Day 7: Montana & Idaho

Today has been perhaps our easiest day thus far. Only 6 hours of driving with no "must-see" places. I tallied it up and we have traveled 3087 miles as of tonight with about 1000 more to go. We crossed into our third and final time zone - yes, I am now officially on pacific time. I have found myself feeling rather tired with sporadic headaches, which has reminded me of two things. For one, I'm pretty sure I'm still on eastern standard time, and for another I'm probably at twice if not three times the altitude I was in NYC. I'm reminded of my summer in Aspen last year when a walk up a hill would cause my life to flash before my eyes. Considering we haven't stayed in any place long enough to orient ourselves with what the hell is going on, it is no mystery as to why I might feel a bit... out of it.

So remember yesterday when I said that Montana and the north entrance to Yellowstone is our new favorite place? Here is why:

Ridiculous. Today saw no real exciting things, at least not in comparison to yesterday. Michaela and I had our bout of usual driving shenanigans. We stopped in Missoula, Montana, which we didn't find to be quite as cool as Bozeman, where we stayed. I'm sorry to say that the scenery deteriorated greatly as we entered Idaho. We did stop in a little old mining town called Wallace, which was fairly depressing, though quaint with history.

We stopped in Coeur d'Alene, a town that fell considerably below our expectations, especially taking into account the researched hotel prices and hype surrounding their resorts on the lake. Unexpectedly, we have found the most pleasure in the little town in Washington we're staying in overnight called Liberty Lake. First we managed to avoid what I thought would be a total Michaela meltdown when we discovered our hotel to be nice, clean, and pleasant, which Michaela has a hard time believing when we are not staying at a Fairfield Inn. Then, we had a fantastic dinner at a local place called Otis Grill, where I enjoyed a patty melt and ice cream. Just after we arrived the joint was invaded by a little league team getting after having finished a game. Precious.

Tomorrow is a big day - Seattle!! AND I will be meeting my future roommate face to face for the first time. Get ready for yet another fun filled entry tomorrow!

Quotes of the Day

"Aggressive Drivers: Chill or pay the bill"

Seen on the highway - they must have known we were coming

"There's no god like Jehovah!"

Heard as part of a song on one of three radio stations in Idaho

Me: Michaela, I don't actually need anything, but could you just fish around the ice in the cooler for a bit?

Michaela: hm, could you go f*ck yourself? Thanks.