Drive West

I got up this yesterday morning at sunrise to take pics over Lake McDonald  The sun was coming from the mountain side, so the sunrise was just okay.   When sunrises/sunsets are just OK, I try to find some way to make it more interesting (not a bear this time…)  I started skipping rocks towards the mountains to see what I could catch on camera.  I thought I would call this print “Skipping to Sunrise”.   It was not a bad way to wake up and to say goodbye to Glacier NP.

 

Yesterday and today was for the drive west,  not many pics or much exciting to talk about so I am going to combine the last 2 days.   Yesterday,  I mainly drove from Glacier to Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, somewhere over 300 miles,  I really did not keep track.  The only thing really interesting along the way was  being able to drive by Flathead Lake,  I did not even know there was a lake that large in Montana.  I must have driven the shores for over 35 miles.   At Misssoula, MT  the air was all smoky, and I found out there were a lot of fires in Idaho the way I was going to go on US 12.  So,  I changed direction and got  on the highway to Coeur d’ Alene.  There was a Toyota dealership there and the Tundra needed it’s 20K maintenance.  I called and they said they could get me in first thing in the morning if I got there early.  I arrived that night and slept in the Toyota Dealers parking lot.  (still nice to be able sleep anywhere!)

After getting my truck serviced,  loaded back up the camper, and did some shopping I was on the road again.  I had bottle of wine from Oregon,   I put in the address as my next destination into the Garmin.  It said it was 437 miles away,  so off I went.  The trip has now turned into National Parks, waterfalls, and wineries,  Not a bad itinerary.

I had driven for quite a while and pulled off in Kennewick, WA at an REI.   REI’s have free wifi.  I connected for a while and tried to upload some pictures and blog entries.  A friend was looking for things I could do along the way and she mentioned the Columbian River Gorge.  That triggered me to look for the Washington Wineries.  I really did not research before and thought they were further north and west from where I was.  For some reason, about that time,  the REI Wi-Fi failed,  and I got on my phone and looked up Columbia Crest Winery (whose wines I had before).  I found out it was only 36 miles away and the tasting room closed at 4:30.  It was 3:40.   Off I went hoping to get a tasting in before they closed. 

I made it and got some tastes.  The ladies there were great and gave me lots of places to stop in the Washington wine region and options for a place to stay.  It was too late to hit anymore today,  so I found a campground to wait to  tomorrow till the wineries open.   I guess Oregon wine country can wait a few more days…