Roadtrip to Seattle - Day 4

Day 3:

We had so much to do on our final day of our trip!  Finally, a day where we didn't have to clear out of a hotel room and drive somewhere!

So, quick, when you think of Seattle, what do you think of?

1.)  Pike's Market!
2.)  The Space Needle!
3.)  The wharf!

Yes, correct!

We started out our day going to Pike's Market to find something for breakfast.  Now, I'm used to going early to farmer's market.  So I was surprised that getting there at 8AM there were still stalls setting up.

*note:  click on any picture to make it bigger...*

Tina especially loved all the flowers.  So many flower vendors, no way to take them home...

yep, fish.  nope, we didn't see any flying fish.

From there we had to run the ultimate errand of delivering the car for transport to Alaska.  Once that was over, we were back downtown!

We decided to go down to the wharf to find something to eat.  It's very touristy down there, and, unfortunately, also a lot of homeless people.  Sad.

We had an amazing view from lunch.

How could we NOT go on the wheel?  It really was amazing!  Slow enough to allow for looking around and taking photos.

a couple of professional sports stadiums....

a view of the Space Needle!

panoramic!

sister selfie!

So awesome!  We went around quite a while.  And as each enclosed car was being unloaded/loaded, we were able to get more pictures.  It got pretty warm in there, even though there was "air conditioning", and it looked like it was getting pretty steamy in the next car!  Those two must have been on a date...  Sorry, no pictures... it's not that kind of blog!

After some ice cream, we walked down to the ferry.  We took the Washington State Ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island.

This is the ferry:

panoramic from the ferry terminal

yep, another panoramic

another sister selfie!  Oh, look, the Space Needle is photo-bombing us!  I didn't notice that before!

Mt. Rainer.  Do you see the airplane in front of it?

 Probably the best thing we did all day was to take that ferry ride.  It was great.  And way more economical than one of those "tours".

By this time it felt like we'd already had multiple days in one.

And we weren't done!

Next we were off to catch the monorail to the Space Needle!

Seattle has really good public transportation.  We used the light rail to get from our hotel by the airport to downtown.  Very handy.  But the light rail only goes so far.  And then you have to catch the monorail to the Space Needle.  I figure that the only reason the light rail ends where it does is so people take the monorail...

The Space Needle is really very impressive

There was a football game going on while we were there!

It was a very long, very fun day.  It really felt like 3 days in one, with all the stuff we did.  I wouldn't trade that day for anything!  Thanks for sharing that day with me, Tina!

Road Trip to Seattle - Day 3

Day 3:

We woke up in the butt - er, Butte, Montana - and headed west into the mountains.  And after we stopped to get some 5-Hour Energy, we were really off.  It was the only time on the trip I had any, but it was so necessary that morning!

I figured that since we were driving through the Rockies, we would see snow.  Nope.  Only snow was at Mount Rushmore.

We both really enjoyed seeing landscape so unlike the flat that is home.

downhill, on the side of a mountain

*note:  click on any picture to make it bigger...*

And we made it into IDAHO!

State stereotype of Idaho:  Potato fields.  I was disappointed to not see any fields.  Where do they grow all the potatoes???  The entire 78 miles of Idaho we drove through was mountains.  I believe it was somewhere in Idaho we crossed the Continental Divide, but there was just a small road sign.  I was really hoping for a nice photo op, but no.

We stopped at a restaurant that had been on +Guy Fieri's  Diners, Drive-In, & Dives:

Capone's inn Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and we had Idaho nachos (nachos on waffle fries!).  So so yummy!  Good call Guy!  I've now been to three places featured on Triple D, and all were great!

From there we drove to Washington.

Here's the deal:  I'm disappointed in you, Washington.

• First of all, you put your state sign on the left side of the road, instead of the right, which resulted in a lost photo op!   
• Secondly, once we got out of Spokane metro area, the state was all flat-ish and brown.  My state stereotype of Washington was lush, fertile, green, with rolling hills and lots of apple trees.  I am so incredibly disappointed for much of the afternoon that we spent driving west through Washington.  Oh, and guess what state produces the most potatoes in the US.  Not Idaho.  It's Washington.

not what I expected, Washington...

• Thirdly, and probably the most egregious error on your part, Washington...  There is a stretch of interstate, out in farm country, where the name of the crop in the field is marked on the fence.  "Cool!" we thought.  We were wrong.  Why were we wrong?  Because on more than one occasion, a corn field was marked "PEAS".  Peas?  Please!  We are farmers' daughters and we know better!  But all those other people who only get into the country when driving the interstate, now they think that peas grow on corn stalks.  You had one job!

But I digress...

Once we got to the Columbia River, we were definitely impressed.

panoramic shot

sister selfie with the river!  maybe I should dial down the "softness" filter on my cell phone...

Tina showing Mendota pride at the Columbia River.

once again, a plant growing out of a rock...

By the time we made it to Seattle, it was time to get some dinner (at the hotel restaurant) and look at the computer so we knew what we really wanted to do the final full day of our trip.  Day 4 = Seattle Tourists!  Stay tuned...

Road Trip to Seattle - Days 1 & 2

Day One:

Early morning on Tuesday, September 16, we were up and out the door, after saying goodbye to Tina's kids & Larry.  I was worried that I would  not make it through saying bye to the kids, but I stayed strong and I was okay.  We had a long way to go (and a short time to get there - heh!), so it wasn't a time to be a blubbering idiot.

Tina & I stopped in Peru for some oatmeal breakfast (our only McDonald's on the trip thankyouverymuch) and zoomed off west!

First we hit Iowa.

Hey, Iowa, how about you make your state sign more legible?  And not behind trees?  That would be great, thanks...

*note:  click on any picture to make it bigger...*

My stereotype of Iowa:  corn and flat.  Iowa, you did not disappoint!

see the flat?

After heading North, we got in to Minnesota.

My sterotype of Minnesota:  green with lots of lakes.  Sure, that's pretty much it.

We stopped in Blue Earth, Minnesota for lupper (lunch/supper), and went to see the Jolly Green Giant!  Unfortunately, the sun was in the wrong place in the sky for a decent photo op.  *sad*

I really hope that he's wearing tights, because that is one short skirt...

Before too long, and after a quick turn to the west again, we were in South Dakota.

South Dakota also had a road sign that was not easily legible.  Luckily, this nice carved sign was at the rest area.

I don't know that I had a stereotype in my head of South Dakota, it's just kinda there...
But it started out flat.  Not too different from home.

Then we crossed the Missouri River and started seeing some rolling hills.

The sun was starting to set, and we knew by then that we would not make it for the lighting of Mount Rushmore that night.  I think Google was good at underestimating how much time it would take to get where we were headed.

Side note:  Growing up, we always had road trip food, and we had to keep that tradition up!  We brought the fixins for ants-on-a-log (but craisins instead of raisins), Nutella and pretzels, cheese sticks, water, and juice.  What was nice is that these snacks made dinner unnecessary a couple of days on the trip, and since we were trying to get where we were going, it helped with time.

Finally we got to Rapid City and headed south.  We had reserved a room in Keystone, North Dakota, just outside of Mount Rushmore!  I was very very happy that Tina was driving, because shortly after we got off the interstate, the road got dark, hilly, and curvy!  I was closing my eyes some of the time just because I was nervous (this is how I rode south on the haul road with Jeff driving), but knew I had to help navigate!

I got a slight glimpse of Mount Rushmore right before we turned in to our hotel.  So cool, but could not compare to the next day!

Day Two:

We had set our alarm so we could be up and get to Mount Rushmore early.  We threw out the idea of being there for sunrise, but we still beat the crowd!  Driving up you get a good view, and there is a historical marker, and therefore a pull-off.  We took at advantage of that spot...

We got parked and headed in and, I'll tell you, Mount Rushmore does NOT disappoint.  It was really very cool, and I would recommend it to anyone!  There's so much other stuff to do in the area, you could easily keep a family busy for a long weekend out there.  You should so go there!

They had gotten about a foot of snow the week before - here's the remnants...

so crazy - the trees grew right out of the rocks!

finally realized I had my date/time stamp on, and turned it off...

sister selfie!

selfie with the big guys!

this is a panoramic picture - love that function on my phone!

We spent a good amount of time there and in the gift shop (making very difficult decisions, there was a lot of cool stuff but we both had limited luggage room for the flights home!) before heading back out.

Day Two definitely felt like multiple days.

From South Dakota, we went into Wyoming for a short time.

State stereotype for Wyoming:  Brown with tall grasses.  Rolling hills.  Uh, no photos, so take my word for it that my stereotype is correct.

From Wyoming into Montana.

My state stereotype for Montana was green mountains!  I was pretty disappointed for most of the state.  Lots of brown.  Lots of flat with some hills.

Finally there started being mountains in the distance....

We drove through a couple of reservations before getting back on the interstate.  It all looked so depressed....

It was just getting dark when we pulled in to Butte, Montana.  The night of day two.

Stay tuned for more!