ken13

My wife and I are attending a wedding in Seattle on Friday, July 24th, but the closest we can get using our frequent flier miles is Missoula, MT. We will have the 20th through the 27th at our disposal and really only need to spend about three days in Seattle. I'm looking for recommdations as to where to spend the remaining time along the route. Should we set up camp in Missoula, or should we spend more time in the Idaho or Spokane areas. We are from the east coast, and the Rockies are definitely a treat. We love hiking, scenery, and horseback riding but also enjoy some modern amenities such as restaurants and indoor plumbing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Ken

kureiff

Missoula is a fun town. If you stay in Missoula, I'd recommend staying at the Holiday Inn Parkside. It's downtown and you can walk to the restaurants and shops. Missoula has a great downtown area with a kayaking wave, hand-carved carousel, and a great vibe.

Restaurant recommendations:

Big Dipper for homemade ice cream
Scotty's Table for more upscale dining
Red Bird for wine and good food
Pearl Cafe for french food with a MT twist
Posh Chocolat for their hot chocolate
Biga Pizza for amazing wood fired pizza

You can walk to all of these restaurants from the Holiday Inn. Also worth seeing in Missoula: Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Headquarters and the Smokejumping Museum.

The drive from Missoula to Seattle takes between 6 and 7 hours. There isn't much to see between Spokane and the Columbia River Gorge. It's dry and hot. And then you come around the corner after you drive over the Columbia River and you can see Mount Rainier; it's amazing!

Couer d'Alene and Spokane are nice towns, too. I have a lot of family in that area so I don't have many recommendations for restaurants or places to stay. We've stayed at the Davenport and the Hotel Lusso downtown. Both hotels are beautiful.

kureiff

One more recommendation, you might want to check to see if there are any concerts at the Gorge near George, WA. It's a natural amphitheater, and it's a great concert venue. It might be fun to catch a concert on your way to Seattle, and then you could stay the night in Quincy, WA or George, WA.

John

Two hours north of Missoula is Glacier national park a hikers paradise!!!

happytrailstoyou

In May we drove to Missoula via Sun Valley, Stanley, and Salmon.

We stayed the night at BW Grant Creek Inn and the next day headed toward Seattle via ID-12 which is a very scenic drive that follows the Salmon River most of the way.

We had a good lunch at a Thai joint in Lewiston, and then we continued on our way home through the Palouse on WA-195 and 23 to where it meets up with I-5. (The Palouse, with its rolling hills, is a beautiful but seldom visited region of Washington State.)

We spent the night at the Holiday Inn Express in Moses Lake--a new and very pleasing place to stay.

enzian

I'd be tempted to spend a few days at a western Montana guest ranch, then drive to Seattle on the 23rd.

Start back on the 25th, driving over the North Cascades Highway with a hike at Washington Pass and an overnight in Winthrop (Sun Mountain Lodge, maybe.)

Drive to Missoula on the 26th and explore kureiff's suggestions before flying out on the 27th.

ken13

Such quick and great respones. Thanks guys. I saw Glacier Nat'l park on the map and thought about it. However, given our time constraints, I think we want to stick to the I-90 corridor. I'm leaning more to spending some time in Missoula but am still researching. There seems to be some cool cabin-like resorts in North Idaho.

Ken

kureiff

HappyTrails, you followed the Lochsa River down Hwy 12 until the Selway ran into it and then you followed the Clearwater River to Lewiston. It's a beautiful drive. We camp along the Lochsa a few weekends every summer. If you ever have a chance to drive it in May, the kayakers and rafts are running over Lochsa Falls, and you can watch from the highway. It's an amazing rapid.

The Salmon mostly flows through wilderness area, and there aren't any roads along most of it from where the Middle Fork of the Salmon runs at Boundary Creek near Stanley, ID to where it meets the Snake close to Lewiston, ID.

enzian

You'll find log cabin resorts on Priest Lake in north Idaho:

http://www.priestlake.org/

It's a bit off of I-90 but you can take Highway 2 into spokane and pick up I-90 again.

happytrailstoyou

Thanks, kureiff. I got my rivers mixed up.

A couple days before the drive I described we stayed at Riverside Motel in Stanley. Our room was on the Salmon River, and, from our deck, we had a great view of the Sawtooth Mountains. That was a highlight of our vacation.

At the beginning of our road trip we took the beautiful drive between Lewiston and Boise. Idaho--a beautiful place.

ken13

I've taken all the considerations in mind, and we've decided to first do some whitewater rafting on the Clark Fork river out of Superior, MT which right off I-90 heading West. We're staying 2 nights at the Forest Grove Lodge, which is near there. I believe it might be fairly new and couldn't find much in the form of reviews. However, it came at a high recommendation for the rafting company. We then will head to the Coeur d'Alene resort hotel for one night, and we may even do a horseback tour in the area. Then it's off to Seattle until Sunday the 26th. We'll drive back to Missoula and stay somewhere downtown before heading back home on Monday. If I am missing anything vital along this route, any add'l info would be greatly appreciated. I'm am very grateful for the information you guys have given me so far.

Thanks,

Ken

kureiff

Have fun rafting the Alberton Gorge. It's a fun trip down the river with some big waves. I haven't heard of the Forest Grove Lodge. Is it in Superior? Another option is Quinn's Hot Springs near St. Regis (St. Regis is west of Superior also on I-90). Quinn's has cabins you can rent, and the hot springs are fun.

The Couer d'Alene Resort is very nice. It's a beautiful hotel right on the water. I bet you'll love it!

ken13

I believe the Forest Grove lodge is fairly new. It's more of a bed and breakfast type place about 8 miles east of Superior of Mullan Road. We looked at Quinn's also, but thought the B&B experience might be a tad more fun. Besides, the daily charge for guests to use the hot springs was a bit of a turn-off.