8/26/16 Drove from Seattle to Coeur ‘d Alene. Took 5 hours. This was the first time I was in Eastern Washington. There is a big field of wind mills by the Columbia River and also a Scenic Viewpoint (recommend). Ate dinner at Bonsai (recommend) and stayed at Super 8 motel.

8/27/16 Drove from Coeur ‘d Alene to West Glacier. Took 5 hours. Did half day white water rafting with Glacier Raft Co. The river was very calm and did not have many rapids. The guide was nice but overall did not enjoy the rafting trip very much. Felt it was too long (about 4 hours). Butt got sore. Had dinner at Belton Chalet. Had a unusual fetuccine pasta that had cauliflowers in it. Would not recommend the place considering the $$$. Stayed at Motel Lake McDonald. Bathroom was very tiny but other than that accommodation was okay – in fact one advantage of staying at the motel is that the car could be parked right outside the room and it was very easy to make trips to the car to get stuff out every now and then.

8/28/16 Breakfast at Lake Mc Donald Lodge. Drove Going to the Sun road all the way to Many Glacier and did 3 hikes along the way: Trail of Cedars, Avalanche Lake and Hidden Lake Overlook. Stopped at St. Mary’s Visitor Center and saw an educational video on history of GNP. Avalanche Lake hike was reminiscent of Little Si. The lake is beautiful. Highly recommended. Difficulty Level 5.98. Hidden Lake Overlook is reminiscent of Skyline Trail in Mt rainier. Its advertised as 2.7 miles roundtrip but felt very much like 2.7 miles one way! The alpine meadows were beautiful. Highly recommended. Comparing Avalanche Lake and Hidden Lake Overlook it felt as if the journey of Hidden Lake Overlook was better whereas Avalanche Lake trumped in the destination. Had dinner at Lake Mc Donald Lodge.

8/29/16 Drove all the way from Lake McDonald Lodge to Seattle stopping at Coeur ‘d Alene for lunch at Craft (recommend). Entire drive spanning 550 miles takes about 10 hours if you account for 100-120 minutes in rest breaks.

A great and very pleasant vacation overall with first time driving to Eastern Washington.