Rain, Rain Go Away

It's raining again and cold... At least for Floridians.... Don't get me wrong I usually love the rain.. nothing better then getting all cozy and snugged in for the day watching old movies or reading a good book, but we only have 2 days left in Great Falls to see what sites they have. It looks like it may last for a couple of days too... Well we won't let it stop us completely we will go out and drive around town for a while this afternoon...

I want to thank Justine for putting my blog on as a place to visit but I sure would like to get my site up to par like some I have seen... They are fantastic and Justine's is really cool... she is so talented with her blog...

Well stay tuned anyways... I'll be back with a update later

We are now at Great Falls, Montana

Our travels from St. Mary to Great Falls was uneventful and no problems... YEAH! We arrived here on Friday at Dick's RV Park around 1 pm and after setting up and visiting with a few fellow campers we fixed dinner and just chilled out for the evening. It is a fairly nice park and definitely in the center of everything. Today was a day for replenishing our supplies and getting things done around here. Tomorrow will be our day of exploring and we are looking forward to getting out and seeing all the falls here.

Burrrr It's COOOOOOLD!!!!

Today is rainy and really cold... As I write this little diddly it is 44' at 5:30 and I do believe we may see a little snow tonight. So you can see why we chose to stay in today and not go play. I am catching up on wash and cleaning... YUKKY but it has to be done. Keep checking there will be more adventures to come.

O' Canada... EH!

What a rough night last night... High winds, a light to moderate rain all night, and a temperature of 42' when we got up this morning. Thank goodness it wasn't the 33 -35' that we have been waking up to. It would have surely been snowing and I am sure it did up in the higher mountains..

It didn't stop us from going up into Canada's Waterton Glacier Park which is the continuation of our Glacier Park which they call it the two of them the International Peace Park.






Beautiful scenery and the neatest little town (Waterton) right in the middle of the park. It was the first time we ever saw a actual town in a National Park. Not to many animal sightings in this park, 1 bear and 2 deers.



We had lunch at the famous Prince of Whales Hotel. It was a typical European style building. I had Shepperd's Pie which was really tasty and Ralph stuck with a burger and salad. A really neat thing they did there was a high tea at 3:00 where you got tea and a beautiful tray of all kind of petite desserts. How fancy was that... there were a lot of families with young daughters enjoying it. I bet they felt like a princess.




After dinner we drove around a little more in the park and then headed back to our little home Tassie at St. Marys - KOA..... Had to walk our little dog Tiffy... I know after 8 hours she was crossing her little legs... ;-D

Great Day at Many Glacier

Last night we took an evening drive into the park at the St. Mary entrance. I was driving and a little nervous about some of the sharp drop offs but made my way all the way up to Logan Pass neverless. It is one of my very favorite places in Glacier. On our way back we spotted several white tail deer and a herd of big elk. There were probably about 15 in total and I didn't even have my camera with me this time. Oh Boo Hoo.. ;-D

What a wonderful day we had today... We started out this morning with a ride to Many Glacier and was very excited about exploring a new area in the park. As we are headed towards the entrance of the park we are greeted with the usual beautiful rushing rivers and magnificent snow topped mountains.






As we were driving along the main road Ralph all of a sudden spotted 2 huge bears exploring by the side of the river. My first spotting of bears that I could actually could photograph. They were just close enough for me to take pictures but far enough away that I could beat them to the car if they decided that I was on the menu today... Further up the road we went for a short hike to see the most beautiful waterfall... it was quite dynamic. What an appetite we worked up after our little hike so off to the Many Glacier Lodge for some lunch where we indulged with a Buffalo Bacon Burger & fries... YUM!

We headed out again and to our surprise another bear sighting down by the waters edge. I could sit and watch these animals forever as they root for food and play. It was a great day in the park... We would like to come back on Wednesday and take a hike on the Swiftcurrent Pass Trailhead that will take you out to a couple of lakes where the moose like to hang out.

After we left the park we drove home to walk Tiffy and take her with us for a nice ride down Hwy 89 & 49. That was the way our GPS had advised us to go to get here from Glacier Meadow RV Park but someone had told us not to take that route as it was to steep and curvy. Boy was it ever... thank goodness we had met a man who had driven it and warned us. Talk about sharp drop offs... I swear some of them were around a mile or more.. YIKES VERY SCARY!!!! The funny thing up here they have what they call free ranging cows and you have to watch out that you don't hit them with your car... They are everywhere.. ;-D

Tomorrow we are heading for Canada... we want to have lunch at the Prince of Whales Hotel... Until then.....

Glacier Meadow RV Park & St. Mary - KOA

We arrived here at St. Marys-KOA today around 11 am... Another long travel day.... 74 miles (ha-ha). As suspected at Glacier Meadow RV Park we had no phone service and lousy wireless Internet. But all in all it was a peaceful campground with the train whistles blowing in the distance. Many of you know how much I love trains and to be able to hear them during the day and night is like an added bonus for me. Here is our campsite and the view from the front window of our RV.



We went for a drive on Saturday and ended up at Izaak Walton Inn which we found interesting because we had stayed at a Izaak Walton Lodge in Yankeetown, Fl. many years ago. The Izaak Walton Inn was built next to the railroad yard in 1939 for the use of railroad service personnel. It was also intended to serve as an entrance to Glacier National Park between East Glacier and West Glacier, but this plan never materialized. I have since found out there are several Inns named after Mr. Walton but I had know idea who he was. I looked him up and it appears that he as an author of a book called THE COMPLEAT ANGLER (1653) and some other books that were not as recognized. Anywho it was a lovely place and we enjoyed sitting in there front gardens and watching the trains go by.

We will be here at St. Marys - KOA for the next 5 days... we usually try too avoid staying at KOAs but this was the nicer of the 2 RV parks in this area. We have a nice pull trough site and a beautiful view of the mountains right out the front window. From this area we will be visiting the North part of Glacier NP. Those trips will include Many Glaciers & Waterton-Glacier up in Canada.

On the Road Again

Today we are heading to the east side of Glacier and we are going to be staying at Glacier Meadow RV Park. We may not have phone or internet so it may be a few days before I update my blog. It is really starting to get cool up here and I am hoping that we see all we want to see before any snow comes (ha-ha). In about 3 weeks we'll be starting our trek back home. My how time flies when your having fun.

Rainy Day in the Mountains

We haven't had but a couple of these days since we left home but today is one. We got up this morning and luckily after I walked Tiffy and put the garbage out at the curb it started to rain. It has been raining on & off all day and we are just hanging out here. It is a good thing for this area because one of the mountains has had a pretty good fire going on & hopefully this will help put it out. We are enjoying a peaceful day of doing nothing but watching old movies & catching up on our reading. It is an excellent day for chili and hot chocolate since it hasn't gone over 60' yet. Hopefully it will stop by tomorrow since that is the day we scheduled our boat ride on Lake McDonald... Hope your all well... Miss you

An Afternoon at Lake McDonald

Late start today but it ended up being a wonderful day. We left around 2:00pm today and decided to take a a ride on a rode in Glacier that we hadn't been on. The ride was on a road named Camas Road and it was a surprisingly sad drive for us. This part of the park had been destroyed by a fire in 2003 and still the damage was overwhelming. We visited a campground around that area in the park called Fish Creek Campground but it could only accommodate rigs that are 35 ft or less.. and to be honest we didn't see but about 4 sites that would do. If you have a smaller unit it was a very nice park. Then we took a ride to Lake McDonald Lodge and made reservations for boat ride for Thursday afternoon on Lake McDonald... On the way out of the park we pulled off at one of the areas on the lake and took a walk down by the shoreline. Ralph tried his hand at skipping stones on the lake like he did in his boyhood. Some of then actually skipping the water several times. The water is very cool and we we're wondering if we had the courage to come back another day and go swimming. I think it might not be good for the heart. After our walk we decided that we were hot and thirsty so on our way back we stopped at Dairy Queen... WOW! How those Blizzards can quench your thirst. Well that's it for today... tomorrow we are heading into a town called Kalispell. It has a historic district that should be fun to visit.

This is a place by our campground that I thought the entrance was an outstanding work of art.

Going to the Sun Highway

We didn't get started today until after 10 today but still wanted to do the Going to the Sun Highway. We packed up the car with a cooler of snacks and drinks knowing it would be a long day. So glad we did... it was the most amazing drive loaded with scenic roads, high mountains, some wildlife and lots of waterfalls. Once again we went over the Continental Divide. It just keeps popping up around all these mountains. The weather started out cool and remained nice througout the day since we were so high in elevation. It really didn't get to warm until late in the afternoon when it reached about 84'. One of my favorite things was Logan Pass where we finally saw Bighorn Sheep and Mountain Goats. After we finally made it across to St. Mary's and we stopped at a little roadside cafe called 2 Sisters where we both had a hamburgers with homemade chips. The food was yummy and our tummys were full so back in the car to do the return trip back home. It took us all day to get over to St. Marys and return back to our campground in Coram which is just south of West Glacier Park. Of course we stopped at most of the waterfalls and scenic view areas. We have come to the conclusion that you can't just visit our National Parks quickly.. You need to spend time exploring them and getting to know them... This area is also someplace I could stay easily for a long time.

Here are a couple of pictures of the Going to the Sun Highway. Barely enough room for 1 car and not even that in some places. It was a hold your breath drive.

These are just 2 of the many waterfalls in the park. The one that Ralph & I are standing at is still covered with snow. It was like being in front of an air conditioner.

The picture on the right are Big Horn Sheep and the one on the left is a Mountain Goat and her baby. Sorry couldn't get the face this time...

Ride to Two Medicine in Glacier Natl' Park

Today we went into the west entrance of the park to pick up information on what to do & see in the park. The first thing I saw there was a huge buck deer just grazing on the side of the road. After gathering up all the info on the park we took a ride on Scenic Route 2 around the outside edge of Glacier Natl' Park and went into the Two Medicines Lake side of the Park. It is only a short 4 mile drive but at the end of it there is the most beautiful view of the Lake & Mountains. We spent some time there and then went to check out the campground. Most of the sites could not accommodate our rig but some of the sites on the lake could. No E/W/S but for a few days it would be worth it going without. The view is breathtaking and you are really one with nature. They even had lockers at each site to lock up your food at night so the bears don't get into it. The ride there and back on Hwy 2 was also a wonderful drive that offered great views of the mountains and the Flathead River. Tomorrow we plan on taking on the Going to the Sun Highway. It should be a great day.




Ralph & I at Two Medicine Lake Another view of Two Medicine Lake

Arrival at Glacier National Park

Well we finally made it to Glacier national Park yesterday around noon, after 2 more days of traveling very short distances. We stayed Tuesday night in Missoula at a lovely park called Jim & Mary's RV Park just off Hwy 93. They has all the things we needed 50Amp, pull through, sewer and great water pressure. Wish we could have stayed there longer but was wanting to get up here to visit this area. We got here Wednesday around noon to find another good park, North American RV Park. Our site is very nice and we have great views of the surrounding area. They also have all the good amenities that we want plus there is a guy just in front of the park selling Flatlake Cherries (which I call Yakima), Bing, Cherries, Huckleberries and some additional veggies... Yummy I could eat a ton of cherries. We decided to stay here today and do some cleaning & maintenance that needs to be done and start our gallivanting around tomorrow. I am attaching some pictures from our travels to here. Hope you enjoy!

On our way to Glacier Natl' Park.. First stopover Butte, Mt

Today started out a bit chilly at 38'... We got everything secured and left West Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park around 8:30am. The ride was event free and the weather very co-operative with a high of about 72'... We took hwy 191 to 287 then Hwy 2 to I 90 and the ride was quite beautiful. The terrain changed so may times and all the roads were in good condition. It went from rolling hills to meadows to high rocky mountains... all with a beauty of it's own. And out in the middle of nowhere we ran into the ending of a Rock Concert.. who knows maybe it was the next Woodstock. We finished up for the day around 1 pm stopping in Butte, Mt (Home of Evil Knievel) traveling a whole 155 miles. We like those short travel days if you know what I mean. The campground we stopped at is called 2 Bar Lazy H RV Park and is right off of I90/15. OK for overnight but I wouldn't want to stay here longer. Tomorrow we will be heading to Missoula, Mt where we will buy groceries and supplies to last a couple of weeks up in Glacier.

A Nice Sunday Drive

Today we decided to take it easy so after a relaxing morning we loaded Tiffy in the car with a nice picnic lunch and off we went on a Sunday Drive. We headed out on Hwy 20 and soon found ourselves leaving Montana and entering Idaho.

After driving about 60 miles we took Hwy 87 & 287 which took us over the Continental Divide and back into Montana. We came across Earthquake Lake which was formed when an earthquake triggered a landslide which blocked Madison River and flooded the intire area including the highway. It was kinda beautiful but had a lot of dead trees along the banks which died from being covered by water.

After a while our tummies started growling and we started looking for a nice spot to picnic but had no luck finding a place we were happy with. As we were entering West Yellowstone we decided to go into Yellowstone Natl' Park and find a spot there by the river... Soon we were all set up and enjoying our lunch while listening to the river & the trees rustling in the wind. Sadly knowing it was our last time there we packed up and returned to the campsite. Tomorrow a new adventure starts.....