Day 10 | 07.09.2018 Livingston - Spokane

First of all, could you please tell me where I know Spokane from. The name of the place is completely familiar to me, but I can't make a direct connection. The World's Fair was held here in 1974, but I was only born a year later. That can't be it... okay, maybe you or I will think of something.

We had a decent breakfast at our Travellodge Motel this morning and drove straight to Montana on Interstate 90, the longest interstate in the USA that goes from Boston all the way to Seattle. A huge distance, through many states. Today we drove from Montana through Idaho to Washington. I mean the state in the northwest of the USA, not the capital D.C. We planned for nearly 500 miles of driving today, which is a piece of cake for me as I love driving. We crossed the Rocky Mountains on the way to the western side. We would also cross the time zone again and get an extra hour... perfect for a day of driving.

The spectacular hunt for a Montana Starbucks collectible cup began. In Bozeman, we admired the elegant University of Montana and visited 4 Starbucks locations, but without success. A few miles further, in Belgrade, we spotted another one, but again nothing. We really like Montana, but Starbucks and us just don't go together here. So we spontaneously changed our route and drove to the capital, Helena, on the highway.

We should have success there, right? But no, three more coffee shops said, "No, I'm sorry..." Okay, Montana, then no!!! Even though mom was very annoyed because apparently the Montana cups are like gold dust that we shouldn't find in the State of Treasure.

In Idaho, it will be different for sure. We made a stop in the charming Coeur d'Alene, and the city amazed us. It was located on a beautiful lake and had a Mediterranean flair. We really wanted to spend some time in Spokane today, so we only took a quick glance at it. But if you ever end up in the area, be sure to put Coeur d'Alene on your to-do list. We were unfortunately unsuccessful at Starbucks again, Idaho also didn't want to sell us a cup... grumble.

Then onwards to Spokane, we really wanted to see the Spokane Falls in the middle of the city. We parked behind the hydroelectric power plant, couldn't feed the parking meter, either it was Free at this time or the machine was broken, in any case, we couldn't pay... well, then not. 🤪 First, we walked over the Monroe Bridge above the cable car gondolas, which pass right by the Lower Falls.

Unfortunately, the gondolas were not in operation. Then back over the Post Bridge... it's really beautiful here in downtown Spokane.

On the way to our Motel 6 today, we found another random Starbucks on I-90 and mom proudly came out with the collectible cup from the Evergreen State of Washington. One out of three is not the best success rate, but still a reason to smile 😉👍