Days 1 & 2 - Falls, Idaho and Great

Our vacation has begun! Yesterday we got off to a bit of a later start than we had hoped. We stopped at the cemetery for a few minutes and then hit the library for the upcoming book club books and then hit the road. We got into IF at about 8:30 where dinner and Dave and Kaye were waiting for us. We enjoyed visiting with them and with Lara when she got home from work.

This morning we left IF at 8:30 and headed north. Neither Mike nor I have traveled much north of IF unless we are heading in the Yellowstone direction so this was new territory. We stopped in Helena for lunch and gas and arrived in Great Falls shortly after 3. After settling into the hotel, we went and visited the Lewis and Clark Center. (Mom, we are already putting the park's pass to use...) It was really interesting and pretty impressive to re-learn the importance of the Lewis and Clark expedition and exploration. The Missouri River is pretty and the forests we drove through were great.

We went swimming in the hotel pool (a bit colder than the Park Center and Poole's pools that we are used to), ate Chinese takeout and will figure out a way to get the Harry Potter book on CD sometime before we leave Great Falls in the morning. Can't wait to get into Banff tomorrow!