Next, we headed to Seattle. Alex spent the first day with us. We visited the Seattle Aquarium, the Space Needle, and took a boat tour around the city. My favorite place was Pike's Place Market. I love seeing what all the outdoor vendors have to offer. Plus, we got to see the original Starbucks, YUM! Again, it was sunny and warm out. Ironic, considering Seattle is known for its rain. The next morning, we took Alex to the airport. It was weird to see her off after all of the time she spent with us. We wish she could have stayed longer (although it is nice to have more space in the car).
We spent an extra day in Seattle, and visited the Zoo and the Music Experience. They were both a lot of fun! The Zoo was, surprisingly, not too big, and had nice large habitats for the animals. The Music Experience, although slightly dorky (there was an Avatar and a Battlestar Galactica exhibit) was a lot of fun. I especially liked the different booths you could go in to play with instruments and sing. Overall, Seattle was a really cool city. Besides New Orleans, it was probably my favorite city we have been to. We ended our day with a drive north to Vancouver.
We only spent one day in Vancouver, although we probably should have stayed longer considering the time it took us to cross the border. Vancouver is a very modern city. It seems as though everything in it is brand new. The city's integration with the water around it was really cool. Almost everywhere you went, you could see water. We had fun wandering around the city, and were even lucky enough to catch a street fair.
After Vancouver, we headed back down into Washington, and made our way east. Our goal was to be at Yellowstone National Park by tomorrow, which we have made! Both Washington and Montana seem like they have gone on forever, though. Until you drive straight across them, a map cannot give you a picture of just how long it will take.
While crossing Washington, we stopped at several National Forests, as well as the Cascade Mountains. In the Cascades, we were able to see an old log flume, which was pretty cool. Washington was a beautiful state, that certainly lives up to it's name: The Evergreen State. There were trees, lakes, and enormous forests everywhere!
In Montana, our first stop was Glacier National Park. We weren't originally planning on going there, but we heard that it was amazing, so we decided to give it a try. Again, there was snow up on the mountains, which was odd in July. Granted, you would think that at GLACIER National Park, I would figure out that there was snow all the time. Regardless, it was gorgeous weather, it was was not nearly as cold as our past weeks had been. The water there was the most amazing thing, it was the most fantastic blue-green color. We were definitely glad we stopped, but we could have spent much longer than the two days we had there.
Two days ago, we made our way out to Lewis and Clark Caverns, which has absolutely no connection to the explorers other than its name. Weird. Anyway, the Caverns were amazing, as caverns typically are. It won't do any good to try and explain them, so I'll let the pictures do the talking.
Yesterday, we drove to Red Lodge, Montana. It's a sort of cute little ski resort town, so there's lots of shopping and restaurants. After a long drive, we decided to take it easy and see a movie and the one-screen, one show, old fashioned theater. It was fun!
Today, we are making our way ever-steadily towards Yellowstone along the "Bear Tooth Highway," so named for it's twists and turns. It is supposed to be one of our country's most beautiful scenic drives, so I'll be sure to post pictures later. We will be in Yellowstone for a week, most likely sans communication since my phone hardly works in the towns here, let alone in the forest. See you then!
**More photos coming soon: slowwwww internet**
