Thursday, July 18, 2013

Summer 2013 Travel Review - 5 West/Northwest States

This trip involved 2 cross country flights (coming & going) and over 4100 miles of driving after arriving in California.  I will not include the names of any hotels/restaurants that I wouldn't recommend.  If the name is here - we found it to be fine for our purposes.  Of note - we brought our AAA maps & I highlighted the route as we went along.  It will make it easier to pass along details if asked.
  • July 3, 2013

Leave car at Pre-Flight Parking in Chelsea, MA.  Printed out 15% discount coupon online & they have a loyalty program.
7:42 p.m. - Fly from Boston to Oakland, CA on JetBlue (direct flight & 1 bag allowance per person).  Flight was delayed due to plane coming from Tampa through thunderstorms.  The first of the daily Five Crowns game was held in at the gate seating area.
Car rental from Thrifty (best price via AAA)
Stay at Holiday Inn hotel in Oakland (via Hotels.com).  We had a little trouble finding this hotel since there are 2 right near the airport, but the location was perfect after a long flight & the staff was very welcoming at 1:00 a.m.

  • July 4, 2013
Breakfast at IHOP
Stop for groceries, etc before beginning the long drive.
Drive north on Route 101 to see the Avenue of the Giants & Redwood State Park.  A tiring day due to flying last night, but full of beautiful sights & we avoided the heat wave that was being experienced.  The Redwoods were just as impressive as we expected.
Arrive at hotel in Crescent City, CA
Dinner at a local restaurant that I wouldn't recommend (David's fried chicken arrived frozen on the inside)

  • July 5, 2013
Breakfast at hotel
After talking to people at Logan International Airport & looking at the map we decided to extend our day by a detour to Crater Lake National Park.  It's the only National Park in Oregon & was worth every extra mile that we drove.  Not to be missed!
Lunch at Dairy Queen ($5 lunch special was one of the best deals of the trip)
Arrive at Super 8 hotel in Kelso, WA (via Hotels.com)
Swimming in the hotel pool.


  • July 6, 2013
Breakfast at hotel.  The Puyallup Little League team was in town for a tournament.  A fun group of young boys.
Drive to Seattle up I-5
First stop - Pike's Place Market.  We found on-street parking & enjoyed the Market.  We picked up 1/2 flat of raspberries, blueberries & marion berries for the ride.
We stopped at a gelato shop near Pikes Place Market for salted caramel, chocolate coconut & raspberry gelatos.  YUM!

We drove through the City to the Space Needle & found on-street parking.  The wait to go up in the Space Needle was a couple of hours.  We decided to pass on the long wait & add to our afternoon itinerary. 

We stopped in Enumclaw, MI for additional information re: Mt. Rainier.  The gentleman in the Visitor Center was both helpful & entertaining.  He recommended that we take the gondola ride to get a view of Mt. Rainier.  Off we went & it was a very calm ride up (in an enclosed gondola car) & some photos of a partially hidden mountain due to the clouds.
We stopped for an early dinner/late lunch at The Wood Shed restaurant in Naches, WA.  We had pizza (very good) along with a reuben (delicious).
We spent the night at the Days Inn in Ellensburg, WA (via Hotels.com)

  • July 7, 2013
We headed out with plans to stop at Willow Springs Station Restaurant in Cheney, WA as I had a certificate from Restaurant.com.  Our breakfast was very good & we were full for the day.  We picked up I-90 to continue across Washington State headed for Montana.
We cut across Idaho & soon after crossing the Montana border stopped to get David's fishing license.  While he was filling up the car with gas we went to the store nearby for 3 huckleberry shakes.  Huckleberries look like blueberries & they were in season in Montana.  You see Huck signs everywhere.
We continued along I-90 for Columbia Falls, MT.  After checking in at the Meadow Lake Resort (highly recommend a stay here.  It was part of our RCI timeshare pool) we began exploring the area.
Dinner was at the Nite Owl Restaurant on Route 2 in Columbia Falls.  We selected it based on the number of cars parked out front.  We had a delicious dinner & found out later that the 2nd restaurant at that location (The Back Door) has very good BBQ.
I loved this greenhouse advertisement along Route 2 in Columbia Falls.
  • July 8, 2013
After breakfast in our condo we drove the 15 minutes to the Glacier National Park entrance.  We paid the $25 fee for a 7 day pass & began the drive on the Going to the Sun Road.  We stopped for an easy walk at Walk of the Cedars to have our first "inside" experience in the park.

  After lots of photo stops we made it to the end & had lunch at the Park Café.  It had been recommended on many sites & was worth the accolades.  We took side roads back to the condo & cooked dinner on the grill.  After a swim in the pool we were ready for sleep.
Here's St. Mary's Lake -
  • July 9, 2013
We had breakfast in & then we were off to explore another part of the Park.  We had received recommendations from the concierge at the Resort to try & have pastries at the Polebridge Mercantile on the way to Bowman Lake.

 We enjoyed blueberry bear claws & sticky buns.  They were fabulous & we even had a hula hoop lesson while sitting at the picnic tables outside.  Bowman Lake had a mirror-like surface with a few people swimming, dozing next to it & hiking along the trails.  On our way back we saw a magnificent golden eagle.  Here's a sunrise photo looking over Lake McDonald.

  • July 10, 2013
We planned for an all day river rafting trip down the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.  We'd looked at options & chose Glacier Guides for our guide service.  Our guide (Elena) was excellent & there were 9 of us in the large raft.  We had a leisure float in the morning (learning some basic skills) & a delicious lunch on a river bank.  During the afternoon we were ready for the Class II & Class III rapids.  We bounced through Jaws, Bonecrusher & Could Be Trouble with laughter all around as our front men (both retirees from Michigan) found themselves trying to paddle air several times as they were soaked.  It was the hottest day of our trip & perfect for being splashed by the river.

  • July 11, 2013
I love train stations & wanted to see the Whitefish, MT depot as our son had stopped their when he took the Empire Builder from Portland to Chicago (completing his train travel across the country.  [He'd been on the Lake Shore Limited from Springfield, MA to Chicago as a boy]).  The station at Whitefish didn't disappoint.  It is a beautiful tudor-style station (still in use).  Most stations out west are rustic style, so this was a treat.  They have a small museum with a volunteer (Charlie) full of interesting information.
Frozen yogurt at the Red Caboose in Whitefish was a yummy treat (sold by weight).
We had a mediocre lunch (won't name the sandwich shop) & took a little break in the afternoon.
For dinner we headed to Polson, MT for dinner at The Nook (which I'd found on Restaurant.com).  This was a little tricky to find as the restaurant is inside of the Best Western.  It's a beautiful location on the edge of Flathead Lake.  They had live entertainment so we had a concert & dinner.
 
 
 
  • July 12, 2013
We were ready for another day in this lovely location, but were still looking for a fishing spot.  We took a look at the Glacier National map & headed out.  We had planned to drive to Canada, but saw Bear Creek on the way & decided to stop.  4 sweet cutthroat trout were caught.  They are beautiful fish & it made bringing the fishing poles worth giving up 1 piece of luggage.  We decided to stop at The Park Cafe' again since we didn't have room for pie the first time.  It was just the right choice.
We headed back along the Going to the Sun Road
 
 & stopped for a lengthy hike & we were rewarded with beautiful vista views after internal waterfalls. 
 
 It was tiring, but definitely worth it.
 
  • July 13, 2013
We checked out of our condo a day early in order to head back to Oakland.  We had a long day of driving through Montana & down to Idaho on our way to Pocatello.  We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Ameri-Tel Inn in Pocatello (via Hotels.com).  The front desk woman was helpful & gave us 10% discount cards for the Texas Roadhouse.  Off we went for an early dinner & then another game of Five Crowns before bed.
 
  • July 14, 2013
We enjoyed our best hotel breakfast of the trip at the Ameri-Tel Inn & we were on our way to Nevada.  We'd added 2 additional stops to this drive.  We wanted to stop at Craters of the Moon Park.  This volcanic landscape was such a contrast to the lush green of Glacier National.  After this park we continued along with plans to stop in Twins Falls, NV to see the "Niagara of the West".  We had a little trouble finding it, but then found a reference to Shoshone Falls & we were on our way.  The Falls were a little low on water, but the park is quite nice with good illustrated information kiosks.  It was a welcome stop during a long day of driving.
 
We arrived in Elko, NV.  This stop was chosen due to its location to the highway in order to continue on to California.  There's not much to recommend Elko, but we did have a delicious Basque-style dinner at the Toki Ana restaurant.  The desk clerk had recommended 2 other restaurants but they were closed due to it being Sunday.  Our dinner was family-style & included:  chicken/rice soup, salad with ana dressing [salad consisted of lettuce with dressing], our entrée (pork & lamb chops) along with ana potatoes (similar to scalloped potatoes), rice, spaghetti and frozen green beans.  We didn't have room for dessert.
 
  • July 15, 2013
We had a long day ahead of us & started out early from Nevada.  We couldn't find a breakfast stop & ended up at McDonald's.  We try to eat at local restaurants, but there weren't any along the way.  We were on our way to Placerville, CA (formerly known as Hangtown).
We added another side trip to Lake Tahoe since we had the time & hadn't been there.  It's just as beautiful as we expected.  There were tons of houses for sale. 
 
As we entered Placerville we were hungry & decided to stop for soup & salad at the Buttercup Pantry restaurant.  It was just what we needed after a long day in the car.  We checked into the Historic Cary House Hotel (via Hotels.com).  The desk clerk (Josh) was helpful & after a little hiccup re: the room we'd booked we upgraded to 2-room accomodations.  The hotel is historic & lots of interesting people had stayed there (Mark Twain, Ulysses Grant, etc)  The town of Placerville closes early & most shops close at 5 p.m. or aren't open on Mondays.  We wandered up Main Street & stopped in at the Painted Owl.  If I lived in this town I would be buying their items or taking their classes.  We were still full from our late lunch so opted to have ice cream (dinssert) at Mel's Diner.  We ate at the counter & enjoyed every bite.
 
 
  • July 16, 2013
We had breakfast at the hotel (it was the most disappointing hotel breakfast we'd had).  We were on our way to San Francisco for the day.  We wanted to have enough time to wander around Fisherman's Wharf.  The weather (unexpectedly) was very nice.  We had lunch at Lou's Fish House.  We followed the 49 Mile driving tour & went over the Golden Gate Bridge.  After returning I navigated our way to Lombard Street so that we could say that we'd driven down the crookedest street.  It was a little scary (no desire to recreate the Streets of San Francisco show), but we were glad that we'd done it.  We had enjoyed a delicious meal in Little Italy when we were last in San Francisco, but I didn't bring the name of the restaurant with me.  We turned a corner onto Columbus Street & found Piazza Pellegrini.  It was an authentic Italian meal & we could almost close our eyes and be back in Rome. 
At 11:59 p.m. we boarded our JetBlue flight back to Boston.
 
What a trip ~
It was worth every minute of driving and even the red-eye back to the East Coast.



5 comments:

  1. Love all the photos of water :D
    Some of the meals sound really wonderful and I would love to try a huckleberry shake.

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  2. The shake was yummy. I brought back huckleberry jam for you :-)

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  3. Kim, I met you on the transatlantic cruise in 2011 and you made a couple of scrapbooks for my daughter and her friend. Anyhoo, LOVE this new travel blog and hearing of your experiences. We went on a driving trip from So. Cal up to Yellowstone and came back thru Idaho and Nevada. Went to Craters of the Moon and Elko too! Hope to read more of your adventures.

    Susan Bartlett

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  4. Susan - of course I remember you (& hope that your daughter had a wonderful trip). We did a crazy trip flying into Denver & then staying in Yellowstone, down to the Tetons, Bryce & Zion & a stay at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. That was another LONG trip. Hope you're well & thanks for commenting.

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