Heading East

30th September - 1st October

From Seattle we drove via the town of Snohomish (Michael was in heaven there, the entire town consisted of antique stores) to Spokane (Washington). Dinner was at a local Diner, with the guarantee on the menu that, you guessed it, no one ever leaves hungry.  They were right.   The waitress was very friendly, as was the Texan across in the next booth.  He had just flown in to visit his son at Uni and, spur of the moment, had bought a Red Corvette from a nice little old couple (75 years old) for $10,000.. He seemed quite moved when he was chatting to us, and explained that watching us muck around in the dinner reminded him of his family when the kids were much younger...  I suspect he was also a bit teary knowing that he would have to explain his recent purchase to his wife when he got back, as well as the cancelled return plane ticket...

This morning we had breakfast at a classic "Train Diner" which consists of a very old Train carriage that has been modified.  I've heard of these things and it was a really great meal.  We stuffed ourselves and headed off.

Today we went through three states, Washington, Idaho and Montana. We drove along through some beautiful pine forests and the "fall colours" are certainly beginning to show. Lots of yellow leaves starting to happen.

We stayed at Butte (pronounced Beaut, and not Butt) Montana, at Copper King Casino and Convention Centre which can lay claim to having not only an indoor pool, but also an indoor water slide to heighten that winter experience.  I knew it was a cold place when I noticed  the snow shovel next to the door of  the Safeway store.  Currently it's a pleasant 6 degrees C in the evening... so I'm still wearing shorts and T-Shirt.  My Yeti-style-hairy-legs are working well to ward off the cold.  The 'frailer ladies of the trip' are wearing more conventional gear and look a lot less out of place to the locals.

While we have noticed a number of casino's over the last two weeks, it's only here that there has been a larger number of the gaudy signs ...  our dinner tonight consisted of Two "Family" sized pizzas...  each of which was larger than the combined circumference of both Natasha and Abbey's heads.  This particular meal was available from the Pizza/Casino restaurant at a cost of just over $18, which, naturally, included an indoor games area for the kids... the usual stuff really.. oh, and a circus Merry-Go-Round..  Lunch will consist of the remainder of the pizza.

Supersize  Pizzas

Tomorrow our journey continues, and we hit Yellowstone National Park.  My bet with Natasha and Abbey that we will be greeted by Yogi Bear and Boo Boo is looking shaky...

Comments on the trip so far...:

MT:  The American people are really quite nice here at home...    not that I didn't expect that, but I didn't expect them to be that nice.   The tourist/hospitality trade really survives on tips, and perhaps that helps explain why that group is so over the top with being nice to you (and the other locals), however people in the street are equally nice. While we are not silly enough to assume all Americans are as nice as the folk we have met to date, there is no denying that they are a very hospitable people.  We've been offered a free place to stay in Seattle, met random folk who were more than happy to help us out, and even been waved to by some nice folk when driving on the wrong side of the road (well I think they were waving). Last night, at Spokane (Washington) we met a Texan who had just flown in.  He was almost tearful as he watched our family muck around in the diner as it reminded him of his own family.  You could not meet a more gentile and pleasant man... although he did hesitate at swapping his Red Corvette that he had just spontaneously purchased that day for our Sherman tank of a rental...  oh well...    did you know that $10,000 buys you a nice 1988 Red Corvette here ?  amazing...

Food is cheap, I mean real cheap...   and it's not only "Home Brand" that is cheap.  The $1 shop, where $1 buys you anything in the shop was an eye opener.  A wide variety and range of brands were available.  We are not really 5 Star lifestyle people, but we are amazed at how well you can live here on what seems to be a lower income.  Housing, food, petrol, electricity... all much cheaper than Australia.

Internet hot spots here are everywhere.  I bought a SIM card for my Ipad, and it has worked for 95% of our trip...  Yosemite even had patches where the Ipad could find signal...   Every motel we stay at has free WiFi...  it's a place saturated with connectivity.

The little townships have so much character, the locals are very chatty, and the history is well celebrated, including the truths of how the original Indian peoples were treated...

The roads are pretty good.. we would love to avoid the major Interstate highways as much as time allows, but  there is a limit to how far you can travel in a day off them.

The recession here is hurting business.  The retail shops are hardly empty, but, with the exception of Walmart, $1 Stores, and Factory Outlets, the number of customers does not seem very high.  The number of sales assistants seems very high, but that could revolve around low minimum pay levels and a higher level of staffing here regardless... it's hard to know.   Talk on NPR (National Public Radio) is all about the recession, and how many home owners are under water with their home loans.  While the stock market seems to keep rising, the economy is barely floating...   The flip side of how weak the US dollar sits, however, is that many Americans are travelling in their own country rather than O/S.   Accommodation places have done really well this year, and Yellowstone has had it's largest number of visitors ever on record. There are RV's everywhere here...