Monday 8/16/99
Day 18: Wallace, Spokane & Home
It's been a long trip and we were on our last day. It seems like Alaska was so long ago and would be so hard to remember everything if we had not wrote down a journal. We left Kalispel at 6:30 and drove on highway 93 as we went past Flathead Lake. It was a nice lake but didn't take any pictures because it was so overcast. Shawna proceeded to tell us this is where she lost a tennis shoe couple years ago when Grandma took her here. We reached the I-90 junction just before Missoula and turned west. We were going over the Montana/Idaho pass when we heard on the radio that there had been two bear attacks and one man had fallen to his death in Glacier park yesterday. it sound like nobody had agood yesterday in glacier.
We pulled into Wallace, Idaho around 10:00 which is a old mining town. The visitor center appeard to be closed so we went to a mining museum where they showed videos and lots of info on silver mining. There are lots of antique stores also in this town and the wholke town is ont he National Historic Record. The freeway in the background of the town which makes for quite a contrast with the old town setting and old buildings. The visitoer center was finally open as we went over to look around. They recommended both the Sierra Silver Mine Underground Tour and the Crystal Gold Mine Tour. We did not have to time to go today but will be back someday as it is an interesting town.
We continued east past Couer 'd Alene and into Spokane where we would eat lunch. Spokane is a nice large town with a laid back atmosphere. It does not really have that urban feeling to it as you can walk thu the city streets and feel safe here. The people are friendly here also. We found Rocky Ricoro's Pizza on 6th st near the city park. Jacob and I had ate here before and wanted to go again. They serve good pan pizza and salad bar. Everybody liked the food and we'll be back again. We walked to the Riverfront park from here. The park is where they held Expo '74 Worlds Fair. It wasn't a large World's Fair, but I can remember going to it and enjoying it. It was fun because it wan't in a congested urban town and you could still relax and enjoy the atmosphere.
I saw a sign for Antiques and Books across the bridge and had to go see what it was. It was the Spokane Book Center which had a good norhtwest section. After buying some books we went back to the parkand let the kids paly for a little while. They also started fighting while here and I think they just had been in teh truck a little to much with each other. They have been good on the trip but everybody probably wants to be by themselvesfor the first week while were home. We left Spokane around 2:00 and would drive straight thru. We got home to Kent, WA around 6:00 and I think everybody was so glad to be home and just wanting to sleep in thier own beds tonight. Jacob wanted to ride his bike, Shawna wanted to see the cat, Cindy just wanted to get out of the truck and I went and sat out on the patio. It had been a good trip but its time to enjoy home. I am looking forward to good home cooking, Cindy wants to work in the garden and the kids want to play with their friends in the neighborhood.