Left home at 10am.
Stop at a small reststop w/ pit toilets over the pass.
12-1pm Stopped at John hill rest area for an unplanned lunch. Mom always provides. I actually packed cold drinks with us this time which I will enjoy on the way up Grandfather mtn as the temp climbs above 80.
In high desert plains with the big windmills. Laura calls them “spinning things”.
Hot from walk up Grandfather mtn with the horses. 1400-1445 about. I helped Laura up the steep slope.
She said she was a “junior ranger”. We walked among the iron rusted mustang statues. Like Spirit’s family.
Laura walked with Wayne down and said Wayne was the red fox and she was the ibyx calf we saw dramatically chased on the DVD Life.
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Gas in Moses Lake. Junk food snacks. Coke to stay awake. Finally got the girls to sleep. Have a stretch of prairie expanse to drive thru to Spokane. Listening to Renegades of Pern on audio.
Older woman in an outback spun out in front of us. She swung to the left side off the road, then over back onto the road with a gentle curve, then the awakening. The brake slammed on, almost flipping her over. Then surfing onto the right side off the rode, kicking up a 50 ft cloud of dirt. Mom and Dad were several cars back and ended up stopping. The woman righted herself and got back on the road with a weak and ironic wave.
First trees sighted on the high Spokane plains.
Drove thru Spokane. Sprawling. Fun old buildings and churches viewed from the highway.
Outback at Spokane Valley Mall replace with Black Angus. Almost retreated to Red Robin. Steak houses often appealing. Outback particularly good with kids. BA failed. No crayons for kids despite having coloring pages. Babyback ribs bland and pale. How does a steakhouse not do ribs well? Mom and Wayne really liked their steaks. The kids pizza looked like a bad grocery microwave pizza. Not a place we’ll go back to. There’s a Red Robin around the corner. The Boston’s pizza looked interesting. Wayne and I talked about it later. BA gave us a nice place to sit down. The bread and salad were good. The service was kind and efficient. Not a terrible experience, just low points where steakhouses normally shine. Finished about 6:30pm.
The Comfort Inn was just a stones throw away at 7:10. Packing a separate bag for the hotel was an excellent idea. It made unloading only take one trip. The kids were twitchy. We herded them into bathing suits and joined the mass in the pool. A church youth group is staying here tonight also. Eventually, the pool quieted. We got it too ourselves. We played for about an hour. Showers. Everything is wet. Disney has the most innocuous shows at night other than they’re inane. Sleep, finally. Or journaling.