Rest Areas are not all created alike.

Ok, so we all stop at those very necessary of facilities: the Rest Area.  Most of what I have experienced looks something like this:

This is the typical Washington / Idaho rest area.  It has a parking area, a water fountain, phone and bathrooms on both sides.

Yet on though the last few years, we have had the experience of traveling the entire length of I-90, from Seattle, all the way to Massachusetts, and I can tell you that NOT all rest areas are created alike!

Now keep in mind that the facility shown above is nothing to get excited about, but it is nice enough, and it does the job.  Go over the border, however, to Montana here is the first Rest Area that we came to:

 

So along I-90 we have experienced basic outhouses and simple bathroom facilities.  That is until we made it to New England.  Rest Areas are a completely different animal in that they have manicured landscaping, gas stations, two to three restaurants, gift shops and huge, clean restrooms.

 
A typical rest area entrance.

This one has three restaurants:  McDonalds, a Pizza shop, and an Ice Cream store.