Zillah, WA to Missoula, MT

  Hi, friends. We're stopped at Starbucks in Butte, Montana for some WiFi so we can stay current on this blog. If we get behind, we know there will be absolutely no record of our travels, so here goes.

  Yesterday was a fabulous warm up to the long days of driving ahead. We spent about 7 hours on the road, crossed a time zone, and reached Missoula, MT by 10 pm MST.

Our route.

Once again, the drive was spectacular. Even little bodies of water like Lake Sprague (rhymes with Prague? Or the Hague? Up for debate...) were gorgeous enough that we didn't bother listening to music and instead were plenty entertained by the surroundings.

Lake Sprague

  Getting to see Idaho was a treat.

We missed the official state sign. This was at a scenic rest stop.

Having never been there before, I imagined it to be fairly flat farmland ideal for growing spuds, which I'm sure some of it is. Not the panhandle, though, nosiree...

Idaho. WHO KNEW.

  I was torn between taking advantage of an insanely fast speed limit (75 mph...is that a joke?) or slowing down and craning my neck to look at everything. (Derek? Hello? Want to drive...ever? No? OK, you are dubbed official photographer/navigator/purse getter/texter/dialer/speaker to mothers. I'll just drive.) Naturally, to get this shot, we pulled over on the side of a bridge. Nevermind our pending death by 18 wheelers whizzing by my left ear. THIS IS MUY IMPORTANTE.

  Next up was Montana, which looks pretty much like Idaho. Rolling hills and trees and a huge sky (hence the Big Sky Conference...I don't know sports except the most popular ones like diving and gymnastics, so thanks to Derek for that fun fact).

Nevermind the six-legged victims of the windshield.

We ended up in Missoula where we had a lovely camping adventure, never passing by another soul for the 9 hours we were there. We did, however, see the brightest, most incredible stars I've seen possibly ever, along with a bald eagle. The only things I would have changed were the placement of said camp site farther away from an active railroad track, and the addition of socks to my sleeping experience.

We finally got to see the camp grounds in the daylight, and sunrises like this make it fairly easy to wake up and explore.

The river was awesome.

(Carpeted) teepees!

Home.

$25/night sure beats a hotel.

And we're off to Yellowstone this morning via Norris Hotsprings. Yip!

TALLIES FOR SATURDAY, MAY 19

- Miles traveled: 425

- States passed through: WA, ID, MT

- Animals sighted: Deer, cows, 4 bald eagles

- Fastest speed limit: 75 mph (!!)

- Cops spotted: 2

- Cops spotted giving expensive ticket to guy who passed us going 90: 1

- Highest peak sighted: Mount Rainier (14,411 ft)

- Best purchase: REI sleeping bags, tent and headlamps (REI Anniversary sale happening this weekend and next! 20% off one full priced item for members! Go!)

- Lowest temp: 39 deg F (yay for 20% off warm sleeping bags)