On the way to Glacier! 6.16-18.15

It cost me $3 to get the truck cleaned out before we left. It had developed a bit of a mysterious smell, contributing to some carsickness by certain children, so I coated all the carpeted surfaces with baking soda and lavender… and wah-lah, it smells way better.

Our goal was to get on the road by 3 pm, and we left the house at 3:40. Pretty good considering the state of complete lack of preparedness for a trip of this magnitude. And the fact that I spent the better part of yesterday in an allergic stupor laying on my bed with a wet towel over my face. We started a list of things we forgot within a half hour of leaving, but nothing we can’t live without. And considering the house we were towing behind us, there is very little we actually NEED to make it through the 10 days we will be on the road.

The first place we stayed was in Moses Lake. The only picture I have documenting that stay is this picture of one of the many welts on Nate and everyone else that the mosquitos left. They were aggressive little buggers and each of us got a dozen or more bites like this one. It was a nice campground, but we didn’t venture out and left first thing the next morning.

Our second night was in Newport, WA on the Pend Orielle (Pond Oray) Lake. We were only here for a bit, but it had a fun mini golf course!

(You might notice the random head-on-a-stick in a few pictures. This is a contest at Erica & Ryan’s Orthodontist to take the ‘Doc’ on adventures and document it.. so we are having fun with it. )

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We made an impromptu stop at the Albeni Dam. We had a private tour (no one else was there when the tour started) and it was fascinating. A full education of a ‘Multi-purpose’ Dam – Hydro-Electric, flood control, water regulation, and, historically, a logging pass-through. We were not allowed to take pictures on the tour, but we went all the way inside to the where the turbines are and saw all machinery, including a 4.5 foot tall wrench used to replace the bolts on the turbines. It was really incredible.

Then we stopped here:

And did this:

And saw this:

It was fantastic and beautiful.

We got to our campground outside West Glacier at 9pm – but it doesn’t get dark until after 11 so it was an easy set up and OFF TO BED!

The goal was to get up at 8am the next morning….