Day 5: Dillon, MT to Seattle, WA
Tubbs Hill, Columbia River, Pike Place Fish Market, Space Needle
Since we drove an extra hour the previous night we left a little later than originally planned. The first half of the day mostly consisted of driving along I-90 as it twisted through the Montana countryside.
We made our first stop for the day in Missoula, MT where we stopped at Costco and bought 10 lbs of apples, 96 granola bars, and a bag of pretzel rolls. Then we went to the food court and got hot dogs.
By around 1:00 p.m. local time we had crossed back into Idaho and made a stop in Coeur D’Alene. We changed into our swimsuits and hiked up Tubbs Hill where we went cliff jumping. That’s right, cliff jumping. After watching the locals do it a couple times we decided to give the 20 foot jump a go ourselves (well at least Mason and I did). It was definitely terrifying at first but left us with an exhilarating rush. Don’t worry, we read plenty of stuff on the internet to make sure it was safe.
Mason and I both jumped in 3 times. Afterwards we were back on the road and our next stop was the Columbia River overlook. We took some pictures and then continued on our way to Seattle.
We were expecting the traffic in Seattle to be negligible because it was Sunday. However, the 4th of July holiday weekend seems to have caused it to be more congested. Two hours of white-knuckle driving got us downtown. Yes, we had the nerve to park downtown (parking is free on Sunday). We walked through Pike Place Market but it had already closed for the day and was mostly empty. Next we walked along the waterfront, then drove to the Olympic Sculpture Garden. After that, we walked to the Space Needle. Time and the budget kept us from going to the top, but the view from below was still magnificent.
With the sunset quickly approaching, we booked it to Kerry Hill Park to take pictures of the skyline at sunset. The Park was packed but the view was top-notch. From there we navigated the busy downtown streets and freeway to get to Lacey, WA (and we only took a wrong turn once!)
We spent the night at the apartment of Jessica and Jordan who are relatives of a friend. They generously gave us a place to stay, shower and do laundry.
Tomorrow we drive to Mount St. Helens, the Columbia River Gorge, and to the Umpqua Hot Springs.
