Northern Return - Day 1 (Seattle to Missoula)

Today, I left Seattle and drove west through the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest into the valleys of eastern Washington and stopped in downtown Spokane at a place called Clover for lunch which was great! Interesting to see how much Gonzaga University rules that town and how much of an influence the Jesuit missionaries had in the western territories. After lunch I rolled through the panhandle area of Idaho and into the Coeur d'Alene National Forest which joins up with the Lolo National Forest and takes you into Missoula. Coming into the Missoula valley was interesting, the town seems so compact and from a distance it feels like you'd feel under a microscope because everything is so out in the open but then when you're closer in, it doesn't really feel that way. I stayed with my friend Dylan and his family who live in east Missoula just on the other side of Mount Jumbo from the downtown area. It was great to meet his wife, Sage, and his two daughters who are 16 (just drove alone for the first time this week) and 11 and the whole family is a show family. Sage is a local choreographer and Dylan works in the touring department for Missoula Children's Theater while also still performing with them occasionally. Dylan said he and Sage keep trying to get the girls to be interested in sports or something else but they are showgirls. :) We went to dinner at a BBQ place downtown which was good and then went back to their house and just hung out on the river for the evening (they live right next to the Blackfoot) catching up on the last 20 years. I wish I could've stayed longer and had time to go 'floating' which is probably the most popular pastime in Missoula, floating down the three rivers (Clark Fork, Blackfoot, Bitterroot) on inner tubes.

Clark Fork River Trail in the morning sun