Did you ever start a blog project, promising to post every day, and then you…didn’t? No? Just me? Ah well.

One reason I wasn’t too worried about it is that over the past couple of months I have taken the time to go back to the 2017 Great Western Road Trip, the Maritimes Trip in 2022, and the road trip to the Southwest in 2023 and collapsed the daily blog entries into more-digestible chunks, so you’re only reading 4-5 entries and not 20+ entries. (Also, going back and fixing the photos that were posted to social media sites so they were locally-hosted was kind of a pain!)

So anyway, let’s see about getting back on track! I’ve tried to break the trip into logical parts from here:

• This Part: Seattle Suburbs
• Part 3: Ballard, Seattle
• Part 4: Portland and the trip to Denver
• Part 5: A week and a half in Denver, then home

I know these get kind of long, though I love having them to return to in the future. If you prefer to skim through just for the photos, that’s OK too!

Day 4: (13-Aug) Great Falls, MT to Spokane, WA

I hit the road out of Great Falls bright and early, though my first stop was only a few minutes down the road, at the quirky Amy’s Morning Perk. The place was as friendly and quirky as it appears from the outside.

Then it was time to head out on Montana Highway 200 (part of a line of state route 200s that stretches from Idaho to Minnesota for no apparent reason that I can determine). The drive was a little boring but got more interesting as I approached the Rocky Mountains.

At the Continental Divide I had to stop to commemorate the third time that Charlie has crossed the Continental Divide. Fun Wikipedia fact: The next pass across the Continental Divide crossed by a road north of Rogers Pass is US 2 crossing Marias Pass, 100 miles away. The region between the passes “is noted for its inaccessibility and as one of the last strongholds for the grizzly bear in the lower 48 states”.

As I was taking his photo I looked across the road and was surprised to see a group setting off on the hiking trail with their pack llamas. Just another bit of fun roadside weirdness that helps explain why I love these trips.

Just down the road from the pass I came to the town of Lincoln, Montana, where I was curious about the signs marking Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild. I walked around a bit admiring the 60(!) installations in the park. The most striking was “Montana Memory: Re-Imagining the Delaney Sawmill” at 75 feet tall. I wish I’d had more time to explore but had to get back on the road.

My next stop was Missoula, Montana, where I rejoined Interstate 90 after having left it in Tomah, Wisconsin. My intention was to stop there for lunch and check out some nice breweries, but then I learned that local ordinances in Missoula not only don’t allow dogs inside any food or drink establishments, but don’t even allow dogs on patios. Disgruntled, I went to get back on the road out of town. I spotted a small brewery, Imagine Nation, as I was driving out and decided to stop there, though I had to leave Charlie in the car. Oh my gosh, what a find! The beer was tasty, but the fact that the brewery was super-queer really made my day.

I decided that my breakfast sandwich back in Great Falls was enough to tide me over to dinner so I drove directly to Spokane from there.

I got in too early to check into my room, so of course I had to find a brewery. Uprise Brewing was a bit of a trick to find due to road construction, but they had an awesome covered patio. I got a tasty chicken sandwich and Charlie and I hung out for a bit while I caught up on work email.

My room at the Oxford Suites was perfect – quite huge for just me and Charlie right off the hotel lobby. Even better, it was right on the Spokane River, just by the dam and Riverfront Park. The park was beautiful, and Charlie and I had a nice evening walking around and enjoying the lovely sunset.

Day 5 (14-Aug): Spokane, WA to Redmond, WA

This was a short-ish day of driving (only 5-ish hours) so I took my time leaving Spokane. For breakfast, Charlie and I walked across the river to a lovely patisserie and enjoyed a ham and cheese croissant and a chocolate croissant for breakfast in their lovely courtyard.

Once packed up, we drove up through Riverside State Park, a beautiful and surprisingly wild park just outside of the city. Conveniently, it was also a place to buy a state park parking pass, which I’d need later.

On the way out I passed an amazing thing: a library vending machine! This is sheer genius, and I love everything about it.

The shelves are carousels that turn to show more books when you press a button.

Amusingly, I had to park in a bus stop zone to take that video and you can see the reflection of the bus pulling up at the end. I rushed to move my car, but the bus driver was very nice about it and agreed that the vending machine was pretty great and worth a picture!

Then it was time to hit the road westward once again. The drive through the Channeled Scablands of eastern Washington was uneventful, but got much more interesting once we got to the middle of the state. Interstate 90 crosses the Columbia River at Lake Wanapum. I took a short detour from I-90 and drove the windy road down to Vantage Beach (where a state park parking permit is needed!).

It was a cloudless, hot day – not auspicious in the very arid area in the Columbia River Gorge. Charlie and I got out and walked a bit, but when we came to an area where the trail turned to fine sand, he just sat down and lifted a paw gingerly, as if saying “Dad? This is too hot to walk on!” Poor guy. With that, we turned around and returned to the car.

The diversion was worth it for the beautiful views, including a lovely waterfall in Frenchman Coulee.

The Gorge Amphitheatre is just up the river from here, and I imagine seeing shows with this incredible geological backdrop would be amazing.

The drive westward was pretty quick, marked by two notable things: first, the interstate passes through a long stretch of fields with various crops growing. A succession of signs labeling what is growing in each field (peas, canola, corn, soybeans) was far more interesting than I expected, and helped pass the time as I looked to see what was in each field and check if I guessed correctly. Second was Snoqualmie Pass, which was…well, let’s just say that the traffic reminded me very much of the drive down from Donner Pass on Interstate 80 in California. “Oh gods this highway is so twisty everyone is driving so fast and I have to keep up I’m pretty sure I’m gonna die.” Fun times.

We got to our day’s destination (and home for the next few days), the Hyatt House Redmond, at around 4 PM. We checked in, I caught up on work email. Meanwhile, Charlie recovered from a day spent snoozing in the back seat of the car by…snoozing some more. Life is hard for dogs, ya know?

For dinner, I drove out to the town of Duvall, a journey of 11 miles that took 30 minutes. It was my first introduction to Seattle-area traffic, which is somewhat worse than Chicago’s because they have small towns scattered all over with limited traffic arteries that are carrying far more traffic than they were designed for. Still it was a surprisingly pretty, if slow, drive. In Duvall I met up with my friend and Midwest FurFest co-worker Seal and his boys for a delightful dinner that I really enjoyed.

Day 6 (15-Aug): Redmond, WA

This was my first day off the road, and I was so glad not to have to pack up the car and drive anywhere. I spent the day working remotely from my hotel room, taking a break occasionally to take Charlie to the pop-up dog park that was fortuitously located right next to the hotel. It’s a lovely (and smart) idea! Charlie got to socialize with other dogs and wander around the fenced-in area, which he seemed to enjoy.

For dinner it was off to Lake Forest Park to Vulpine Taproom. There I met up with Tilton, someone I had talked with online off and on for a while. We had a great meal and chatted over drinks, joined by some of Tilton’s friends who happened to be there. While Vulpine Taproom is owned by furries it’s not an expressly furry establishment, as evidenced by the mix of clientele. They had an excellent array of beers and ciders on tap that I really enjoyed. If I were local I could see spending a lot of time there!

Day 7 (16-Aug): Kent, WA

This was another day spent working remotely, though it was nice to break up the day with a walk down to a local sandwich place to pick up lunch. I was going to spend the weekend crashing with some friends in Kent (a southern suburb of Seattle), so when I had some time to kill after work I headed that way and stopped at The Brewmaster’s Taproom in Renton. What a great find! Very queer, very dog-friendly. I enjoyed sitting there with a flight while Charlie socialized with a couple of dogs. The place had a great, neighborly vibe that I loved.

From there it was down to Kent where I hung out with Foxpresso and Shadow at their place. It was great to catch up with those guys! For dinner, we headed into Seattle to Kkokio Korean Fried Chicken, getting it to go and taking it to our primary destination: Slightly Furry Cider, which was right across the street.

I’m sad I missed the owners, who had taken the evening off, but really enjoyed the place. It had a chill vibe and the ciders were simply delicious! This is a case where the place is obviously expressly furry, and I admit I didn’t see many non-furry folks around, though there were some groups on the patio who may not have been furries. It was a fun evening!

Day 8 (17-Aug): Kent, WA

It turns out that I was the early riser in a house of people who are, um, not. That’s OK! Charlie and I went out and came across a wonderful dog-friendly coffee shop in Kent Station, Dilettante Mocha Café. They offered a pup cup to Charlie (a small cup of whipped cream) and Charlie enthusiastically approved!

I picked up some donuts on the way back to the house, though not before getting a photo as a bit of a goof: “No relation.”

We had a nice afternoon of chatting and watching TV. In the evening, a tremendous thunderstorm rolled through, so we decided to just order food in (and hopefully tipped the delivery driver heavily!). It was a nice night of watching a movie and chilling, something that I appreciated after a long week of traveling.

Day 9 (18-Aug): Kent, WA

After a nice lazy morning,I said my goodbyes to myu friends and packed up. I was headed to the Hyatt House in Bellvue, but on the way I stopped at some breweries in downtown Renton. While hanging out at Dubtown Brewing I struck up a conversation with Megan and Brandon (both tech workers, he’s an ultra-runner). We chatted for about an hour, sympathizing about dog ownership, adopting senior dogs, how great staffies/pitties are, and more. It was one of the wonderful random moments that I so love about these trips! They were kind enough to offer to take a photo of Charlie and me.

For dinner, I took a short drive up I-90 to Issequah to meet Amras, another co-worker at Midwest FurFest, for dinner and beers at Formula Brewing. It was really great to catch up with him!

At the end of the day, I got a text message from the folks who were boarding Nora that cracked me up. There is a reason my nickname for her is “You Little Shit.”

Next up: Into the Heart of Seattle!