(By the way, that's pronounced 'beaut', not 'butt'  ).

We managed to sneak back into our room last night without waking Isobel - she did wake around 1.30am, but went back to sleep pretty quickly and then didn't wake until after 8.30am! Enough time for Mum and Dad to get up and have a shower, for me to duck out and get some breakfast and for Andy to start packing ... she was in such a good mood! We consolidated a few bags and created a bit more space, so there aren't so many things in the back seat with Isobel now - mostly just her stuff now that we need ready access to when we stop.

The trip today was only about 300mi, so on the way out of Spokane we decided to make a stop over the border in Idaho at Coeur d'Alene. We did a quick scan of some tourist brochures and found the city had a couple of nice parks and beaches, as well as the "world's longest floating boardwalk" ... well, that had to be worth checking out!

We found a car park and loaded Isobel into the backpack carrier - gave up on the hat after losing it in the wind a couple of times, so put the sunshade over her head and she giggled away. She loves being outdoors with the wind in her hair - literally! The parks were really pretty - I had hoped to find a cache nearby to 'colour in' Idaho finally, but didn't see any nearby. There were lots of powerboats for sale lined up along the boardwalk - some worth  a decent house deposit, some less so. We did a lap of the boardwalk and back, then packed ourselves back into the car and continued east.

We stopped in Missoula for lunch - we'll be staying here on our way back, so we were able to quickly scout out the hotel and the nearby streets. As we continued towards Butte, the smoke haze got thicker and thicker - there have been lots of wildfires in the area recently, and we saw a helicopter with a water bucket make a couple of runs over a nearby outbreak. I wasn't quick enough with my camera, but we saw a billboard sign near Rock Creek for the local "Testicle Festival" ... unfortunately it's all over for 2007, so we've obviously missed out!!

We passed through the worst of the haze, and the scenery around here is beautiful - lots of granite escarpments, pine trees (I think - they could be firs?) and picturesque barns just aching to have their photographs taken! Especially with the enhanced evening light from all the smoke in the air. We found the hotel in Butte, and popped into a Quiznos for dinner (still scarred from last night, no way we're going there again!). Isobel checked out her new digs for the night, and we did our bath-bed-tiptoe-outside routine again - only a few cries tonight, and tomorrow night we have a 2 bedroom suite so we don't have to sneak away to the hotel lobby again!

Only a short trip to Yellowstone tomorrow - our schedule shows less than three hours, so we'll be able to take our time. We might even pop into the park tomorrow afternoon and have a look around, as we can't check into the hotel until 4pm. Time to sign off - I seem to be making a habit of loitering in hotel lobbies, and it's about time to sneak back into our room for the night.