After a hot evening turned to cool morning and we woke shivering slightly each time the roosters crowed starting around 3AM, we waited for the sun to rise and then got fed a great breakfast of French Toast and bacon. We visited with our friends for a while, then Janet took us downtown Spokane for a bit of sight seeing before she headed off to work and we headed on the road again.

One of the sights we saw was an art gallery. Well, let's call it a gallery since the "art" was garbage tacked to one wall, a homeless camp in the center of the room, and...and....well, a shower head on another.

There were also some cool pieces, like this painting. They added texture to the painting with puzzle pieces and I liked the effect.

And, not part of the gallery, but cool nonetheless, a bench on the wall with kids sitting on it. It was along a stairwell, with nothing below for a loooong way. It appealed to my sick sense of humor.

After that it was time to head outside for some caching and leaving town, starting with some good advice.

 

K's goal was to get "feet pictures" for each day of the trip. Not sure where she got THAT from, but I enjoyed helping her find good places to dangle feet for her camera.

    

We came to a screeching halt on the side of the freeway (the first of many) to get a photo of a "Welcome to" sign. Sometimes there was a cache there, too, which we got out of the car for. Some, we just captured while driving by. Some, we missed altogether, like Montana.

We had to stop for Wacky Roadside Attractions, too.

Some were planned, and some we just spotted along the way and were willing to stop for. This was one such place. It was a whole park with weird artsy things like brick fences and cubby holes suitable (almost) to hide in.

 

Bigger huts, just as weird, called to my camera as well and I got several shots, trying to capture it without being overwhelmed with the oddities.

  

We spotted this statue of the prospector and his mule. Quin began his obsession with either picking stature's noses or pretending to be bitten by them.

Or, looking up their skirts.

There's a cache up there, in case you were wondering about that.

Afterwards he climbed on the statue. No one was around, thankfully. This was actually the second statue in regards to the Sunshine Mine we'd stopped for, the first one was in honor of the disaster that happened in the mine when a fire broke out in 1972. There were 178 miners in and only 85 made it out safely. Two more survivors were found seven days later and it wasn't till 11 days after the initial fire they got the last of the 91 victims out. The Sunshine Mine fire was the countries worst hardrock mine disaster since 1917; a pretty big deal. The Sunshine Mine (silver) was a mile deep and had 100 miles worth of tunnels. This second statue featured a "Happy Sunshine Mine Family", making it seem like mining is a great, family oriented career choice.

Continuing on, we drove through Idaho and into Montana, making it halfway across that state before stopping at a campsite for the night. It was a giant grassy field with random fire pits and picnic tables scattered about. We picked one near the restrooms. I figured that was important since we'd be sleeping next to a noisy rushing river.

   

The kids were wound up tight and it took a while to settle in for the night.

 

We'd been packed for days and didn't sleep well the night before we left on our 4 week, 12 state road trip, and we were raring to go. We left early, topped the gas tank off and then didn't slow down till we got to Ellensburg. Which isn't really all that far, but it was the first Wacky Roadside attraction on the route so we didn't want to miss it.

It's called Dick and Jane's Spot. They have ....er.... decorated their yard in an extraordinary way so we walked the sidewalks and alley and took our first batch of photos. The kids had fun finding so many odd pieces of "art" on and outside the house.

  

I have always wanted a blue bottle tree like this. Someday I will, but it won't be in a yard like this.

Don't get me wrong, I admire and actually really enjoy craziness like this. I just don't want people wandering around my house taking pictures of it.

      

       

Although I obviously don't mind taking pictures of other people's houses. Or chimneys.

 

After that we wandered off to a public building. Maybe the library, or civic center, I don't remember since the important thing was outside.

After that, feeling the first press for time (still lots of road to travel on!) we headed to Vantage, where I wanted to show the kids the wild horses monument Brewman65 and I had just gone to. I tried to drive by. I really tried. I had no interest in climbing that hill again. But.

   

I had to brand the horse the same place I'd done earlier. Exact same, as far as I can tell, since it isn't permanent. But this is a new stamp, with the names Craftea (that's me), Mr. Q! (that would be Quin) and The Hazelnut (Kendrah's geocaching name) on it. Yea, us. Now can we go back down?

On the way to our first sleeping destination, we stopped for some caches, of course. I was aiming for Virtuals (no physical container, but a cool location where we need to identify something to prove we were there) like this one at a monument about a battle that took place.

And Earthcaches (again no physical container, but cool location where we learn something about the geology of that specific location) like this creek, which, to do a proper experiment about how fast the water flowed, both kids ventured in.

After that it was more wacky attractions like a giant loaf of bread outside the Franz Bakery factory and a building shaped like a milk bottle.

  

The kids found a leaf bench to share. See how much fun they are having? That's cause it's only the first day.

We arrived at our friend's house in Spokane before dark (always a nice thing), had a great dinner, then went to bed as the sun was setting.

Our first day was a success, even if we didn't make it out of our home state.