After waking up in Log Cabin #2, we grabbed breakfast in the lodge and called up Automotion to check on the car. Long story short, the car was not ready, but we had to pick it up anyways, so we got the car, came back to the camp, said our good byes to everyone and once again hit the road. Our next destination was Idaho. We stopped at the Coeur D’Alene Brewery for lunch and met a guy named Steve who drives all around the country on his motorcycle visiting different breweries. It turns out his next stop was the last brewery we were at (Flathead Lake Brewing Company) Steve is mug holder #1 at the Tied Brewery in Mountain View, CA and told us our first round at that brewery would be on him. Thanks Steve. Dermot’s favorite beer at Couer D’Alene was the Centennial Pale Ale and the Double Hot Foot IPA. Katie enjoyed the Vanilla Bourbon Stout.
Back in the car and onto our 14th state: Washington. We drove straight to Seattle to visit Katie’s friend Lauren (a.k.a Lo) from San Francisco. Lauren also studied abroad at the same university in Australia as Katie, Erin, Stacey and Sarah (small world). We got to see the sun set on Mt. Rainer (the highest peak in Washington at 14,441 feet). We found out Lauren lives in the same neighborhood as Dave Matthews, but did not get to run into him. We went to Selena’s Guadalajara for Mexican food and then had some drinks at the local Irish pub, Murphy’s. We tried Manny’s Pale Ale, Broken Rake Amber and Mongoose Cask IPA. All were good. Katie and Lo teamed up to beat Dermot in a friendly game of cricket (darts).Big shout out and thank you to Stacey and Dean for sending Dermot’s forgotten toothbrush :)
Day 12
After several attempts to fall asleep, we realized that the air mattress’s valve wasn’t 100% closed… oops. We all slept in until 11am….then grabbed a tasty brunch at Julia’s, a Seattle institution. We parted ways with Lo at …of course a travel store. Back in the car for a tour of the rainy city…which was of course, beautiful and sunny. We took a picture with a troll, visited queen anne, and took several pics from all angles of the space needle.
Heading South, we decided to check out the Museum of Flight…. Katie’s highlight was finally getting to board the Concorde and Dermot got to reminisce with his old super alloy turbine blade friends. We got to see over 43 planes… and could have spent the entire day there– but the road was calling!