On Wednesday, Dan picked me up from work and we started our great adventure. We took Hwy 93 into the States and when we got to the border crossing, there were no cars ahead of us - got through customs with little hassle. We were grilled more than usual by the agent (Dvorak I think his name was), but we weren't worried at all; nothing to hide here!
We got to the Holiday Inn Express in Kalispell by 8:30 pm, and immediately headed over to Famous Dave's for BBQ! It was excellent, as usual! And our stay at the Holiday Inn was great, too. That's our new 'go to' hotel for Kalispell. It costs a little more than what we like to pay for motels and hotels, but it's safe, it's close to Famous Dave's and it has a pool and hot tub. The price of the HIE was $109 plus taxes.
From Kalispell, we headed to Missoula and stayed at the Motel 6. That's the price point we like to pay for motels and hotels - we paid $49 a night. We ate dinner at the Cracker Barrel which is across the parking lot from the hotel, and the next morning, we had breakfast there, too. Our waitress for dinner on Thursday night was Heather - she's a gem! If you're ever in Missoula and eat at the Cracker Barrel, make sure you sit in Heather's section.
It started snowing in Missoula on Friday morning, so we left there and headed to Spokane. It took us about 4 hours to get from Missoula to Spokane, since we stopped at the Silver Dollar restaurant/casino/gas station. And yes, it looks like they do have 50,000 silver dollars!
In Spokane, we stayed at the Quality Inn downtown/university - that was $107 per night. The breakfast room is on the top floor, which had a great view if you faced the right direction, otherwise, you had a view of the rooftops of nearby buildings.
We went downtown for the first time - we've always passed through Spokane, but never went to their downtown core. It's very pretty and you can see they've made the effort to spruce up the area. We stopped at Nectar's tasting room, which is a great place. Josh is the owner and a really nice guy. Make sure you stop in and say hi next time you're in downtown Spokane.
We walked a couple of blocks further and went into their mall, and on the third floor is a tasting room for Arbor Crest winery. We've been to Arbor Crest overlooking the city, and it's a great place, but opted to go to the mall tasting room instead of their main place. Here's some snapshots of me and Dan.
After walking around the mall, we went back outside and walked a little further up Main Street towards the Earth Day celebration, and we passed this pawn shop - I loved the sign, so I took a picture of it. And indeed, when you walk in the store, no one acknowledges you or says hello.
We were in Spokane for two nights, and on Sunday, headed back to Canada on Hwy 95 through Sandpoint. Again, when we got to the border crossing, we were the only ones there and breezed through customs. We had nothing to hide, and were honest with the agent - they must be able to sense that, since we never get hassled.
We went to Kimberley, BC for the night since we wanted to eat at Chef Bernard's on the Platzl. We love that restaurant. However, when we pulled up beside the Platzl, we saw that Chef Bernard's was closed, but the Mozart Inn was open. So we checked into the Chateau Kimberley across the street from the Platzl, and walked over to the Mozart Inn. It was a really good meal.
We checked out of the hotel on Monday morning and headed home.
We stopped in Banff at Melissa's for lunch, which is very good, too.
That was our Easter weekend, and we had a wonderful time. Hope you did, too!
sounds wonderful!
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