Through the Lower Passes

Greetings from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho! I made it throught the passes on the Montana/Idaho border today (Friday, Febuary 1st) and arrived at this paradise this evening. It was an unbelievable trip up and over these snow-covered passes today on I-90. For those of you who aren't familiar with Idaho geography, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho is about 60 miles east of Spokane, Washington in the northern tip of the state.

We all lined up single-file and went over the passes at about 10 miles an hour. I've never seen snow come down as heavy as it was this afternoon! Interestingly, the snow itself has changed since leaving the Yellowstone area. Once I got west of Missoula, Montana, the snow became wet and heavy instead of the dry powder that I had gotten used to.

The topography changed again too. The canyons seemed more narrow, and the mountains were steep and covered with spruce, fir, and pine instead of the cedar and sagebrush of southwestern Montana. With the heavy, wet snow piling up on them, it looked like something out of a child's fairy tale. I wish I could show you some pictures tonight, but the website is giving me difficulty with uploading images. Next time I'll give you an all-picture update of more from Yellowstone and some of the shots I got today in the passes. They're beautiful. Perhaps I'll be able to get them up in the next day or two.

Oh yeah... I almost forgot! We've had a sweet tea sighting in Butte, Montana. A little place called "Red's Country Club". I couldn't believe my ears when the waitress responded that "sure, we've got sweet tea!" Have my ears deceived me? Here? In western Montana? Excellent! Bring me goblets of the magical elixir! The food was good... some country fried steak and mashed potatoes, but to wash all that down with some honest-to-goodness sweet tea was beyond description. Now, compared to the tea that I'm used to back home, this brew left a bit to be desired. It was sweet, but they obviously were rationing the sugar as they could have "taken it up a few more notches" to be sure. But since I haven't had any in quite awhile, the perception was better than the reality. Overall, it was a 3-ah glass of tea at the most. But considering the lack of availability out here, Red deserves at least a 4-ah rating simply for going against the flow!