As much as it's good to have an itinerary in place, I've never been one to follow Clark Griswold's time adhesion vacation model. So instead of putting myself in a situation not conducive to top-notch photographs, and most likely, not ideal for pitching and sleeping in the Quartz 22, I changed my course for the Oregon coast. I knew this was one of the areas on my visual wish-list, so I dialed in the new coordinates and was on my way.
13 hours away. With a 7am departure, I thought I could make it all the way to the coast, even though I had no idea where I'd be sleeping that night. That turned out to be an overly optimistic outlook.
I jumped on I-90 at Manhatten, MT., after stopping for some breakfast drinks to complement some banana bread Mandy bagged up for me. The first part of the drive was familiar, since I'd just headed towards Butte two days earlier. I knew I had to minimize my stops if I planned on reaching the OR coast, so I decided to use my Canon Elf point and shoot to capture images along the drive.
I-90...
The cloud covered rainy skies continued for a good portion of the morning...
A wide open green valley just south of Whitehall...
A rainbow?! Is the rain finally ending?
Nope...
Rolling into Butte...
After passing the Butte area, Missoula was next up on the radar. Montana is such a massive state (4th in area), and the best way to realize how big, is behind the wheel of a Toyota Corolla.
A few more shots between Missoula and Idaho...
A break in the rain at Dry Creek Rd?
Idaho...and more rain...
My first stop came in Wallace, ID, to fill up the tank. A quaint little town, historic in nature because of it's silver mining past, and more recently, the backdrop for Dante's Peak. What an appropriate stop for this leg of the trip.
I've only driven through Idaho twice, but each time I've passed two large lakes, and lots of beautiful scenery. This time the lake was Couer d'Alene, named for town a few miles from the border of Washington.
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