Planning

Slow Sunday.  There isn't much new in the news, and the Daytona 500 is currently in a three hour rain delay.  My wife is out having lunch and doing some antiquing with one of our friends who is moving back to Wisconsin in about a month.  The girls are up in their bedroom, leaving me alone with the laptop. 

I supposed I could be bettering myself, but it's more fun to start doing some planning for a few trips we are going to take over the next few months. 

In May, we are going to swing up to the town of Republic, located in North-central Washington.  There is a place up there called the Stonerose Interpretative Center, where you can dig for your own fossils.  The kids really enjoyed that down in Oregon last year, so we are using that as an excuse to run to Republic.  Instead of staying in town, I think we will be renting a cabin at one of the resorts north of Republic, on Lake Curlew, which will put us about 10 miles from the Canadian Border. 

I think we will stay there about 2 or 3 nights.  There is a lot of potential vacation/get away land for sale in that vicinity, and some really good mule deer hunting.  Gotta dig having kids to use an excuse for doing something you want to do anyway!

The other trip I'm starting to plan is an adventure into Montana.  Well, calling it an 'adventure' might be a bit melodramatic, but any time you head for multiple days in a car with your wife and kids, well, there could be adventure. 

In Montana, our destination is going to be The Museum of the Rockies, in Bozeman.  The Museum of the Rockies is routinely ranked in the top 5 or 6 dinosaur museums in the Nation, and is the closest of the big ones.  Bozeman is just under 9 hours from here taking I-90, but I don't think we will just drive there and back...

Instead, I'm thinking the first night in Coeur d'Alene, and do some 'resorting', then spend a night in Missoula, before getting to Bozeman.  The big decision, and I will need my wife's input on it, is whether we come back on 90, or we take a more scenic route home on US-12, through central Idaho, and the Clearwater National Forest. 

Might be another good excuse to look at land for sale.

Either way...we are talking 2.5 and 4 months out....and some of you are thinking...planning already?!?!!??!  Obsess much?

Yeah, I do.  It will take me three days just to compare/contrast the 3 resorts on Lake Curlew.

 I mean, I haven't even started trying to match up brew pubs to hotel locations...can I really swing through Missoula without stopping at Big Sky Brewing?  But what if that means not being able visit the Kettlehouse Brewing Company, which gets really good reviews on yelp?

So, yeah...that's why I need to start early...