Trip to Washington and Montana - updated.

9/21/05 - We arrived in Spokane, Washington, at about 9:30 am. We picked up the rented car and drove straight to Fair Child Air Force Base.

We got into the base and everything went smoothly at the security checkpoint. Six hours later, we finished setting up the computer lab and fixing computer problems. The staff there toured us around the base for a little bit. It looked very nice overall. We were not allowed to go into the actual airport. However, I was able to take some pictures of the older fighting plane models at the park. Fair Child's current main function is to refuel to fighting planes in the air just like we see in those Hollywood's movies :).

Fighter Jet


The bomber


9/22/05. We checked out the hotel around 11 am and headed for Montana. It's a 6 hour drive. The weather was perfect - sunny with mild temperature.



Half an hour later, we got into Idaho and passed this beautiful scenery. It's a huge lake surrounded by mountains called "Coeur d'Alene Lake". It looked more like a sea. We had to pull over and checked it out. A lot of rich people with big houses and boats live by that lake.

Coeur d'Alene Lake, Idaho in Panorama (click on the picture to enlarge).














Then off we continued the trip. We drove along the winding road, up and down the Rocky Mountains all the way. The landscape is amazing. There are mountains covered by green pine trees and water streams along the highway. And they stretch all the way to Montana. It's completely different from the Midwest where the landscape is just flat. I felt like a little creature whenever we drove though those giant rocks. The nature scenery itself just took my breath away. Six hours of driving wasn't that boring after all.







Three hours later we made a stop for lunch and gas in Missoula, Montana. I finally found some good tasty burger with strawberry shake from Fuddruckers.



Then I took turn to drive the rest of the trip to Great Falls.

9/23/05. We checked out the hotel pretty early at 8 am the next morning and headed to Malmstrom Air Force Base. We got work done according to plan and headed back to Spokane at 1 pm. The weather was rainy, cloudy and cold. Luckily it wasn't too bad for driving.

Malmstrom Air Force Base


9/24/05. Checked out the hotel and flew back to Kansas City.

View from the top - Rocky Mountains, Utah.


For more pictures of the trip, click here.