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Our destination today was the Methow Valley of Washington so we took highway 20 west out of Newport

John and I had never driven this part of hwy 20 and it was quite beautiful.

Our first rest stop was a waterfall by the road

We stopped briefly in the town of Republic for lunch.

And then on to our property in Carlton, six miles up Texas Creek Road, a bumpy dirt road.  The views from up there were just as beautiful as we had remembered, and the dogs loved walking the mile long road to the trailer

The balsamroot were in full bloom, but the lupine were just starting to open up at that elevation.

We debated whether to spend the night on our property in Vanna but finally decided we wanted to sleep in our own bed tonight, so we headed home via hwy  97 along the Columbia River

We noticed that the fruit trees here are much further along than in Montana or Michigan; the trees here have finished blooming, are fully leafed out,  and have already set fruit.

About five miles east of the summit at Snoqualmie Pass we saw four large elk eating grass by the highway but couldn't stop to get a picture.

We rolled into Seattle about 7:30, but not before Vanna tried to die on us in Bellevue.  She lugged and lurched multiple times on I 90 but somehow kept going.

After being away for almost seven months we had forgotten how beautiful Seattle is, especially on a sunny spring day such as today with beautiful blue skies and flowers blooming everywhere.

The house looks the same, and Poppy seems to have adjusted immediately to the new surroundings.  

We all agree it is good to be home.

Where the buffalo roam

This morning we drove south on the east side of Flathead Lake and saw wild turkeys along the way. 

The lakeshore is lined with orchards and the trees were in full bloom, much further along than the fruit trees in Michigan

The scenery today was nonstop beautiful, and we were in sight of snow capped mountains the entire day

A detour south took us to The National Bison Range.  From their website:

"President Theodore Roosevelt established the National Bison Range on May 23, 1908 when he signed legislation authorizing funds to purchase suitable land for the conservation of bison. It was the first time that Congress appropriated tax dollars to buy land specifically to conserve wildlife. The overall mission of the National Bison Range is to maintain a representative herd of bison, under reasonably natural conditions, to ensure the preservation of the species for continued public enjoyment."

The 19 mile road thru the Refuge takes 2 hours to drive and is well worth it.  We saw antelope, deer, and of course bison.

The wildflowers were in full bloom too.

I was very proud of Vanna for climbing to the top of the mountain on a steep gravel road without breaking down

 

We continued on to another detour, Hot Springs, Montana, out in the middle of nowhere  There are three hot springs in town, all small, and we found two of them, but we didn't go in them.  This is the largest one:

Then north back to hwy 2 via Bull River, another spectacularly scenic byway

We came thru Sandpoint, Idaho around 7:00 this evening and crossed the Washington State line to Newport where we will be spending the night in the worst motel yet.  But white lilacs outside our room are in full bloom, and they smell wonderful.

Glacier

We left Shelby a bit late this morning, around 9, and headed over to Glacier National Park. 

The views from the road just got better and better.

We stopped in Browning on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation to see the Museum of the Plains Indian but were disappointed to learn it doesn't open for the season until June

Then on to Two Medicine past East Glacier Park. We encountered only a few people snowshoeing on this side of the park.  We saw as many mountain goats as people

The lake at Two Medicine was stunning.

Then back to hwy 2 and West Glacier. We could drive the Going to the Sun Road only 13 miles into the Park as Logan Pass was still buried in many feet of snow.  But the road was beautiful anyway

And Lake McDonald was crystal clear 

We encountered deer at the Lake McDonald Lodge, still not open for the season

Poppy loved seeing both the goats and the deer;  she sat up looking out the window the entire drive

And finally on to Bigfork on Flathead Lake, reportedly the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi

Bigfork is billed as an "artist community", and it is pleasant but both John and I were a bit disappointed. Real estate offices outnumber galleries here and the "art" is largely average.

We were planning on camping here, but all three campgrounds we checked out were just off the highway and very noisy. So instead we are at the Mountain Lake Lodge overlooking Flathead Lake. Lovely

Big Sky

We headed out of Watford City to join a caravan of semis headed south. We turned off the highway 15 miles later into Roosevelt National Park North Unit and enjoyed the solitude.  We were the only ones in the park.

The scenery was gorgeous, and we saw plenty of bison in the park.

Just before entering the Park, Poppy was fascinated by a bison she spotted near the park boundary fence. 

We continued on hwy 2 to Montana and the pace of life changed almost immediately after we crossed the state line.  It was a relief to leave behind the frenetic construction, noise, truck traffic, and oil field madness of North Dakota.

We had hwy 2 almost to ourselves; it's mostly cattle ranches and wheat fields out here.

We did pass one of Vanna's cousins by the side of the road, one of the very few we've seen on this trip.

Even though we are close to a thousand miles from Seattle it's beginning to feel like home as the landscape is looking much more familiar and we've seen our first mountain range of the trip, the Bears Paw Mountains.

Spring is here as evidenced by the green grass, tree buds, and exponentially more bugs splatting on our windshield.

We saw five antelope today on the drive.

Tonight we are staying in Shelby, Montana. 

Vanna has developed an oil leak; I've crawled under her but can't see where it is coming from. I tightened her oil drain plug but that didn't help so I bought five quarts of oil and will top her up at every gas stop so we can hopefully make it back to Seattle.  

The good news is Shelby doesn't have an airport so John can't threaten to fly out.  I just hope the town doesn't have an Amtrak station.