Road Trip Day 9: 3 states; 1 day

It was a day of driving and crossing off the states . . . three is just a few hours!
The back roads of Montana were amazing . . .

I loved every second of the scenery and it is exactly how I imagined Montana to look like.  We quickly were back on the highway and crossed into Idaho.  Idaho was a quick 50 miles across . . .

The plan was to stop at a Welcome Center after we crossed the state line but there wasn't one.  I guess tourism isn't alive there?  We did stop in Coeur d' Alene (I have no clue how you pronounce this town's name) for gas and drove down the main street to see if there was anything to see or do for an hour or two.  It did have a cute main street with a bunch of shops and restaurants, but not much was recommended at the city information place so I bought a postcard and back on the road.  About 5 miles later we were in Washington . . .

Well, that was fast!  Tonight we are stopping for the day in Spokane.  It was early when we arrived in Spokane so we quickly checked in the hotel.  I noticed a sign welcoming the Seattle Seahawks and Seagals so I asked if the team was staying at the hotel.  They told me that just a few of the players and the girls were for some promotional summer tour.  I literally laughed out loud when she called the girls "SeaGals" . . . seriously?  So right then I knew we would not get a sweet upgrade.  We set out on foot for a late lunch and to explore the area.  I saw an Irish Pub and thought fish and chips sounded good.  After a light lunch we headed to the Riverfront Park to check it out.  The only thing I wanted to do was take this Spokane Falls SkyRide.  It is a  cable car ride that takes you over the second longest urban falls.  Well, it was closed due to the unseasonable high temperatures . . . they said it was over 100 degrees . . . so we wandered inside a mall to cool off and regroup.  It was only 3pm and I was beginning to think we should have jumped right back into the car and driven down the road.  I picked up a brochure at the mall about the Spokane Sculpture Walk . . . so off we went.  One of my favorites was called Goat . . .

. . . you press the button on the right which turns on a vacuum and the goat sucks up anything you put in front of his mouth.  It was fun and could only find some small pieces of paper in my pocket.  I bet this helps motivate kids to keep the park clean!  The next one was called Childhood Express . . .

. . . you climb steps at the back and the handle is a slide.  Pretty cool and it is big!  At this point, I was really grasping for things to do since it was really so hot outside . . . so headed back to the hotel.  I put on my swimsuit and went to lay by the pool with the only intention being to take a nap!  It was nice to do nothing.  As we were coming back into the hotel from a light dinner, there was a crowd of people decked out in the Seattle Seahawks gear . . . I admit it did annoy me to no end seeing them using the 12th man name;  . . . I don't think so!  At this point I was really, really, wishing I had a real 12th Man shirt . . . sorry to say there is only one true 12th man and those are from Texas A&M University!

Miles traveled today:  238 miles

Total trip miles:  2,839 miles