Day 1: Where's the roadkill?

Seattle to Couer d'Alene
Distance: 562 kms
Roadkill: 0

This is part of a series of posts from our 2011 road trip. See the overview post for links to the other posts.

Today we set out from Seattle on our road trip to Denver. We had planned to start at 9am, but Jeremy woke up at 3am (he was thirsty) and did not get back to sleep until after 4am so our start was delayed until 11.40. Ruby drove the first part along I-90 and for the most part the trip was made up of very green forest, mountains and over Snoqualmie Pass we were near the snow line. In the western USA they are having a very cold spring and we have not noticed much of a change from the cold weather in Sydney (if anything it is colder here!).

We stopped for lunch and a driver change at the Ryegrass rest area which overlooks the Wild Horse wind farm (at 229 MW larger than any currently operating in Australia). There we snacked on leftover pizza and cheesecake from our dinner at Cheesecake Factory the previous night in Seattle (Jeremy had yogurt and bananas - for a change he was not interested in pizza).

From there I drove to Grand Coulee Dam. The countryside here was different to the first leg and it is was cleared land and canyons. We arrived at Grand Coulee before 4pm, but had missed the power station tour which was just starting on the other side of the dam (and I think might have tested Jeremy's patience at 50 mins). We had a look around the visitor centre and started off for Couer d'Alene. On the way from Ruby commented that we had not seen any roadkill (unlike in Australia!).

We arrived at Abbotswood House B&B late in the evening. One of the features of this house is all the rooms look onto an indoor pool which, of course, Jeremy was fascinated with. I took him for a swim before bed (the B&B owner did have floaties for him) which he readily enjoyed! Even when out of the pool he kept trying to reach in and have a splash...

Update: corrected distance; added Google Maps directions and a link to the overview post.