Cody WY, Thursday 7 May 2015

Between the East Entrance of Yellowstone and Cody Wyoming (about 50 miles), is the most amazing landscape. The rock faces are rugged and look sculpted. I stopped quite a few times to take photos.

 It seemed as though the rocks were alive.

 This reminded me of crenellations.

 A tower.

Suddenly I was in a tunnel. (Warning - naughty photo coming up)

It's definitely cowboy country. There are plenty of ranches, with their entries marked by enormous squared off log arches. Plus this image is all over the place.

It's nice to see they have 'refined' western furniture

I was briefly tempted by the Cody Dug Up Gun Museum, but I passed.

Yellowstone Park WY, Thursday 7 May 2015

Coffee has come a long way (need I say to MY taste) since I was last here some 14 years ago. When I handed back the key this morning I mentioned that I would be heading to a coffee shop, whereupon the receptionist said "If you don't want to pay for it, you can have a cup here" and immediately showed me the label on the bag of beans.

I'm glad I crossed the road to Coffee Crossing. This is a quirky, fun, local place. After you order, you can roll the dice and see if your order is free. There's a sign that says 'Sorry about the wait, high maintenance customer in line'. For 25c you can get a handful of pistachio nuts out of a gumball machine. And they had gorgeous works of art titled "Little Birdies" from the local primary school - so sweet!

Next stop, Yellowstone! Thanks to a recommendation at Conference (thanks Laura!) I came in via the North Entrance, and got to see the iconic stone arch. This sign confirms it - I made it!

This cracked me up

The Mammoth Hot Springs terraces were all snowed in, but it was still an amazing place to see.
The calcium rich water has created fascinating travertine with ripples and variegated colours.

The snow was wet, so I could make a great snowball

and it created a stark contrast with the trees.

This was a surprise!

There was a lot of driving from the north to Old Faithful. The varied scenery kept me interested, and there were constant reminders of the geothermal activity just below the surface. Here we are!

When it let off steam it fizzled like soda. The place was packed with viewers, despite the weather. I have a video of it, but I can't make it got right way up - sorry!!!

There is a Grand Canyon within the park, which I got to glimpse. Plus I was excited to spot a few of these lovely creatures.

 

My planned exit was to the East. Little did I know that I would be going via Sylvan Pass, at an elevation of 8,524. It was stunningly beautiful, but not so relaxing to drive,with snow flurries, limited visibility and a sign about avalanches. A quick shot of the frozen lake with drifts of snow.

And then it was all over.

Livingston MT, Wednesday 6 May 2015

Livingston is a wonderful historic town. You can never tell from a name on a map what a place will be like, and I lucked out with this one. I booked into The Murray Hotel and was upgraded to a suite - crammed with western and olde worlde paraphernalia. It was originally a railroad hotel, so the train line isn't too far away, hence this little note near the bed -

The sitting room area -

The western theme is everywhere.

Butte MT, Wednesday 6 May 2015

A fun part of breakfast was pressing a button and watching freshly made pancakes roll out of a machine.

Coffee drive-through huts like this are everywhere.

 

Snow in the distance!

 

Butte has a longstanding history of mining, and there are lots of headframes dotted around the landscape, not to mention on street signs.

The old downtown was very quiet, as in there weren’t a lot of people around, nothing looked particularly interesting, and the few eating places I heard about closed at 2. I browsed in a bookstore, intrigued by its self-proclaimed title.

Missoula MT, Tuesday 5 May 2015

As I was driving across Idaho panhandle, it took no time at all before I was in Montana. My thought was to drive to Butte and stay there for the night. But one thing led to another.

First, I saw a Harley Davidson sign, and thought I should stop to get a little something for Steve. Then I saw a Cracker Barrel sign – and that was on my ‘must do’ list. So I pulled in.

The buildings look like large homesteads, complete with rocking chairs on the porch.

 

You have to navigate through the ‘old country store’ part of the place in order to get to the eating section. I had friendly down home service and of course I bought a few fun things in the shop. But which time it was too late to go to the Harley Davidson dealership.

As it happened, right next door was the C’mon Inn. And I did. Wow. I will let the photos speak for themselves.

The internal courtyard had a waterfall feature complete with fauna

 There were five spas in this huge courtyard area – too public for me, especially as many of the second floor rooms had balconies overlooking the space.

Coeur d'Alene ID, Tuesday 5 May 2015

After leaving Spokane it didn’t take long before Washington state turned into Idaho. I got quite excited when I saw a sign that said ‘Stateline’. I envisaged a bit of hoopla, maybe a line drawn on the road, perhaps a photo vantage point. It turned out to be the name of a city. 

Coeur d’Alene was my first real stop. May I just say: if you can’t drum up the enthusiasm to greet people, and if you can’t answer even basic questions without looking put out, then perhaps you shouldn’t be working in a Welcome Centre/Visitor Information Centre.

I did however have an extremely friendly chat with a shopkeeper, and she put me on to Hudson’s (“Hamburgers since 1907”). The chef's t-shirt said it all:

In case you can’t read it –

No: lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, yellow mustard, relish, milkshakes, sesame seed buns, bacon, cheddar cheese, provolone cheese, jalapenos, onion rings, mushrooms, avocadoes, straws, credit cards, debit cards, French fries…

In honour of the First Peoples of the area, there are two magnificent feather sculptures as you drive into town. 

Spokane WA, Tuesday 5 May 2015

A brief comment last night at check in led me to backtrack slightly to check out the Spokane Riverfront Park. It was 9 am but so quiet! Most things seem to get going around 11, so I only had the company of dog walkers and joggers. All dressed in puffy jackets, beanies and gloves. Well almost all.

This development grew out of the leftover 1974 Expo site. I was drawn to the waterfall (which still drives the turbines for power to Spokane).

In one area there was a series of plaques commemorating the Christian pioneers of the area. I'm the opposite of religious, but I was taken with their human stories. Such as Spokane Gary who was an interpreter and peacemaker and was 'often praised, often condemned' and died a forgotten figure. Or Reverend Havermale who had been in the Ministry for years, came to the northwest, set up the first Methodist pastor, but left that year 'for business ventures'. What could they have been to turn him from his ministry?

The fountain in another part of the park had lines of  fish (with names of donors)  'swimming' to the water.

The Lilac Bloomsday run happens here on the first Sunday in May every year - I love this sculpture commemorating it. It's called 'The Joy of Running Together.'

A former Montgomery Ward Building now houses Spokane City Hall

One side of the building had had some vines removed and I loved the tracery left behind

 and this grating caught my eye - steampunk or what?

Here's another shot of the falls from the Monroe bridge.

As you can see, you can take a gondola ride across, and it stops for a photo opportunity. I was pretty happy with my view from the bridge.

By the way, the bridge was described as 'iconic', and I felt bad I'd never heard of it. It was immensely striking though -