ADVENTURES IN McCALL

Did I tell you we have the best site. We don't have a view of the river, but our window looks out into the forest.  There is a path down to the river a couple of sites below us, but we are in a valley and our closest neighbor is 50 or 60 feet away. Have I mentioned the deer? There are tons of them here walking all over the place. In the past 24 hours we have seen more mule deer here in this RV park than in Glacier and Yellowstone combined. They walk right up to the bird feeders and help themselves to a snack. On my last walk I saw a doe and a large buck with a smaller buck in tow. Kathe tried to get a picture, but when they heard me growl they ran off.

This morning both Kathe and Jim went to the groomer and they both got scalped. Tomorrow is my day, and I must say I'm looking forward to a real professional bath. I'm tired of the kitchen sink wash and blow that Kathe is so fond of.




Jim and Kathe drove out to Lake Payette and took the Jeep on a dirt trail up towards Brundage Mountain and took this picture of the Lake.  I wish we had a boat because it looked like a lot of people were enjoying themselves on the lake this afternoon.

HIGHWAY 95

Although the drive south today was really interesting, it sure took a long time. We passed many fields of wheat, hay, lentils, and garbanzo beans. Thousands of acres between Lewiston and Grangeville, Idaho. Beautiful fields of golden wheat being harvested and bales of hay ready to be gathered. There were even some fields that were being burned in preparation for a new crop of wheat. It was helpful that many of the farms had signs that identified what was being grown. Just for us city folk! Later in the day we drove through Riggins, the white water capital, and watched people rafting down the Salmon river.  We drove along the river for miles and miles.


We ran into the dreaded road work in several places on the highway and had to drive slowly over gravel which made the trip even longer. Then there was a 7% grade down hill for about six miles outside of White Bird which had Kathe and I holding our breath for a long time.

Once we arrived, we lucked out and got a great site here in McCall at the Northfork RV resort. I'll post some pictures of it tomorrow.

JUST RELAXING

Another nice warm day here in Lewiston at the Hells Gate State Park. Most of the folks cleared out last night and we had a quiet morning. Today we are supposed to be relaxing, but Jim spent the morning cleaning half of the motor home.  Kathe and I walked around the campground a couple of times. Then we watched the kids floating in inner tubes on the lake for a little while, one boy was floating with his dog in his lap. Looked like fun to me. Afterwards, we held down some lounge chairs until it was time for lunch.

It's been really hot here today, Jim tried to talk Kathe into a bike ride, but no go! I can't imagine that it's much fun to exercise in ninety degree weather, she didn't either. We stayed in the air conditioning, me napping and Kathe reading. Now, that's a vacation.

HELLS GATE STATE PARK

Another beautiful drive today. Straight down Highway 95 to Lewiston and the Hells Gate State Park. It took a little over 4 hours to reach our destination. We passed by many large fields of grain and hay, and the towns of Lake Pend d'Oreille and Lake Coeur d' Alene before reaching Lewiston, Idaho. Lewiston is known as Idaho's Seaport. Large quantities of grain are shipped by barge down the Snake and Columbia rivers to the Pacific.


The town of Lewiston is also on a site where Lewis and Clark camped in 1805 on their Corp of Discovery Expedition. We are camped along the Snake River under a large oak tree.  The site we reserved for us was a little too small, so the Ranger moved us to this great site. We have a peek-a-boo view of the river, and there is a 20 mile bike path along the bank that Kathe and Jim are planning to explore.

I've had a spin around our loop B and it's pretty nice. Lots of grass and trees, but it's over 100 degrees outside right now and I didn't feel like doing much. Wait till about 6 AM tomorrow morning and I'll be a happy camper when I take Kathe for a walk.

LAST NIGHT TOGETHER

Not much left to see here at Bonner's Ferry, so I guess it's time to move on. This morning it looked like rain, but by the time we brought everything inside to prepare, the clouds drifted away.  Time for a little more sight seeing in town and a trip to see the Moyie Falls. No one seemed to know where to find the falls, and after a few false starts, and a couple of dirt roads, they came upon it. Not quite as terrific as the Kootenai Falls of yesterday.  But, the view of the bridge over the gorge above the falls on Highway 2 is spectacular from the top view as well as the underneath view.

Next stop, the Boundary County Museum. Lots of historical photographs and pioneer artifacts. The highlight was a mounted white caribou which had quite a history of it's own. The caribou was in the window of the White Caribou Bar and disappeared in 1909. It returned 20 years ago and was placed in and exhibit in the museum, a replica of the White Caribou Bar.

We are all a little sad tonight as it's our last night traveling with the Taylors.  Gianni and Lady Bella are headed tomorrow to Coeur  d' Alene and we are headed to Lewiston.  We've had a great time together exploring and watching our humans having fun. I do hope they start planning another trip together soon, and we will all have another adventure to look forward to.

BACK TO MONTANA

Back over the border into Montana, down stream from the town of Libby, is the Kootenai Falls State Park.  The Kootenai River runs through a narrow, very rocky gorge and drops 300 feet for a distance of several hundred yards. The falls are visible after a short hike through the forest on the east side of the park and there is a suspension bridge on the west.

Everyone enjoyed the hike and the view of the falls, but only the guys walked across the gorge on the swinging suspension bridge. The bridge is 210 feet across and 100 feet above the water.  I'm glad I stayed home.

They found a great restaurant/casino in the town of Troy, MT for lunch on the way back to camp.

Today was the farmers market day in Troy and they were able to buy local fruit, berries, and vegetables. Score! They saw a sign on the road that said, "HUCKS", so they stopped there and bought some delicious huckleberries and fresh eggs from Aunt Patty's Farm. Another great day!

STILL STICKY

Anther day of pine sap and curse words! Kathe is tearing my hair out! I try very hard to avoid the sticky pine branches, but it's impossible. It doesn't seem fair that Gianni and Lady Bella don't have any problems, I guess there white fur isn't as fine as mine. They walk the same paths that I walk and remain sap free.

Today they left us doggies home and went exploring in the town of Bonners Ferry. The town has grown up along the banks of the Kootenai river. It was a fur trading post that became a permanent settlement when the ferry was established as a means of transportation into Canada. There is now a very high and beautiful bridge across the river.

They planned to take a drive along the river in the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge. After about a mile into the refuge they found out that it was closed for a drainage repair. They turned around and headed back to Old Town Bonners Ferry which has been revitalized with restored buildings, shops and antique stores for the tourists to enjoy. They had a great lunch there and did some antique shopping before heading back to the campsite.

SAP HAPPY

Beautiful drive today from Montana into Idaho on Highway 2. Lots of pine trees and no traffic, just the way we like it. We arrived at the Hemlock RV resort. We thought was one o'clock and forgot that we changed  time zones. 
Check in was easy even though we were an hour early. Did I say easy? Check that. Both of the sites assigned to us were very interesting. Our site was under an shelter that was JUST about wide and JUST about high enough. It took a couple of tries, but Jim got us into our space. Direct TV, forget about it! Aside from being under a canopy, there are way too many trees here.That's not particularly a bad thing, but without any cell coverage and very spotty internet it's going to be a quiet four days.

The most troubling thing for Kathe is the sap that I seem to collect in my fur. They had a big storm here last night before we got here, with winds gusting up to 70 mph. That means that there are tree limbs, pine cones and lots of sticky stuff all over the place.  Kathe made Jim get a rake and clean up our site so that I wouldn't get too sticky, then she cut off all the fur on my paws, it's embarrassing what they look like now. If we stay here all four days I'll be bald!

TWO QUIET DAYS

If you are wondering why I didn't blog last night it's partially because the WiFi here is not great and since I had nothing to report and no pictures, I skipped a night. Today was just as boring as yesterday so just read this twice and you'll be caught up! There are no pictures because the WiFi won't let me send them.

Basically, we are relaxing.  Yesterday it rained all day.  In the early afternoon they took a drive to the Thompson Chain of Lakes, a State Park of six lakes that span about 20 miles on Highway 2. Didn't take any pictures, it was too dark and wet.  Getting out of the car meant being eaten alive by the mosquitoes. They stopped at each lake to see if maybe there might be one where the guys could fish. Since the one day fishing licence in Montana costs $52.00 nothing really appealed to them. I think the fish will have to be jumping out of the water and onto the hook for that to happen.

Back at the campsite it was reading, napping and coloring all day. Today has been a repeat of yesterday without the rain or the drive.  Reading, napping and the Kathies worked together on a jigsaw puzzle all afternoon. I guess we all needed some time to relax, but I hope tomorrow when we get to Idaho maybe we can do something worth blogging about.

MCGREGOR LAKE

We're here at McGregor Lake RV Resort just outside of the "town" of Marion, Montana. Why here?  For the simple reason that Kathy Taylor's maiden name was McGregor, and there is a lake! That's it! This is definitely a place to rest and relax after the crowds and activities at Glacier. There is nothing to do here except look at the trees and the lake. That's it! Here's a picture of the trees at our site and one of the lake. They told us that there might be some deer walking through tonight, but so far the only wildlife we have seen are the mosquitoes.

Lake McGregor is across the highway from our campground, but it's a private lake and there is only one little path down to the water.  It's a beautiful lake. We really need a boat to enjoy it, and there are no rentals here.  We took a drive this afternoon to Marion for some milk and found out that it's a really a small town. There's only  a gas station, a post office and the Baptist church. That's Marion.

Tomorrow we are going out exploring and try to find the "trophy" trout everyone is talking about.

WE'VE BEEN THERE

I guess we have seen everything there is to see here.  I know that's not really true, but sometime when you are on vacation you just have to slow down and take it easy.  That's what's happening today.  "Maybe we'll go for a bike ride, or maybe we'll go for a hike, maybe we'll even go whiskey tasting." But, no one could make up their minds, so here it is late afternoon and we've done absolutely NOTHING.

Well, not exactly nothing. They drove to Kalispell this morning to cruise the Costco for an hour. And I did make Kathe take me for a walk around the entire RV park just to get her nose out of her Kindle and out of the house.   Of course the washing machine was running all day, but that's no fun. I'm just happy that it's too cold outside for anyone to give me a bath, because you know that usually happens when they start cleaning things around here. It was only 53 this morning and it's still breezy with rain showers threatening this afternoon.

Tomorrow we move to Marion, Montana to McGregor Lakes for some more relaxing!

WEST TO EAST

I sent Kathe and Jim on a bike ride this morning. I just settled down for a nap, not 10 minutes later they were back again. They hardly got started when it started to rain. I told them to shake it off and get back out there! They went right back out and rode 5 1/2 miles. Kathe stayed upright the whole ride. A new record!

This afternoon they all went for a drive on the Going to the Sun Road.  This time they started at West Glacier and drove east to Logan Pass.  The skies were gray but the views of the glaciers were incredible. They stopped several times along the way to take pictures.


When they reached Logan Pass there were several mountain goats having a snack on the
side of the mountain.  There were lots of people taking pictures, but that didn't seem to bother the goats.  Then it started to rain and snow, so it was time to drive back down the mountain.

EXPLORING THE WEST

Still not the greatest weather. I try to get Kathe to take me outside between the rain showers and we have been very lucky. Just when we get back inside the skies let loose, but we stay dry. All day long it's been a mix of sunny skies and rain showers.

After breakfast, once I settled in my favorite chair, the humans decided to take the 30 mile drive out of the Park to the little town of Polebridge.  I thought they were looking for wildlife.  But it seems that Warren and Kathe remembered a great bakery in Polebridge when they were here the last time. So, off they went in search of delicious pastry. They must have found some because they brought home several bags of sweet smelling stuff. They tried to continue north to Bowman Lake, but they were turned back at the ranger station. Parking there was already full to capacity so they had to turn around.

The next stop was Lake McDonald where they had a picnic lunch.  After that they did some shopping in the  historic Lake McDonald Lodge and watched the storm coming in across the lake. By the time they returned to camp, the sun was out again.

GO WEST YOUNG DOGGIE

Our first full day of rain!  It started just as we left East Glacier and has been raining most of the day.  The drive here was very scenic, lots of beautiful trees, rivers and lakes along both sides of Highway 2 all the way to West Glacier.

We arrived at the brand new West Glacier RV Park in the early afternoon. They have only been open 17 days. We had a couple of mishaps on the way, but we made it.  As we turned into West Glacier we had to go under a bridge that was marked 13'6". Oh boy, our coach is 13'4" and we were a little scared that we might get stuck.  Jim drove very slowly and I crossed my paws, and we made it with only a little scrape of the antenna.  Next thing we knew the GPS took us down a dead end instead of the park entrance. Then, both coaches had to unhook their tow cars and turn around.  Nerves were frazzled but we finally checked in to the park.

All that work was worth the effort even with the rain.  It is really beautiful here.  We look right out into a forest of pine trees, and everything here is quiet and peaceful. I love the view out the window, maybe a deer will come walking by tonight.

MANY GLACIER MANY PEOPLE

The plan today was a drive Many Glacier road this morning and then to drive the upper portion of the Going to the Sun Road in the afternoon.  It didn't exactly work out.  The 12 mile drive to Many Glacier is through reservation land has many potholes and was extremely rough. The road travels along Sherburne Lake, and the farther you drive up the valley the more clearly you can see Grinnell and Salamander glaciers.  The only problem was that the closer we got to the entrance to Many Glacier the more cars were lining up.  The Ranger told everyone to turn around and come back another day.  By 10:30 this morning the road was closed to tourists.

Plan B: Start driving the Going to the Road from the East side to Logan Pass and forget about going all the way into Many Glaciers. Maybe tonight after dinner they will attempt it again. Going to the Sun Road was not as crowded and the drive was fantastic, even if the weather didn't cooperate. It was cloudy as they started up the mountain and became more cloudy as they drove up to Logan Pass.  There were mountain goats and marmots sighted on the hike up to the overlook. Many trails in Logan Pass area were closed due to bears in the area.  Just when they decided they should start back down to camp, it started to rain.  Me, I'm still inside, warm and dry.

OH CANADA

I know you want to know what Kathe and Jim did today, but first I have tell you about my exciting morning.  At about 6 AM on my usual walk-about, I saw something I've not seen in any National Park.  It was a very big black kitty with wide white stripe down it's back.  I started to chase it, but for some reason Kathe woke up and pulled me back. I'm still trying to figure out which bush it is hiding under.  More tomorrow on my search.

The Kathies both had something in common on their bucket list. They wanted to experience High Tea at the legendary Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada. So, this
morning they all set off for the Canadian side of Glacier Park.

It only took about an hour to cross into Canada and drive to the Hotel.  Good thing they remembered their passports! Waterton Lakes is a beautiful Park, established in 1932 as the first international peace park. They arrived at the hotel few minutes before the Tea was served and secured a table overlooking the Waterton Lake.  The hotel was built in 1927 and started serving this High Tea in 1945 to celebrate the end of the war. The tea was a treat for all of them.  Lots of delicious sandwiches and pastries as well as some special English teas.

TWO MEDICINE FALLS

They were gone again for the whole day.  Of course I didn't miss them one bit. I sat in Kathe's chair and watched the campground go by. It's really nice here in the morning once all the campers leave. No one around but the chipmunks and the robins, that's my kind of camping.

The adventure today was a trip to Two Medicine for a boat ride and a hike on the Twin Falls trail.  Two Medicine is about an hour drive from our campsite.  They arrived in time to have a picnic and do some shopping before boarding the boat which took them across Two Medicine Lake. The boat was the "Sinopah," a restored wooden boat that was first used here in Glacier in 1938. There were about 40 people on the boat and a guide that lead them on the 2 mile hike to the Twin Falls.





It was a very beautiful hike except for the thousands of mosquitoes that followed them up the trail.  People were slapping themselves silly the whole way to the falls.  Once they got to the falls it was all worth the struggle. They really were beautiful.

EAST GLACIER THE HARD WAY

We are here at the KOA in St. Mary's on the East side of Glacier.  The WiFi is sort of okay, but I don't have much to talk about.  We were warned that there was MAJOR construction on highway 89 and the Park informed us that we should take an alternate route on highway 494. As if the bumpy and winding roads weren't enough, that  added another hour to the trip. Kathy and Warren took a wrong turn at the entrance and had to circle back before we could check in together.  It was hot and dusty and Kathe was tired and crabby. Then, when we arrived at our sites we found out that our site was so slanted that we couldn't possible get level.  After a few trips to the front desk they finally moved us to a level site. We almost had an accident with the power post when we moved to the new site. We got our first scratch on the coach. Not too bad, but it could have been worse if Jim hadn't stopped in time.

Meanwhile, Warren and Kathy had problems of their own. One of their slide-outs started to come out crooked, but they quickly fixed that problem. No needless to say, we are just going to chill out and relax tonight.  Sightseeing tomorrow.
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JAILBIRDS

I'm late posting tonight, but they were playing cards and I couldn't get to my computer until everyone moved out of my way.

This morning, Warren cooked us all omelets for breakfast.  I had a taste of Kathe's with cheese and sausage and it was delicious.  Everyone sat around the breakfast table trying to decide what they wanted to do today.  Kathe decided that she would give me a bath while they were still trying to come up with a plan.  Good news, my bald spot is starting to grow little hairs, maybe by the time we get home I'll be back to my beautiful self.

Where did they decide to go? Warren wanted to take a drive, and Jim wanted an museum, so they headed out to the Old Montana Prison and History Museum, about 50 miles away.  There was a little confusion with the GPS and they first arrived at the real Montana Prison. Oops!


They turned around and soon found the old prison where they they spent the rest of the afternoon. Not only did they tour the abandoned prison, but included in the price of admission was an automobile museum with over 160 beautifully restored autos from 1800's to 1970.  The Kathies loved the Yesterdays Playthings exhibit across the street from the prison with dolls and trains from the 50's and 60's.

Don't worry if you don't hear from me tomorrow we're headed to Glacier National Park and may not have WiFi.
I'll do my best.

MISSOURI RIVER

Everyone got up early this morning to take a boat tour on the Missouri River. They boarded the Sacajawea II for a cruise to the "Gates of the Mountains". This passage was discovered and named by Lewis and Clark as they rowed their boats down the deep channel of the Missouri on July 19, 1805. The magnificent limestone cliffs on either side of the river are over 1200 feet high.  On the tour they saw several bald eagles, osprey, and white penguins flying above and around the steep wooded canyons. The "Gates" appear to be closed until you are right upon them and then you see that there is a passage between the cliffs.

Later in the day in a halfhearted attempt to find a place to go fishing, they drove to to Black Sandy State Park and White Sandy Park where the Hauser Dam is supposed to be a great place to catch fish.  I really don't think that either Warren or Jim really want to go fishing.  There is always something not quite right about everyplace that might be a place to fish.  They spent more time looking at the fish in Costco this afternoon than they did looking for a fishing hole.

FUN IN THE CITY

The guys keep talking about how they want to go fishing. Talking, talking, but no fishing poles have even been seen. Today they were joking around and found some fish at the museum that looked real and took this picture.  I guess that is as close as we are going to get to having a fish dinner.

Those fish were in the Montana Historical Society Museum gift shop.  The museum has a homeland exhibit with over 2000 artifacts tracing the history of Montana from the Ice Age to World War II. They spent some time at the museum while waiting to board the The Last Chance Tour Train.  That was a bumpy, hour long ride through the streets of Helena, but everyone enjoyed the tour. They saw many of the beautiful old mansions and churches in town and rode through an area called Last Chance Gulch. The conductor was a retired history teacher who gave a very interesting talk about his city.

Of course there was some eating and shopping involved after the train tour.  The Last Chance Gulch area was a walking street with restaurants and shops. After lunch they found a very popular ice cream store called the Big Dipper that had a line out the door.  Ice Cream cones for all!

MONTANA WHEAT

Traveling this morning on highway 287 from Gallatin Gateway to Helena we saw thousands of acres of wheat fields. Made me want to stop for a sandwich on some whole grain bread. Warren and Kathe had the same idea. When we saw the sign for "Wheat Montana Bakery" we pulled into the parking lot to load up on Montana breads and pastries.  The motto on the building says, "We sew it, we grow it, and we dough it." Everything there looked delicious!

At last, we pulled into the Lincoln Road RV Resort at about 3:00 this afternoon. We have stayed here before when we stopped in Helena a few years ago, but now it has become a KOA. It took forever to get checked in, but we were finally assigned two sites together at the end of the park. Guess what, we have a view of more wheat fields!

Warren told Jim that he thinks they can fish in the irrigation ditch behind the park. Good luck with that. I hope tomorrow Jim and Warren will find a real fishing spot and catch some nice big trout for dinner.

SWEET DAY

Busy day today. Last day to hit all the sites here in Bozeman before we head out tomorrow.

First stop, another trip to the chiropractor for Jim, who is doing better, but still not tip top.

Next, it was a stop at the famous Bequet Confections.  This Gourmet Caramel factory is well known all over the area for making the most delicious soft caramels.  They have been making them since 2001 and have won 7 national awards for the finest soft caramels.  You can watch them making the candy in large batches and taste all 13 varieties here. They had a tasting counter and Jim and Kathe tasted almost all 13 flavors before

selecting some to bring home. Sad to say, they had no peanut butter flavor which would have been my choice.

Then it was on to the Grizzly Bear Encounter where they have several rescued grizzly bears that you can see up close and personal.  They have a docent that talks all about the different bears and how they came to be in the sanctuary. The bears here can seen behind a 12 foot moat and an electrified fence. This bear was named Brutus and he was out for about an hour.  Now we have a picture of a grizzly bear without a dangerous encounter.

DITTO

Same weather as yesterday afternoon! Rain mixed with hail and lots of thunder and lightning. Luckily, everyone is home inside their motor homes and staying dry for the moment. It was sunny and warm this morning, but in the early afternoon we could see the storm coming over Gallatin mountains straight towards us. Thunder is so loud right now I'm thinking that I might have to hide under the computer desk.  By the way, hail is no fun at all, it sounds like someone is throwing rocks at us. If it's anything like yesterdays storm, it will be over in about an hour.

It's Jim's birthday, so we asked him what he wanted to do today.  He wanted to go into the historic part of Bozeman and wander the main street.  He ended up in the ACE hardware store.  The Kathies did some serious tourist shopping before stopping for lunch.

There's a restaurant in Bozeman called Ted's Montana Grill. It's owned by Ted Turner who also happens to be the world's biggest breeder of American Bison in the world.  He has over 55,000 head and has made bison meat more popular through his restaurant chain.  Jim's birthday lunch here was a bison burger with some awesome french fries.  Of course it goes without saying, there was no doggie bag!

RAIN MUST FALL

It can't always be rainbows and lollipops! Today was one of those days!  Here's a picture from the windshield this afternoon! Hail, rain, thunder and lightning right over us for about 45 minutes. Then when it cleared up, Kathe, Jim and I went for a long a walk down by the river.  Everything is wet and green, green, green! I'm still loving it here!

After a delicious breakfast at the little cafe here in the campground this morning, Kathe and Jim drove 20 miles into Bozeman.  Jim's back has been bothering him so the first stop was the Chiropractor.  Next came a trip to the hair salon where they both got groomed.

They did a little grocery shopping and that pretty much wasted the whole day. They arrived home just in time to see another rainstorm coming straight down the mountain toward us. The sun will shine tomorrow.

DOWN BY THE RIVER

We said goodbye to West Yellowstone this morning.  Last night the fireworks were amazing for HUMANS, lasting so long that I thought my pointy little ears were going to explode. If you are a doggie, don't ever come here on the 4th of July. The fireworks go on forever, and no one got a wink of sleep until way after 1:00 AM.  Kathe and Jim watched the whole display through the windshield of the RV, oohing and ahhing like humans always do.

A short, beautiful drive on highway 191 along the Gallatin River brought us to the Inn on the Gallatin, our new home for the next 4 days. It's a really cute place with cabins and RV spots that back up to the river.

There's a trail down to the river behind our site that is all set up for the guests to enjoy.  They have a big fire pit, a picnic area and even a hammock down there.  Warren and Jim saw some beautiful trout floating by and are thinking about doing some fishing.

Just chilling today, and going to bed early!

RED, WHITE, AND BLUE

It's my most hated day of the year, the 4th of July.  I'm as patriotic as the next doggie, but I hate fireworks. Of course, we just happen to be right next to the West Yellowstone city park where the fireworks spectacular is scheduled for 10:30 tonight. Last night was amateurs night here in the RV resort, with people celebrating the 3rd of July until 12:30.  No body gets any sleep when I can't sleep!

Today we decorated our coaches for the holiday.  Here we are in all our splendor.  Jim and Kathe's coach is the one on the right and the Taylors are next to us on the left.

There are all sorts of hometown festivities here in West Yellowstone. There is a parade and a concert tonight before the fireworks, but the best event was called, "pie on the porch."  The Yellowstone Museum society sold slices of homemade pie for $5.00 to benefit the museum. YUM!