Seattle..where is the rain?

On our way to Seattle, we picked up our first mail drop in Spokane, WA.  It was a pretty painless process except for trying to find a place to park the motorhome in downtown Spokane.  After a couple days in Spokane, we continued our trek across Washington State.

We arrived in Seattle and got a campsite about a half hour north of town.  It was a pretty nice KOA on a lake, and we spent the day just hanging out and riding a paddle boat on the lake.  The next day we rented a car and headed to Seattle.  We visited the typical tourist things, the Space Needle, Pike Market, and the Seattle Art Museum.  By the time we left, it was rush our and rather than sit in traffic we hit the REI flagship store to kill some time.

The next day we pulled up camp and moved to Anacortes for a couple days.  We got on the bikes and scouted for our boat dock for our whale watching trip the next day.  We then found a great seafood restaurant and had dinner.  Upon returning to camp, Abigayle was beyond excited to find a family with kids had setup camp beside us.  She immediately dropped her bike and introduced herself to the kids and they played until bedtime.

The next day we went on a whale watching tour and along with beautiful views of the San Juan Islands, we saw dolphins, seals, sea lions, bald eagles and orcas.

Welcome to Washington.

A mini-Chloe!

Putting together the new rear wheel in Spokane.

To create a gourmet meal...

one needs a gourmet kitchen.

Seattle has some unusual seafood.

Space Needle.

View from the Space Needle.

Pike Market Place

Vegan Snickerdoodles!

Fish throwing at the Pike Market.

Seattle Art Museum.

Street in China Town.

Kayaking in the REI store.

Abigayle and a new friend doing crafts.

Abigayle's bike taken hostage.

Mt. Baker sunset.

Mt Baker from the San Juan Islands.

Orca pod.

More Orcas.

Bald Eagle.

Glacier

We arrived in West Glacier and found a nice spot in the Apgar campground.  The fall colors were in full bloom and we practically had the place to ourselves.  We got on our bikes and rode the bike path around to check out the area.  We stopped at Lake McDonald and practiced skipping stones.  Abigayle is still perfecting her technique, so I thought it better to keep by bike helmet on to avoid injury from an errant stone.

We were unable to drive the Going to the Sun road through the park due to construction near Logan Pass, so I had to be content with riding my bike up it as far as I could (yay!).  The views were awesome, save for the wildfire haze, and there was very little traffic.  Later that day, we all went for a hike up Avalanche Creek and around Avalanche Lake.  Again, awesome views and luckily no bear sightings.

The downside of our late season traveling is that a lot of park amenities/services are finished for the season.  This meant the shuttle bus service that normally takes you throughout Glacier was done, so the only way for us to see the east side of the park was to drive around the perimeter to East Glacier.  We arrived at Many Glacier campground in East Glacier in the late afternoon and drove to some of the lookouts to check for bears (the rangers indicated that bears had been spotted in the area).  We did see a black bear down in a valley feeding, but it was pretty far away.

The next morning we hiked up to Redrock Falls before breaking camp and heading for the KOA in St. Mary.  In St. Mary, we took a Red Bus Tour, which are the historic buses that have been running through the park since 1936.  On the tour we saw mountain goats, sheep, a black bear and a grizzly bear!  After the tour, we went to camp and had lunch and then I did a bike ride up to the top of Logan Pass while Abigayle did school.  The next day, we sadly bid Glacier goodbye and headed west, on our way to Seattle.

When teaching a 7-yr old to skip stones, a helmet is highly recommended (you can actually see the skipping rock if you look closely)

Riding the bike path at Apgar Campground 

McDonald Falls.

Glacier carved rocks on Avalanche Creek.

Exposed roots from a fallen tree on the Trail of Cedars Nature Trail.

Avalanche Lake.

Several glacial waterfalls feeding Avalanche Lake.

Earning another Jr. Ranger badge.

A view of the wildlife from the back of the RV.

Wildlife on Redrock Falls trail.

At Saint Mary Lake on the Red Bus Tour.

Riding up the Going to the Sun road on the Red Bus (with the top open).

Logan Pass via the Red Bus.

Hello from the Red Bus Tour.

This guy was just napping alongside the road.

Black bear grabbing some lunch.  Moments later, we captured the grizzly video below.

The lodge at Many Glaciers.  In the winter, the snow will be as high as the 3rd story windows!

View from the top of Logan Pass (it was much easier on the Red Bus).

Riding my bike back down the pass (the road is on the left ridge).

Nice KOA campground in St. Mary's Glacier.

Fall colors at Glacier as we say goodbye.

Intermission....where to now?

We've left Yellowstone and now we are on our way to....??  Well, we planned on going to Glacier, and that is still a possibility.  But for now, we just need a place to hang out and get caught up on some emails, laundry, phone calls, etc. and figure out our next destination.

Our first "rest stop" was Bozeman, MT, a cool little college town.  We stayed in a nice RV park with all the amenities and very few people.  I managed to get in a couple good rides, the weather was not so cold, and we saw some spectacular sunsets courtesy of the wildfires in the area.

We then headed to Missoula for a couple more days and ended up mostly running errands.  The town was pretty socked-in with wildfire smoke, so not much to see.

A cool, 23-mile point-to-point ride in the mountains outside Bozeman. 

Thanks to McKenzie River Pizza for making an Abigayle friendly pie! 

Sylvia especially loved the beautiful farmland, nestled against the mountains.

Abigayle decorated the table with a "fruit family".  Each one (12 in all) had a name and a place at the table.

After deliberating for close to a week, we've decided we should try and hit Glacier National Park, if only for a couple days.