I was interrupted in my posting of our road trip because we were off the grid for the duration of our time in Glacier National Park. Not a bad thing at all! Above was our view as we headed from Idaho into Montana. We were in uncharted territory, once again, as we meandered across the Idaho Panhandle and then headed into Montana and wended our way to the eastern side of the magnificent park.

We saw many trains, most were carrying oil or dirty coal to be shipped to China. The above train was name John CoalTrain by my husband – it was a long one.

We stopped for lunch along the beautiful and pristine Flathead Lake. Didn’t take photos!

Then, we found ourselves driving north through Black Feet territory, where the plains meet the Rockies.

We reached the Many Glacier Road which was lined with Aspens!! You know how I love Aspens, but I didn’t get photos because I was driving. I did take this photo as we approached the lodge area.

Here is a photo of one wing of the lodge that I took from the veranda on our first day:

We were wowed when we got to our 4th floor room and saw this view.

We ate dinner in the lodge dining room every night. The food was pricey and not that great, but the ambiance made up for it. The wait staff was from all over the world and each one wore a name tag with their home country or state. I took these views of the sunset from the dining room.

I am really tired tonight. We had a long drive today and are now in Kenniwick, WA for the night. Home tomorrow. I will post more of our fun later.

After a lovely night’s sleep in our comfy kingsized bed, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast on the veranda of the Green Gables Inn and visiting with other guests. It was a beautiful morning in Walla Walla. We really enjoyed the ambiance of this little city. Here is our lovely balcony. We almost regretted leaving so soon.

We headed north through winding and hilly roads, wondering where in the heck Siri was taking us. It turns out, we were driving through the area known as The Palouse, the wheat growing region of eastern Washington. The landscape was stunningly spare and voluptuous and grand. I was mesmerized. The golden landscape was dotted with grain elevators and wind turbines.

It was almost jarring to come upon a body of water.

After a stop in Spokane for lunch, we arrived in Coeur d’Alene or CdA, as the locals call it. Their is a big beautiful lake and the downtown area was an easy walk for us from our B & B, the Roosevelt Inn. The folks here are really nice and friendly, but the accommodations are not quite as swanky as the Inn in Walla Walla.

We walked around town and checked out the art galleries. A team of Budweiser Clydesdales was holding court on the main street, attracting a big crowd and tying up traffic.

Love this piece of art. The artist had many punny animal paintings – like a cow drinking a Mootini!

We had dinner at an Asian fusion restaurant with a view of the lake. They had tons of gluten free options.

One thing we have noted, they really love their air conditioning up here. Both our rooms have been a bit too cool for us and we don’t have anyway to control it.

Tomorrow, we have a long drive to the east side of Glacier National Park. The weather forecast is not great, but I don’t think it will snow. However, it will not be the warm 70° weather that was forecast earlier this week. We will put on our layers and enjoy the beauty of another national park.