We were up early to get the car packed and to feed ourselves before we headed off on our grand adventure. We took about 30 minutes to get the car completely packed. It was tight, but we were able to get everything in the box and in the car successfully. There wasn’t a lot of room for the kids, but they’re still small. (am I right? Who’s with me) We got through our pre-departure checklist, and we were on the road by 7:25am. Traffic on highway 26 was slow, but it was moving. It was nice to not be stressed sitting in traffic. We knew that we had an ~6 hour drive ahead of us, but we figured if we could hit the Maryhill Museum just over the river in Washington near Biggs before noon, we’d have time to stop in for a browse. We managed to hit the museum around 10am. It cost $7 a piece for Jada and I to get in, but they only charge $2 per kid. The girls seemed to really like parts of it. We especially liked the display of all the different chess sets from all over the world made by different artists in different countries. Some were very old. We also stopped by the Stonehenge replica war memorial display. On the way back to Oregon, we stopped off at a road side-fruit stand for a patented Pearson lunch. We paid $1.30 for some peaches, and we ate lunch from our cooler in the parking lot.
We were on the road again at noon heading east up the Columbia River Gorge. As we climbed out of the Gorge proper and away from the Columbia river, we saw what I think was a big horn sheep just grazing at the side of the highway. This was a long stretch that took us into Washington finally leaving Oregon behind for the next 6 weeks. We stopped at a McDonalds in Kennewick, WA around 1:45am for a pit stop, and we let the kids play in the big pipe structure there. At one point, the girls were gone for a while until they found their way out saying that they had gotten lost.
We arrived in Spokane, WA by 4:40pm. We found our hotel in Liberty Lake, WA which is just on the east edge of Spokane. We’re staying at the Best Western here. It’s pretty nice. After we got checked in, we found a pizza place on the Garmin which ended up being a take out only place called River City Pizza and pasta. How could we not go? Luckily, they were very friendly, and got our pizzas done in about 10 minutes. We chose 2 - 1 taco pizza, and one meat lovers. They were pretty good. We brought them back to the hotel and ate in their cafe area where they let us have some plates and water. When we were sated, I offered the rest of the slices to the hotel staff, which they gladly accepted.
After dinner, I took the girls down for some swimming while Jada lay down for a rest. The girls swam for about 30 minutes. I didn’t get in the pool this time mostly because I had no desire to get chlorinated today. We got them into the shower and into bed by 7:10pm. It took them a long time to fall asleep. As I type this, Jada and I are sitting in this nice little nook above the lobby right outside our hotel room door. The nook has a couch, a shelf full of books (the girls literally gasped with excitement when they saw the shelf of books. Unfortunately, none of them are for kids...they seem pretty boring for adults too), and a table with a chess set (full stocked) on it. It’s really pleasant, except it’s a bit too warm. We have free wifi tonight. Not sure when we’ll have that again so I’m going to go ahead and send this off. Chances are, you’ll not get another update until we get to Sioux falls, SD when we’re next in a hotel on July 1st. And I have my doubts I’ll be able to get anything typed up that night. But who knows. It could happen.