Theodore national Park, Medora, ND

Sept 6th - 8th

We only stopped in ND  for a few days. First  place was Medora to see the Theodore Roosevelt  National Park.  He spent many years in the area before he was President.  One fact that I didn't know about him is that he came to the area to mourn and heal. His wife and mother died the very same day.  His wife from childbirth, his mother, typhoid fever.  I can't imagine  going  thru something like that. One death is bad enough,  but 2 on the same day, unbearable. 

This is the first cabin that Roosevelt lived in when he first came to the area. 

 We saw lots of wild bison and horses. This guy looks like he is looking straight at me. 

This bison was so close that I  took this picture sitting in the  truck, using no zoom  at all.  Glad he didn't feel like charging. 

Views of the park

  Also visited a summer house built in  the early 1880's.  It was only used a few months of the year.  The owner considered it a cabin because he lived in a real castle the rest of the year. it was huge to Montana standards. 

MONTANA TIDBITS

Sept 10th,

I'm  a  little  behind  on  my  blog  because  I  had  a  few  problems  with  my  computer,  but  all is well now.   One  day, my  wireless  decided  to  die.  The  next  day  my  keyboard  on  my  laptop  started failing.  Both  within  2  days  of  each  other and  we  weren't  around  any big  town  to  fix them.  I really didn't  want  to  but  a  new  computer  on  the  road.  Yesterday  we  arrived  at  Detroit Lakes,  MN.  It is  big enough to have  a  Verizon store and  Wall mart.   Bought  a  new  wireless  jet pack  and  a  new  keyboard  for  the  laptop.  All  is  good  until  we get back.  Will  probably  have  to  buy  a  new computer.  Darn!

There are a few things I wanted to mention about Montana  that  I  hadn't  included  earlier.  In Butte there is  a huge  statue of  the  Virgin  Mary.  It  is  90'  tall  and  48' wide.  It weighs  51 tons and is  made  of  concrete.  The  project   was  started  in 1979 and finished  in 1985.   It   is  an  amazing  site  to  behold.  We didn't go up to the statue,  but took the first picture from our campsite.   It  is so far away that I had to use my zoom to  even  see this  much of it.  I have a very nice camera, but  I  was surprised how much I could zoom into the picture that I  took and get this much detail.

TESTICAL FESTIVAL 

I bet I got your attention with that headline.  Traveling between  Glacier National Park and Billings, we saw this billboard several times.  The festival lists several dates. They are past, but I think this is one that we would missed anyway.  Can only be for Rocky Mountain Oysters, a delicacy that I have never tired and never will.

I saw something that I  had  never  heard  of  before.  Denny had  because  he  was  a farm  boy  in Nebraska when he was young. At the gas stations, there was colored diesel and clear/uncolored diesel.  it is for farm  machinery only. If you get caught with it in your cars, you are fined $8000.  That is because it means you didn't pay the road tax.    It  is about 20 cents cheaper.

Montana is alot prettier than we both thought.  We believed eastern Montana is flat, but it is actually lots of rolling, green hills.  Locals said that this is the greenest Montana and North Dakota have ever been because of so much rain.

BILLINGS, MONTANA

Sept 5th, 2014

My mother passed away a year ago today. I think it is very ironic that we were in Billings  today and night. This is the place my parents met and married. They both went to Rocky Mountain College.  It was a working college, which is the only way my parents could have gone.  They were both very poor.  My grandfather gave my Dad $20 and sent him off to Montana.  Ninety percent of your wages went to the college for room and board. My mom worked as a waitress in the dining hall and my Dad sat at her table. As they say, the rest is history.  I took alot of pictures.  I remember seeing some of these same buildings in my folks pictures (minus the tall trees).   The trees have had 71 years to grow. They  didn't tear down any of the old buildings, just added a few more. It is a very beautiful small campus.  It was a very emotional day for me to be there and walk where they walked when they were about 18 and 22. hard to imagine your parents at that age.   

This building housed the dining room where my parents met

This room was the dining room, but it is an auditorium now. The basic structure is the same

The 2 pictures below are views of the women's dorm where my Mom lived

The 2 pictures below show the living area where the women would sit in front of the fireplace, visit and wait for their friends to pick them up.   One of my favorite stories  I heard was that my Mom was waiting in this room for my Dad to pick her up for a dance.  For some reason, the house mother would not let her go.  I can't remember why.  My Dad left but came back right away.  He wanted to take my Mom to the dance and no house mother was going to stop him. He took her and they went to the dance.  Never heard if there were consequences for defying the rules. Can't imagine my Dad angry, that is so unlike him

These are a few buildings on campus. I took so many, but can only show a few, just wanted you to see what a beautiful campus it is

BUTTE, MONTANA

Sept  3rd and 4th

When we first decided to leave early to see parts of the country that you can't see in the winter, we had a whole other agenda. We  were  going  to  see GNP,  the  Tetons,  and   the  area  of  Taos/Santa Fe   in New Mexico.   A   few  days  before  we left,  I  noticed  that  we  hadn't  seen  any  of  the  northern  states  of  Minnesota,  Wisconsin and Michigan.   The  nice  thing  about  retirement  is  that  you  can  change  your mind  at the last minute.  We still wanted to see the GNP so we  just started  traveling  east.  It  is  over  700 miles to  get  thru  Montana  and  into  North  Dakota.  It  was  recommended  to me by  my  cousin  to see  Butte.  It  is  an  old cooper  mining  town  with  alot  of  history.  I  love to  see  the  old  history  of any  town  or  area  we  are  in.  

These are pictures of the old Berkeley Pit Open Mine.   It was a hole 1800' deep and 3 miles around the outside. When it closed, they let the water back in. It has the acidity of vinegar, notice how clear the refection is of the clouds and sky. It is crystal clear. 

It is so clear that the top of the dark line is the waters edge.  I thought that it was a different coloring of the rock, but it is the reflection from above. As you can see, the water has almost gone to the top of the original hole.

As for my goal, I found another geocache within walking distance of our campground around a nature trail. YEA, I'm on a roll.

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

Aug 29th to Sept 3rd

We had never been to Glacier National Park, so off we went. It is beautiful country. We stayed in a campground  5 miles from the entrance. 

Here are views from different areas  of the park. The 1st and 3rd pictures are of the glaciers  of which the park is named.  Because of global warming,  very  few glaciers remain. The glaciers used to be hundreds of feet thick, but as you can see, that is not the case anymore. There are only 25%  left.   They predict they will all be gone by 2030,  so if GNP is on your bucket list, you better get here sooner than later. It is  well worth seeing. 

The above picture is a tunnel on the "Going to the Sun" road.  They limit the size of vehicle to no more than 21' long and 8' wide, including mirrors. . We are 20' long, but not quite 8' wide so off we went. It was doable, but very tight in a few spots.  Of all the scenic roads we have been on, we thought this was the MOST beautiful of all. Of course, we think that every time we see a new one. 

As some of you know, my new hobby has been geocaching. We  ( I ) got into when we started traveling.  It gets you out and about and takes you to places you might never have seen.  Our campground was in the middle of a power trail. That is a series of caches, 550' apart.  Denny isn't as enthusiastic as I am, but he is very good at finding them.  We found about 12  along Highway 2.  I haven't geocached since we got back from our 2013 trip, 15 months ago.  I plan to find at least one in every town or area we go to.  Since we left, we have added 20 to our found list.  YAHOO!

FARRAGUT STATE PARK

August 24, 2014

We traveled to Farragut State park to spend a few days with our son Darin, his wife, Heather and our grand kids, Elissa and Zachary. Heather's parents, Glen and Nancy were also there. We were "roughing it' for the first time. By that, I mean, we only had water and electric, no sewer.  We are spoiled, we like our comforts. For the first time we had to shower in the public showers. We survived. 

The main reason we were all there was to go to Silverwood Theme  Park. It is the largest theme park in the NW. We went on Monday, the 25th. It was fun, but an exhausting, long day, especially for grandparents.   It is  actually 2 parks, the water park and the regular roller coaster/rides park. 

Denny and  I took Elissa and Zachary to do a few geocaches. We had taken them once a few years ago and they enjoyed it. There were several in the State Park. It was great. Zachary found two, Elissa one, Denny two and me ZERO.  Oh well,  my excuse is that I was the navigator.

Zachary found it under the rock at his foot

Scary...Elissa found this. Very imaginative.  Just to the right of her hand you can see the geocache tube.  I jumped when I first saw this.

Zachary  is  holding the  cache in  his  hand,  not  the  paper tube,  but  the  green  one.  Zachary is 7, Elissa, 10.

They  left  the  day  before we did so Denny  and I  explored  the  park.  It  was  a  large  Navel  Training Center  during  WWII.

This  statue  was built  to  honor  the  Navy  sailors  that  trained  there.  That  handsome guy  next  to  the statue  was  in  the Air force, not Navy,  but he is a keeper anyway.

In the close up, you can see that the face is made up of  the men and women of the Navy. I thought it was a cool way to do it.

Farragut State park is on Lake Pend Oreille. It is the 5th deepest lake in the US, 43' ft long and 6 miles wide.  The picture below is taken from the beach.

We went to visit some friends of Glen and Nancy's that live on Lake Couer d' Alene. Can you imagine having those views right outside your door everyday! How beautiful

ON THE ROAD AGAIN......
August 23rd

After having a very stressful year of  taking care of my folks until they  both passed away,  we decided to leave early on our winter travels.  We started August  22nd.  Last winter was the first year we missed traveling since I retired.

Our first stop was Cle Elum, Washington to attend the wedding of Scotty  Sleeth.  It was the most unique and fun wedding that we have ever attended.  We have known Scotty since he was little.  His parents are good friends.  Scotty has always led a  carefree lifestyle and he certainly enjoys it.  There were alot of dreadlocks and tatoo's at the wedding. it was a fun time for all.

                                                                       
                                                                      Scotty and Erin

Great hair, dyed to match his zoot suit

Everyone at the alter

                                                                           

Friends