Memories of the Open Road: The Summer Western Road Trip

As someone who grew up on the east coast, I have always been drawn to visiting Montana and Idaho for the gorgeous scenery and the glorious Rocky Mountains. This past summer, I finally got the chance to visit by going on a road trip with a friend, dodging allergies and wildfires and seeing some breathtaking scenery starting in Spokane, Washington and ending in Missoula, Montana - and back to Spokane again. Road trips with friends can be a difficult proposition, it could bring you closer together or tear you apart if you're not careful. Read on to find out what happens!

A few years ago, I developed a friendship with someone who lives out in Spokane, Washington. We had worked for the same company at the time, we we're paired together as I was looking to move to a different department and she had been working in that department at that time. We found that we we're roughly the same age, and loved craft beer and traveling, and spent the majority of the 2.5 hours on a Zoom call talking about the places we have gone and the places we wanted to go. Since then, our friendship has blossomed and she came out to visit me and check out New England back in October of 2023. I decided to return the favor and visit her, and combine it with road trip through Idaho to Montana in August of 2024.

Upside

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We spent the weekend in Spokane, Washington, where I got to see her home town. It was not the easiest destination to visit. My Southwest flight had not one but TWO stops both ways, but no real delays and no real issues with the flights. My stops were specifically spread out across the country, with a stop in Baltimore and a stop in Denver on the way. However, I didn't mind this so much as it broke up the sitting on the plane. Once I arrived, I picked up the rental car, headed to my hotel and then her apartment. Spokane is a not a bad little city, it has its problems, definitely has some homeless people walking around and some very rough areas, but it's a city that seems like it's finding its footing. It's a small city, very walkable downtown with concert venues, restaurants, bars, breweries, a mall and some legendary hotels. For the weekend and first part, I stayed at the Davenport Tower. I don't have enough material to do a review, but I found this hotel to be very welcoming for a solo traveler.

The weekend in Spokane was mostly limited to a visit to the great Cat Tails Wildlife Center, where we saw tigers, bobcats, lynx's, mountain lions, wolfdogs, raccoons and foxes. It was fascinating and relaxing to see these animals in small habitats where they are well cared for, and respected. We then visited some local breweries and tap rooms in town after. On the next day, we attended the traveling Van Gogh Experience exhibit. I HIGHLY recommend this the next time it is in your town, especially the immersive experience and the virtual reality exhibit. It's very much worth the ticket price! On that same day, we went out to the gorgeous Lake Coeur D'Alene, just over the border in Idaho. What a beautiful lake, it's a massive lake with mountains in the background. It's everything I could possibly want in a lake setting, I would honestly consider moving there just to have that view in the morning, just need to win the lottery first!

After our weekend, we took a road trip to Montana. We made a pit stop in Wallace, Idaho (also known as The Center of the Universe). We visited a local brewery, and had lunch at this wonderful place called The Fainting Goat. After our pit stop, we continued onto Montana. I have never seen scenery like this, even on a rainy day. These are MOUNTAINS! I remember constantly going "wow" as I was moving through Interstate 90, the scenery alone is worth the trip. You will need to be a confident and excellent driver, there's lots of curves and twists and you'll get locked into the scenery but it's worth it and made the full 3 hour drive that impressive.

As we were approaching Missoula, Montana, you will see a large ranch with numerous hay bales (including one drawn like Oscar The Grouch!), and most of all, you will see mountains that line the city. One specific mountain, Mount Sentinel, that houses the famous M symbol on the mountain in honor of the University of Montana - which is located in the city. If you wanted to dare yourself, you could hike in a zigzag pattern up the mountain to reach the M, but it's not for the faint of heart. Neither one of us would be considering that! As we we're in the heart of wildfire season, we had to be careful. I also picked up a bad bout of allergies. One such lesson I learned was to look for allergy medication when you visit a different part of the country you are not used to, even if you don't use it. There's so much different fauna and vegetation you may not be used to, and for me, not being able to sleep well one of the nights was the impetus to land some good allergy meds!

Anyway, getting there, we had planned in advance for a beautiful Vrbo stay and it was exceptional. The house was situated in an up and coming neighborhood that is in the process of being reworked. There were trailer parks, but also some nice houses being built, so it's a neighborhood and an area in transition. On our first day in Montana, it was a rainy day so we visited the Montana Natural History Center, and the Missoula Art Museum. The Natural History Museum was fascinating, and we learned about the animals and natural history of the area. In fact, did you know that Missoula Valley was essentially one big glacial lake?! However, I found the art museum to be depressing and disappointing with very few art exhibits, and exhibits that depressed rather than uplifted. I would have appreciated a better mix, but the "money suit exhibit" that stands at the door was pretty cool.

On the second day in Montana, we had originally planned to visit Seeley Lake about 90 minutes away, which included a waterfall and some hiking. Remember how I mentioned there was rain the day before? Well, that included some thunderstorms in the area at the time that hit the mountains, and the lightning hit ALL of the mountains in the area so there was a lot of wildfires going that day, which caused us to make a last minute change to find something more close by.

Thankfully we did, we found the fantastic Travelers' Rest State Park, just 30 minutes south of Missoula. It was actually a campsite for the Lewis and Clark expedition and part of the trail that made up Lewis and Clark's journey out west. There's a small indoor history museum that explains Lewis and Clark's journey with artifacts, maps and visual materials. Outside, and especially on a beautiful late summer day like this one, we explored the back trails stopping by the see the creek, spotted some deer nearby and take in the glorious views of the nearby mountains. As someone who is from New England, we don't have views like this and I enjoyed it immensely.

Buy Me A Coffee!

For food and drink, we had our top stops. On the first night, we finally agreed on stopping at the Missoula Club. It's a hole in the wall bar and restaurant, with slot machines in the background (this was EVERYWHERE in Montana!) and they served only burgers, shakes, and had a full service bar with liquors and beer. We ended up getting a burger each, and it was by far one of the best burgers I have EVER had (and I eat a LOT of burgers). It was a simple burger too, just two smash patties, American cheese, onions and pickles. We were convinced it was entirely the burger seasoning, which made the burger taste so good, but who knows. We had burgers again at Gary's $6 Burgers the next day, a long standing food truck in town, and it was fine but wasn't the same. We also made a trip to the Montgomery Distillery where we sampled some of their wonderful cocktails including mint julep that was out of this world! Tamarack Brewing Company had some terrific food and happy hour specials as well. We also walked around the beautiful Caras Park, a park in tribute to a local businessman of Greek ancestry who was instrumental in the establishment of Missoula. Driving back, we stopped at St Regis Travel Center, which is a gas station and general store that made some pretty good milkshakes. I had the Huckleberry Milkshake, because it's the pacific northwest and it's a big deal there! We made our final stop of the trip at the Fainting Goat Restaurant, once again in Wallace, Idaho.

One of my recommendations is Daniel Catena's Itchy Feet Newsletter, which offers a list of "7 Questions Before Traveling With Another Person", and this list should really be considered whenever you decide to go on a road trip with a friend. Road trips with friends can go either way, it could bring you closer together or split you apart. As this was my second road trip with my friend in two years, we enjoyed each other's company but also had plenty of time to ourselves as well. We had our difficult moments, but in the end, neither one of us wanted the week to end. That's how a road trip should be.