746.

(from June 7)

746.
That is the number of miles we drove today.
That is the distance from Seattle, WA to Bozeman, MT.

Today, we decided to leave early. Previous to the plan being made, I had made Papa promise not to make me get up too early (he is an excessively early riser. He blames the dog, but I;m fairly certain it is him and the dog just follows suit.) Anyway, he's an early-riser and was on East coast time. I said we should leave by 6am, just to make sure we got to Bozeman with enough time to check out the city, visit with the dudette's best pal and her hubby.
Shocker, I was up early and we hit the road before we planned.
Our first stop-- Starbuck's for some breakfast and much-needed fuel to start the fire.

We left in the Seattle rain. We left in the rain, just like when I arrived. It was fitting. 

The air was chilly. It's not summer quite yet there. (Seattle summer doesn't actually begin until after the 4th of July).



Papa was the driver and I was the navigator (likely the case for the whole trip!).
We drove over the Cascades and entered into parts of Washington I didn't know. I believe it is called the "fruit basket" of the west. As we drove, we decided we needed a little snack. Not the cherries from the state, but a little Schulte roadtrip tradition-- Hot Tamales.....

"Let's not kid ourselves, this box is not going back into the snack bag."- Ferd Schulte as he tore off the reclosable boxtop.

As we said goodbye to Washington state, we entered into the panhandle of Idaho.(I missed the photo op because it came up so quickly....just use your imagination and picture the welcome sign.) Neither of us had ever been there before, so we decided we should stop someplace in the small portion of the state . Before leaving mom had challenged us to eat locally and not at a chain-- to find fun places. We liked the idea and since some of the planned journey was to take the road less traveled that fit the mold.

Our first official stop was Wallace, Idaho.

We'd seen a sign for BBQ and thought that could be fun.

We ended up in "the center of the universe". Now the funny part of the "center of the universe" is that my old neighborhood, Fremont is also known as the "center of the universe." Now I have no idea why either place is know as that--whether it's for ego or some kind of mathematical thing. Either way, we thought it was fitting and made us even happier that we had stopped here.

Before our stop in Wallace, we did stop in Coeur ' alene, ID (because it the name of a song I love by the Seattle-based band, The Head and the Heart). When we stopped, we started to talk about gifts to bring back to mom and others. When in ID, we thought it might be kind of awesome to bring back a bag of Idaho potatoes from Idaho. (I know, we're a little nerdy, but we think we're funny!). Well, we drove into town and passed a lovely lake and park. While there, we asked a guy where we could find a grocery store (or farm stand) to find some Idaho potatoes. His reply-- "In wasington state.". We were bummed, but were kind of excited to learn that contrary to what people think, more potatoes are grown and exported from Washington than from Idaho. Random fun fact.

Anyway, back to Wallace. The first place (the BBQ place) was a bust. They weren't quite open and were less than friendly for sure...

So we wandered a bit and walked into a local place. 1313. Named because it was the 13th bar and brothel in the town when it was the heyday. We also learned that not only was Wallace the "center of the universe", but more importantly that it was the silver mining capital of the world! Cool.

We stumbled into a cool town with a very interesting story.

After learning that this was the silver capital of the world, we knew we needed to get mom a souvenier. Silver something...we then learned that opals are also mined in Idaho. Who knew?! So we (well, papa) bought she and I each a pair of earrings. After an hour or so, we got back in the car and headed out of town and onward toward Bozeman.

Shortly after leaving Wallace, we were at the border---

And I swear the sky got bluer...

We took our first scenic route...

 

And then we got to Bozeman. Jackie and Jason (friends of the dude and dudette) were our gracious hosts. Their family has a condo right in the heart of downtown Bozeman and were super generous and shared the space. So, our first night we stayed in ridiculously comfortable beds and each had our own space. Quite the way to start off the adventure!

Well, Jackie met us at the condo and made plans for dinner. None of us were all that hungry, so we took a little field trip to go see their home. It was AMAZING! They have bears and deer and wildlife in their yard. The house is a log cabin and is cozy and cute and charming. I loved it!

After seeing their home, they took us on a mini tour of their studios and then of their little town. We didn't make it to dinner until almost 9pm. By then, we were all old chums. I think half-way trhough dinner, I just invited myself to return (who knows where my manners went?!). We learned about Jason's family. (PS- he's a real life cowboy...). And learned of their future plans. It was a delightful evening spent with two really great people. And no joke, I am coming back!

It was the perfect end to Day one of the adventure.

They shared tidbits and tips about going to yellowstone and now we have a better plan. Directions to the scenic route.

And with that, it's time for bed.

Although Papa promised a later start, I have a sneaking suspicion 7am may not be early enough....