2 weeks, 3 Provinces, 6 States, One Mega,3 oldest caches..Part 9 - Going Home

Well we arose from our historical stay at the Waterville Historic Hotel, sat on the balcony,

had coffee and breakfast, watched the town come alive and the sunrise...very peaceful.  We thanked our hosts and set off for the drive home, continuing on Hwy 2.  We headed for the Columbia River and Wenachee, stopping for a couple more caches and buying some fruit to go.  We were detoured at Leavenworth due to a forest fire and directed through Chumstick Hwy before rejoining Hwy 2 just before Stevens Pass. 

I sure wish we had caches loaded for this area as it was beautiful..

GC147QA ▼

White Pine Deception

Back on Hwy 2 we stopped at a couple of rest stops for a walk or two and to stretch our legs.  It didn't take long before we were on I-5 and heading north .  A quick stop at the border and we were heading for the ferry.  A short end to a great trip...

2 weeks, 3 Provinces, 6 States, One Mega,3 oldest caches..Part 8 - Helena and Beyond

After spending a night with a howling wind we woke up to a beautiful sunny morning, packed up our stuff and checked our GPSr.  We were headed into Helena, Montana to do their  Helena Montana Geotour and the first cache was less than a mile away.  Perfect!
We worked our way into the capital city of Montana, exploring the rich history and some amazing architecture. Decided to make use of the generous hotel packages and settle in for the night as well.  The geotour took us to the outskirts and had everything from a micro to a fascinating puzzle, to an earthcache, and a drive into the hills.

The Capital building

The tour trains

We had an opportunity to explore the museum a little and participate in a survey of the historical society's website.  We met a young family at one of the caches overlooking Helena.  They lived in Helena and were great fun to do this fun cache with.

GC3N3NG ▼GeoTour #25: A Lock-N-Lock in a Lock & Lock

Fire Tower

Up in the hills around Helena- It's there somewhere

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised how nice the drive into the hills was.  I could probably have taken a Ferrari back there.  
We finished the requirements and headed back to our hotel around 7 pm to relax, settle in, and  catch up.  The next morning after an awesome breakfast we head to the geotour HQ and checked out the store before choosing our handmade and unique coin.  And then we were off heading west once more with the goal being at least Spokane but hoping for farther.
We stopped along the way to check out Cabellos in Boise and then skirted around Spokane and onto Hwy 2 heading Northwest.  It was getting late in the day but filled the gas tank and kept going.  We were looking for a campsite but they appeared to be few and far between.  More grassland this part of Washington State.  At this point, although we had been caching along the highway into Spokane, we now were just making time.  We made our way into Waterville WA around 8pm.  Stopped at a  quaint historical hotel and procured a room.