We stopped on the way out of Missoula for groceries and a new pair of sneakers for Quinn, whose feet never seem to stop growing. We also stopped at Lowes looking for some way to stop our drawers from popping open on rough roads.

There are fires burning just off of I90 west of Missoula, and we drove past an active fire area complete with helicopters dangling water buckets.

Fighting the fire

After a night in a quiet national forest campground we drove to Sandpoint, Idaho. My parents tried to move here when I was young, and I can understand why. It’s an idyllic little town set on lake Pend Oreille. It has what must be Quinn’s favorite beach ever – a train goes by every 20 minutes.

We spent the afternoon on a boat tour of the lake and swimming at the beach, and camped in an RV lot next to the park. Not the greatest of places to camp, especially with the constant rumble of trains, but you can’t beat the location.

One of Quinn’s go-to toys for campgrounds

An osprey in her nest on a railroad bridge near Sandpoint, Idaho

Captain Quinn

A beach with trains. What’s not to love?

We’ve had a relaxing few days sampling some of the offerings of Idaho. We hiked and camped in Craters of the Moon National Park — the landscape is strikingly different from anything that we’d ever seen before. It was easy to see why the Apollo astronauts did some of their moon training here. Quinn got a kick out of the volcano cones and lava rock. There was even one cone that had snow inside it (dubbed the “Snow Cone” — no kidding). He still wants to see molten lava — not sure how we’ll pull that off but perhaps there’s an active volcano in Costa Rica or something that will give us a glimpse at some point.

We also drove north through and camped in Sawtooth National Recreation Area. We didn’t take nearly enough photos of this beautiful area, and we will definitely put this place on our list of future places to explore more later on when we’re ready to settle down again. It was idyllic with steep mountains descending into the lush Salmon river valley and we felt our batteries recharge during our time there.

Now we are in Missoula, Montana, on our way up to Alberta, Canada. It is HOT here and there are wildfires burning just west of town. We spent the morning catching up on email using the free wifi available in the city’s very nice riverfront park.

A kayaker plays on a wave near downtown Missoula

Quinn and Jen at Craters of the Moon

Lava frozen in time at Craters of the Moon

Quinn helps Dad find a level parking spot for the van