We always pack whichever of my vehicles we are taking the night before the trip and I always help. I chewed on a paper bag handle, ate treats and practiced my driving! My people had a hard time getting me out of the Jeep.
Headed to Washington
I was very excited when we crossed the Columbia River into Washington! We stayed at a chain motel that none of us liked. We stayed there in 2009 too. I never felt comfortable there and my people said the beds were too hard.
1st Day in Montana
We checked out (even my sock monkey toy was ready to leave) and headed for our bed and breakfast in Missoula! This is the same place we stayed at in 2009. Along the way, we stopped at the rest area just across the Montana border and the next rest area in Montana. The 1st rest area has some really cool trails in the dog area. The 2nd rest area has a national forest campground attached to it! We checked into our room, ate dinner then walked to the dog park so I could swim. I had fun but my people were eaten alive by mosquitoes!
Leaving Missoula, Stopping in Butte, Checking In
After a great breakfast at the bed and breakfast, we checked out, made a stop at the rest area near Anaconda then headed to Butte to go see my peoples' friend, her dog and her parents. It was the 1st time I had met them and they were really nice. Even their dog even though she was a bit of a puppy! After we got done talking, we headed to the pork chop sandwich place for lunch then headed to where we would be staying while in town. We stayed in what my people called an "apartment." It was in a motel with really nice owners and we had a kitchen, dining table, huge living room and 2 bedrooms. After we checked in, we headed up to the mountains and I got to play in the snow and the water!!! I had never seen so much snow in my life!!!!
Mountain Fun
I spent every day up in the mountains playing in the snow, running around off leash, playing in cold mountain streams and swimming. Last year I swam every day in the high mountain lake at the end of the road but this year the road was still snowed in. We ended up hiking in to the lake over a bunch of snow and the lake still had ice on it! My man said that's what it should be like in March or April, not during the summer. People are camping, picnicking and fishing up there in summer!!! I was only on my leash once and that's because when we were driving up to my swimmin' hole, I started to bark and do my "kitty dance" in the Jeep. My people could smell the cougar but they didn't see it except for some movement in the willows. I saw it and wanted to go chase it. The pictures with me on the leash are me looking at the cougar and dancing. I also saw a lot of deer but they don't interest me so I don't have to be on a leash when they are around. We also walked to an old mine that was worked by someone my man knows really good. I got to meet him one day.
Headed Home
We checked out of our motel and headed up to the mountains one last time so I could play. We stopped in Butte for pork chop sandwiches and spent the night at the bed and breakfast in Missoula again. I was so tired I fell asleep under the desk in our room!
Leaving Montana
We checked out of the bed and breakfast and headed for our room in Washington. Our last stop before getting to the place we stayed for the night was the rest area just before crossing over into Idaho. This rest area has even better trails than the rest area on the other side of the interstate. It also has things called prairie dogs that look like squirrels that live in the ground like the gophers do in the park! I really liked the place we stayed! It was like the "apartment" we lived in for so long in Montana only it was smaller and "fancier" than the apartment!
Missoula to Hood River (and a Bit of a Problem)
We checked out and made the drive to our next stop in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. It's only about 90 minutes from home but my man always liked to spend the night and come home when the traffic was light on Sunday morning. We stayed at the place we stayed last year. When we got there, my woman went to check in and the motel manager told her I couldn't stay because they didn't have any pet rooms left. My woman told her she didn't care because she'd made the reservation for me 6 months before my stay and the manager had me down as a guest the day before we left. The manager blamed the mistake on someone else and gave us a room. We had a bad night because the air conditioner was having problems and we couldn't get any breeze because it was blowing the wrong way. The manager wouldn't answer the phone when we called and she closed the office way early.
Yay, Home!!!
We were so ready to leave that we left before I had my breakfast and drove home! I even got to play with my BFF Jonny after I got home. It was a very fun trip and I tuckered myself out playing in the snow and swimming and running around like a crazy woman!
