.
At the beginning of this journey, we were sad to leave our deep community behind in Denver. As we’ve travelled around the West Coast and Canada, we have been reminded that our deep community is here and waiting to welcome us into their homes. When it’s all said and done we will have visited with 10 different sets of folks on this trip ~ each of whom we are honored to call family ~ whether by blood or by choice.
Spokane = small children (not ours thankfully), playing in the dirt under peach trees, plums and more peaches, mead, beer, cleaning out the car, laundry and of course, time well spent with our friends Cathy and Lizzy who moved to Spokane last year. If you go, be sure to visit the Green Bluff area ~ that’s where we got all the yummy things listed above PLUS caramels and pumpkin donuts!
One of my favorite things to do is to get small children to laugh about one silly thing or another. I unwittingly gave Fynn, (Cathy & Lizzie’s oldest), a new way to pronounce nine that sounds much like “naaaaaaaeeene”….and he would not let it go! Every answer to every question was; “naaaaaaaeeene” followed by a giggle and me repeating it until it got ridiculously and absurdly hilarious for both of us. Sorry Cathy & Lizzie….hopefully he didn’t hold on to that little gem.
Missoula = a day spent exploring on bikes, a lovely hike with Pelah and Mark, a splash of Bourbon at a downtown distillery and an al fresco dinner that was a delight as much for it’s company as the food. Missoula is a happening town with housing prices nearly as ridiculous as Denver’s and a downtown scene that sent us to three different restaurants on a TUESDAY evening because the wait was forever at all of them! We promised not to let the secret out of the bag about what a great place it is to live, Anyone seeking a small-ish town to live in that has almost instant access to the great outdoors, a university and a food scene that is really good should definitely NOT come to Missoula.
Missouri River Headwaters State Park = a lot of mosquitos and a glorious day of reading and relaxation in the shade. Not much else to be said about that!
The invitation has been issued before and still stands ~ wanna meet up with us somewhere? Chicago? Montreal? Bangor, ME? Barcelona? London? Berlin? Japan? Australia? We’d love to see you……….
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