Exploring the NORTHWest.

My wife came to the USA less than a year ago, and she has a friend up in Boise, so we decided to go up to that area and have a little vacation. We flew in and out of Spokane because I got a deal on plane tickets and car rentals, the daily car rental rates for the other airports in the Northwest were super high; Seattle was $400 a DAY for a small SUV!

On the first day I met a cool DOG in Cambridge Idaho, so I had to record this:

During the trip we spent time in Spokane, Boise, and the little mountain town of JOSEPH in northeastern Oregon near the Wallowa Lake recreation area. We saw lotsa cattle and wheat farms, drove up and down a bunch of twisty mountain roads.

This part of the USA has varied topography; from high flat plains to steep mountains covered in pine trees. We drove through beautiful farm valleys, carpeted in green fields. It seemed like every hour of driving we saw totally unique landscapes. The drive from the mountain town of Joseph, north back to Spokane was especially interesting. VERY cool place to take a roadtrip.

Mary Ann loved the mountains, waterfalls and scenic highways in Washington, Idaho and Oregon. Prior to this trip we had only traveled around the FLAT state of Florida.

After 2 days in Boise we drove 4 hours over the the town of Joseph and Wallowa Lake, this was recorded while hiking up the mountains just south of Lake Wallowa state park:

We were somewhat limited by the twins, they did a great job hiking up the mountain in the short above, at 7,000 feet above sea level. They longer car rides were a bit much for them at times. We let them run around and burn off their energy as much as possible.

So now Mary Ann has seen parts of FOUR states, with many more to go.

I had been out the the Northwest a few times before, when I ran a staffing agency 10 years ago, but Idaho was a new state for me. At this point I’ve been to more than 45 states, mostly for work.

The twins enjoyed the trip, I hope they have some great memories of it…

At the same time, the twins are perfectly happy to stay home and just run around the local McDonald’s playland, so there’s that. All they want to do is eat junk food, play and sleep, and they can do that anywhere. They both turned AGE 6 on this trip!

Next week the girls start kindergarten here in Florida, so we are excited about that.

In the last year I was a bit stressed about my career, so I hadn’t taken my family on many trips because of the money issue. This summer I left Tampa Bay Solar (after 8 years) and started selling for Elevate Roofing and Solar. This move gave me better financial security, and this trip was a way to turn the page on that last chapter in my life.

I also realized (while climbing the mountain) that I need to lose weight, in a drastic fashion!

Time to change some habits, going to the gym after I write this.

I hope y’all have a great August!

Ben Alexander

8/6/2025

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