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A couple of days before New Year’s, we left on our trip to Spokane. We wanted to eat at Popeyes, and we wanted to ride escalators. By the time we were ready to go, it was around noon. Dad drove past Flathead Lake, then headed towards the town of Paradise, Montana.  It was very pretty around Paradise; a lot of the scenery looked like a painting.  It looked a lot like the desert out there!

Before crossing into Idaho, we stopped at Lincoln’s 10,000 Silver Dollar Bar. We took photos in the bar with life sized figures of John Wayne and an Indian, and marveled at huge swords in the gift shop. There was even a device for cleaning your navel for sale! We stayed there for an hour, looking at the wall of coins, gift shop, and taking pictures. 

We crossed the state line into Idaho and were driving for awhile when, suddenly, we heard a sound like something dragging behind the truck. Dad pulled over, and got out. It turned out that the spare tire in the rack under the truck had fallen out. “M” and "E" thought it was SO classic for something like this to happen on a trip! An Idaho cop came, and asked our dad if he needed help. Dad didn’t and put the spare tire in the back of the truck and tied it down. Then, we got on our way. We passed through Kellogg, which to "M" is the location of Kellogg Dave Smith, a place where a lot of people buy their cars.

Soon we were in Washington on our way to Spokane. Dad said that Spokane would be like on Seinfield with the restaurant that just says “Restaurant”. We arrived in Spokane and rode around the city. “E” kept on saying it was like New York City! Everybody was shopping and wearing fancy city coats! We drove into a low ceiling-parking garage, parked on the purple level, and got into a crowded elevator. The elevator ride made “M” think of the Nightline commercial. We exited into the mall.  Escalators! Gap! Macys! WOW! We hadn’t been to a shopping center like that in a long time. We asked the concierge where we could find a Popeye’s. He told us that there wasn’t one in the area and the closest one that he knew of was hundreds of miles away.

Later, we went to Riverfront Park. It was just like Central Park! After wondering where people ice skate, we saw the skating rink. It looked very fun. Spontaneously, Dad decided we could get a pass to include a movie, ice skating, and hot chocolate. After putting on skates that “M” thought were UGLY, we got on the ice. It turned out to be terrible. There were crowds of people, the ice was white, and it was so overwhelming. Everyone had to skate in circles; you can’t do spins or anything. We were used to our local skating pond, where there are fewer people. We felt lucky to have a nice pond where we can skate however we want.

Next, we stood in line to get the tickets to the Imax. While Mom waited in line, we went with Dad to get some popcorn and soft drinks. We kept on waiting for the popcorn. To make up for the long wait they gave us a free drink. The free drink was large and colder than the other one we had bought. The movie was about to begin, so we went into the Imax with Mom, while Dad waited for the popcorn. After a few minutes, Dad came with the popcorn. We watched Night at the Museum. Some parts were VERY scary. It was edge - of - your seat horror! Boom! Aaaaah! The booms were the scary part. There was a scary dinosaur and suspenseful parts. We finished the movie and picked up the hot chocolate that came with the pass. We drank hot chocolate as we strolled through Riverfront Park and the mall.

Finally we got into the truck and were going to head to a motel. Dad said he was going to head towards Seattle. Mom said, “No, Dad will keep on going and going! There won’t be any motels.” Dad looked at his GPS. We went to a motel not far away. Mom went into the lobby to check in, while the rest of us sat in the truck. We went into the room. We were going to go and get food somewhere, but Mom ordered pizza.  We ate, watched the movie Yentel, and went to bed.

In the morning, we drove out to the mall slightly out of town where Rembrandt painted our picture at the portrait painting machine.  Mom and Dad bought a Hickory Farms assortment. The woman who checked us out had very long red fingernails. The Hickory Farms assortment was basically a few stale crackers, cheese spread, and run of the mill summer sausage. We bought some postcards and a magnet with our mom’s name on it. We then went on our way home.

We stopped in Wallace, Idaho. Mom said that it was better than where we live. Wallace looks like a village from some foreign country! We bought some soft drinks. “M” got A & W root beer. Dad got the same thing.  Mom got Frappachino, while “E”, the brave one who can try new things, got Dr. Pepper Berries n’ Cream.

Later, we stopped in St. Regis, Montana and saw the trout museum. After that, we drove for quite a while and finally got home. At home, we found that all of the channels on the TV had gotten mixed up while we were gone. Where did channel 42 go?

©12/10/07