After a good sleep in the tipi I walk back to the main street of the town. Several places are still closed, but there is one store in town with coffee and WiFi that’s open. I order a cappuccino and write the previous blog. I’m doubting between driving further west to my grandma in Montana, south to my friends in Idaho or east to Oregon. After thinking for a while, I decide that I’d like to stay in Winthrop for another day. I really enjoyed sleeping in the tipi and relaxing in this little town. I drive back to the campsite and fortunately the tipi is still available for another night. I book it and go to the place of this morning and sit on their terrace with an ice coffee and a book. I’m hanging out there the rest of the afternoon and then go to the saloon for dinner. It’s the oldest legal saloon in Washington and they have a good burger, fries and beer. In the evening I go back to my tipi to go to bed on time for an early drive tomorrow morning. Early sleeping is not really an option though, because there is a huge thunderstorm in the area. The campsite hosts stops by at the tipi to ask if I’m alright and I confirm that I’m doing fine. Except from a few raindrops entering the tipi from the top, it’s quite alright. The thunder and lightning is pretty loud, but eventually I fall asleep. I think it just adds to the adventure.
In the morning I run into some other campers who make coffee and we have breakfast together. I decide to start the day relaxed and drive to my friends to in Idaho. It’s about 7-8 hours driving and I really enjoy it. The first two hours I’m not playing any music or audiobook, but just drive in silence. It can be very calming to be on long outstretched roads. After my first stop at a gas station I switch to listening to an audio book and the time goes by very fast. It’s interesting that at times I’ve asked myself how long I still had to drive to get somewhere and now I start to wonder if I’ll have enough driving time for all the books and podcasts I’d like to listen to. In the evening I arrive at my friends’ house in Boise Idaho. The whole family is there, because they knew I’d be coming and we are very excited to see each other again. It’s been several years since the last time, but it feels like nothing has changed. We catch up with each other, make our own ice cream in the kitchen and have a fun time together. I think I’ll stay here for a few days before I travel further.
The days with my family friends are very relaxed. In the morning we hang out for a short moment until the kids go to school and since the parents are working too, I stay at home and do a bit of work at the kitchen table. In the afternoons it’s time for fun again when I can pick up the kids from school again. It’s interesting for me to see the enormous school building and all the yellow school busses. For me that’s a very American image. I realize now that I should have taken some pictures, but forgot about that in the moment. Back home we spend time playing games, watching some old television shows and playing foosball. Also, one of the children has a rescued baby squirrel as a pet and that’s very fun to watch too. On the second night that I’m here they have a big surprise for me by getting the largest pizza I’ve ever seen for dinner. We actually get two of them and have plenty left over on the next day. Just like at my parents home, food plays a big role here. One afternoon we go to Krispy Cremes where they give away free donuts at certain times at the day when there is a big red neon sign outside saying the donuts are hot. We’re there just in time to get free donuts and then order plenty more for the rest of the family back home. It sure are some fun days here of eating, playing and having fun together.
On Saturday my friends have another fun day planned. With mother Angie and Eva I drive to a mountain top outside the city where there is a mountain coaster. That’s like a rollercoaster in the mountains. I think I’ve done this once in Germany when I was a child. It goes very fast and is a lot of fun. We also take a skilift to a higher mountain top and have a picnic with a beautiful view. Another super fun thing we do is going on a tube slide. I’ve done this before on waterparks, but this one in the mountain goes really fast as well. All with all it’s a really fun day. I think that Angie and Eva are the most adventurous in the family and do the most outdoors things. In the evening Darin bakes his famous espresso pancakes for us, a delicious dinner, and I play boardgames til late in the night with Eva and Jude. The days here go by way too fast. Tomorrow I’ll continue my roadtrip to Montana, but I sure hope to come back here sooner than I did since the last time I was here.
