Day Seventeen: Welcome to Washington!

Today was an exciting day! We travelled through three states today and hit 4,000 miles. We left Montana rather early this morning. We were planning on having breakfast at the camp, but apparently there was some miscommunication and it started at 8:00, instead of 7:00. So we decided to head out, so we'd be in Washington that much quicker. We stopped at McDonald's to get some coffee, and we were a little nervous, because the last time we went there, the kid couldn't get the order right. But the girl today looked competent, and made a good cup of coffee. Now if only that old man didn't cut me in line...
At around 10:00, we crossed into Idaho, and into the Pacific time zone. So, we are officially three hours behind everyone at home. Luckily, it was only about 80 miles through the state. There wasn't much to see there. One state kind of mixes into the next up here.
At around 12:15 (our time) we got into Washington. The first city you get to is Spokane, which is where we are staying tonight. They were doing some road work, but luckily we got the "Welcome to Washington" sign. Since it was too early to go to our camp site, we decided to take a drive to the Grand Coulee Dam, out in Grand Coulee (creative, huh?) It was only about 87 miles out of the way, but we probably wouldn't have seen it if we didn't go today. It was huge! It's like a mile long, 550 feet high, and it took 12 million cubic feet of concrete to build it. It dams up Lake Roosevelt, which is around 150 miles long, and reaches up into Canada, and the Columbia River. Apparently when they put it to use, they flooded out a whole bunch of towns. On the way out, we passed through a city named "Wilbur". Their mascot?? Wilbur, from Charlotte's Web, of course!
When we finally got back to Spokane, we went to the Visitor's Center, to get some information and to see what attractions we shouldn't miss. The lady there was super friendly. She gave us a bunch of different ideas and places to go. It's an interesting place, to say the least. The drive out is like desert/plains. The city is the second largest in the state, and the Capitol, but you wouldn't guess it. We went to the campsite, and the girl at the front desk tells Robyn that there is a lot to do here. Also, there is a train that goes by your site every once in a while. (Here comes another one as I write this) We pull up to our site and the maintenance guy is coming around with a wrench, turning off the sprinklers that have been watering our area. It makes it very difficult to dry off our already-wet tent... "It's OK, this area is on river rocks, it should be dry in a few minutes". Great, so now, not only do we have to sleep in a wet area, he failed to mention that it is very difficult to stake your tent in to an area with river rocks. We are just hoping neither of us gash ourselves with the half-in stakes.
After we set up our tent, we were looking through the books, to plan our stay. Some girl comes over, asking us if we know where the Air Force/Navy base is. And then asks where the bathroom is. Then tells us she "scored off the charts on the Air Force test". It was 3 minutes of our life that we are still confused about. We have to keep looking over our shoulder to make sure she's not around. I think I brought a lock with me...
So, for now, it is time to look for things to do tomorrow, hopefully with no disruptions! Hopefully we will have some time to put new pictures up tomorrow.

States Visited: Connecticut, Idaho,Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New York, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming (13/50)
Provinces Visited: Ontario (1/10)
License Plates Seen: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming (49/50)
Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan (8/10)