SPOKANE!!

Yesterday we drove through more beautiful mountain passes. We visited the Canyon side of the park and got to see the upper and lower falls. Then on our way out of the park the boys were honored as junior rangers for Yellowstone. They seemed thrilled with their accomplishments. We spent the night in Missoula, MT last night and headed for the furthest state west on our trip.

We have again enjoyed the scenery along the way. I was sad to miss several opportunities of gorgeous pictures along I90 in MT and ID where the rivers run along side the interstate and mountains, but I was never quite prepared. Since we were on the interstate and no longer in the park, Nathan was no longer strolling along, nor was he able to pull off the road at a moments notice and back up for the good shot. (We have joked that a majority of this trip has been made in reverse or with a series of U-turns. It has worked well everywhere except in Sundance where they frown on our style of driving! lol)

We stopped in Cataldo, ID to see Cataldo Mission, a fascinating church built by the Indians and Jesuit preists back in the 1800's. The walls are 18" thick and the building is put together with a tongue and groove method. Then they drilled holes in the connection and held the joint with a wooden peg. AMAZING! The family picture is behind the church overlooking the Coeur D'Alenes River. www.spokaneoutdoors.com/cataldo.htm

We arrived in Spokane around 2:30 p.m., and Jan (my dear college friend) was to be flying in around 5:30 p.m. from her cruise. We grabbed a late lunch and then located her home and visited with her folks, Will and Martha. We sat and visited for a bit before heading with Will to the airport to surprise her. We all ended up getting a surprise though because she and her sister had already landed and headed home by the time we arrived to the airport. Martha kept our secret going by telling her that Will had gone to the airport to surprise her. She didn't realize that we were already in town and with him! Oh, how good to see her again!! We will be here until around Wednesday visiting with her and her family. We took a trip out to the park tonight and had fun visiting while the boys got a chance to burn off some steam. The weather has been perfect today. And the Simpsons have opened their home up to us, so we are having one big sleepover! :)

We are having fun including pictures that remind us of folks back home. We found Daddy Murphy's pizza joint today in Spokane, and we also found Mr. Ken's rock shop. :)