Back in Massachusetts.  We got lucky when we checked into the hotel; they gave us an upgrade to a suite with a connected room.  That’s super-convenient when you have one infant kicking four adult’s butts.

It’s been a joy to have our grand-daughter each morning while her parents get ready for the day.  Of course we never finished breakfast much before 11am on any given day because she (grand-daughter) stayed on Pacific time.  Her parents were overjoyed to be able to sleep in until 8am or later!

Oh Opa, that will never compile!

We were smart to not overdo the second half of the trip.  We took it slow, got a lot of time with the local family and stopped by friends on the last day on the way to the airport.

All-in-all, it was a great trip.  We got to see our grand-daughter all-day, every-day for eight days.  She changed a lot over that time, and…. she’s a troopah!

On Saturday, we got up super early, picked up the son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter and headed to the airport.  What could go wrong?  As it turns out, not much.  The flight was quite quick and the baby is a trooper.  Or as they say in Bahston, a troopah.  She did great.

Hertz, not so much.  We waited a very long time on a line that wasn’t moving.  And we are Gold Level.  In theory you see your name on the board and you go straight to the car.  But not this day.  We ended up across the street at Avis.

Here are two photos from the first night in Massachusetts.

I can walk!  Sort of…

Oh Daddy!

On Sunday, we drove to Long Island with a stop to visit family in Connecticut.  We hit massive traffic on the way into NYC and got into our hotel very late.  But the baby did great.  She’s a troppah!

Today we hit the local diner for breakfast then visited with Grand Pa.

Four generations, clockwise from lower-right

That’s father, daughter, grandson and great granddaughter.  Yes, a troopah!

Later we checked out the ocean and dipped the baby’s toes in the Atlantic.  She didn’t love it.  So here’s a before photo instead.

You’re not going to put me in that, are you?

Yup…. she’s a troopah!

Seventeen days total time away from home (Washington.)  Eleven days of driving.  Eight hotels plus our own place in Boise.

Ten states if you count duplicates:  Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington

Total miles:  3,652

The first group is home to Spokane to Columbia Valley, MT to Many Glacier, MT.  The second group is Many Glacier to Bozeman, MT to Casper, WY to Boulder, CO to Santa Fe, NM.  The third group is Albuquerque, NM to Durango, CO to Salt Lake City, UT to Boise, ID.  The last bar is the ride home.

Longest day:  Boise to home, 533 miles

Shortest day:  Columbia Valley, MT to Many Glacier, MT, 92 (but they were spectacular!)  We went up the Going to the Sun Road on the second day it was open this year.

Fuel (For 3,704 miles total distance):  180.727 gallons at a total price of $704.19.  That’s an overall MPG of 20.5 and an average of $3.90 per gallon.

Hotels / dinners:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tickets:  zero!

You see more FedEx trucks than Wal-Mart trucks.  By far.  What does this mean?  Is Amazon winning?

Best scenery:  Tie between Montana and Utah

Scenery we’ve seen enough of:  Colorado Springs to Santa Fe

Best state for driving:  Montana

Worst state for driving:  Oregon

Long day today, actually the most miles in any single day, just over 530.  We took a lot of breaks and even found a Chukar Cherry store along the way (in Prosser, WA.)

We saw more police today than any other day, mostly in Oregon where the interstate speed limit tends to be 65.  We probably saw more slow drivers in the left lane there too!

The west is amazing but it’s always nice to get back to Washington.  This state is quite amazing in its own right.

Wrap up tomorrow, but it was a good trip.  Lots of good QT (quality time) plus some nice sights and time with family too.

Oh wait, that’s not a holiday.  But in Boise it is, sort-of.  During the 1840’s many Oregon Trail pioneers passed through this valley.  They wanted to get to the west coast and found the valley here to be a good place to stop along the way as it had lots of trees (shade) and water (the Boise River.)  In 1862 Gold Fever hit and the population boomed.  This caused the government to commission Fort Boise on July 6, 1863 and to plat the city on July 7.  So this year is Boise’s sesquicentennial (look it up.)

How do we know all of this?  It’s a pretty big deal around here.  There is even a sesquicentennial store near our place.  They were running walking tours of the original Boise plat all day.  The tour was fairly interesting, was only an hour and was a decent walk during the cooler part of the day.

We saw “The Heat” in the afternoon.  It’s hysterical.  If you don’t mind the f-word.  And a bunch of other words.

We hit a few favorite places here in town and started preparing for the drive tomorrow.  The weather is hot here (95 – 103), it will be nice to get to the cooler weather back home.

We were surprised to find our favorite breakfast place closed today.  So much for eating-in…  So we went to Goldy’s, another long-time favorite.

Boise has a July 4th parade and it runs right near our apartment.  It’s pretty informal.  One of the ‘floats’ was a plumber in his van.  They also had some nice old cars.

Old cars on Idaho Street, Boise

We saw a movie, “The Lone Ranger”.  We enjoyed it.  It’s not great, but it’s highly entertaining and funny.  We cooked in again; two nights in a row!

Finally, we went up to the roof of our building to watch the fireworks.  The building is seven stories tall so we were about eye level with the fireworks.  The show was so-so, but the vantage point was great!

Cell phone pic, not too bad…