Summer 2018: Montana/Silverwood Road Trip Part I - Everett to Missoula

In late August shortly after mom and dad flew home, we took a road trip east to run an obstacle course with our friend Wray who'd recently moved to Montana. Oscar worked a half day on Thursday before we took off in the late afternoon in order to arrive at a hotel in Spokane Valley that evening. It's about a 5 hour drive, which is more than my kiddos can go without needing a break, but there's not a whole lot to do activity wise along the way. The only thing that jumped out at us was the Wild Horses monument and gorge overlook in George, Washington. The view was incredible, but Allison was much more impressed with the horses.

She really wanted to climb up to see the "statue horsies," but that was more time than we wanted to devote to our remaining daylight, so we promised her we'd climb them on our drive home.

She didn't take it well. It was heartbreakingly cute!

We were getting pretty hungry, so we found a McDonald's in Moses Lake that just happened to have a really neat play area. They also had computer games on the wall, but I had to drag the kids away from those. They had their Kindles in the car and needed playtime, not more screen time.

Oscar didn't want McDonalds, so he picked up Teriyaki and met up with us later. I couldn't wait to eat until he was back with chicken nuggets, fries, and ice cream staring me in the face, so my Teriyaki got saved in our hotel fridge and traveled all the way to Helena with us before I got a chance to eat it.

The next morning the kids asked for their Kindles while we were showering and getting ready. I kept hearing interesting noises coming out our window and finally looked out to realize there were construction vehicles in action out there. I immediately put their devices away and encouraged the kids to watch them at work. Too bad I didn't realize it until we were ready to leave. They could have watched diggers longer and devices less.

From there we drove to a breakfast cafe in Couer d'Alene where Allison did the best at a restaurant she's ever done. She ate well, wasn't running all over the place, and didn't require a high chair.

We kept on driving before taking a break at the Spectrum Discovery Area in Missoula, one of the perks of the ASTC travel passport through our local children's museum. 

Cute Tyler making some green slime

Love seeing these kids having fun, learning, and getting messy!

Allison playing with and trying to catch this floating ball was crazy adorable. "It's flying! The little ball is flying! I got it! I got it!"

Ty spent a good chunk of time designing a ball chute while Allison attempted the jump rope. It made for a great break before we grabbed a quick lunch and finished our drive to Helena.