On Thursday we decided to drive the Beartooth Highway. It was, as usual, incredible. This road from Cooke City to Red Lodge is considered the most scenic in the U.S. by many people. I think the only way to describe it is through the pictures.
Why a fire tower is neededPretty high, but the road goes higher
Beartooth LakeThe views just keep getting betterThe road is “interesting”
That hole actually has a marmot living in it! See the dirt they threw out? It wasn’t there when we drove past it the first time
Near the bottomThis is actually inside Yellowstone
As I said, this is one of the most beautiful roads I have ever been on. We had lunch in Red Lodge, then drove back, so the pictures were from both up and down.
On Thursday we drove to the KOA in Butte. Nice enough spot for an overnight, but it had some road noise like many highway campgrounds. The site was nice and long though. We drove into Jim and Mary’s Campground in Missoula tonight, and it is a lovely place. Amazingly it is both lovely and quiet! Our site is long and level, and there are flowers everywhere.
I guess the picture isn’t very good since you can’t see the flowers growing in profusion by the picket fence panel.
We did get by a quilt store today to get some material for my next project, an appliqué of birch trees on a background of blue sky and stars. Oh, and I even got my new shingles shot when we went grocery shopping! Tomorrow will be sightseeing.
On Monday we moved from our fancy RV park to a private dry camping site about 10 miles north of Gardiner. It is called “Yellowstone Destinations.” I like it a lot better than the less expensive BLM and FS sites nearby. They are dreadfully crowded! This one is almost empty, and we look at the Yellowstone River through our big motorhome windshield – nice view. We have room to put out the grill and tables, plus there is a nice fire ring.
We decided to stay on the east side of the park today. We generally stay west and north, so this is a part we aren’t as familiar with. It was a nice change of pace. Obviously there were bison.
This guy owned the road. Vehicles were backed up a long way.
After all, when the bison decide it is time to get a drink, they just go to the valley and get one. Who cares about the silly tourists anyway?
The views were as expected – spectacular.
Looking across Jackson LakeJackson Lake from a different directionAnd yet another one of Jackson Lake
I love this (very zoomed) view of the Grand Tetons from the northeast side of Jackson Lake.
These are a very long way away
We also drove to the top of Mount Washington. It was too crowded to park, but I got these pictures of the surroundings.
We traveled along the Yellowstone for the most part.
The water is so clear in the Yellowstone.
We did stop by one thermal area. I know I can’t embed videos very well, but I will try this one.
Today we took it easy. We went into Livingston and Bozeman to do some shopping. We also treated ourselves to lunch at Sweet Chili Asian Bistro in Bozeman. One of my sons lived in Bozeman for quite a few years, and this was one of our favorite places. The Basil Chicken lunch was lovely.
Tomorrow we get up early to drive through the Lamar Valley and then off to the Beartooth Highway.
We spent last night in a Cabela’s in Billings, MT. It would have been fine if two truckers hadn’t started a f-word festival at 11:00 at night! There was some altercation about parking, but it finally resolved itself.
Today we arrived in Gardiner, MT. We had intended to stay at a riverside free campground, but it was crowded. We decided to stay at Rocky Mountain campground in town. Beautiful site overlooking the town and then into the park, but it was expensive. Oh well, it is Yellowstone in the summer, and we were actually lucky to get this site.
After we arrived we drove into the park of course. It is the birthday of the National Park Service, so entry was free and it was crowded! Mammoth Hot Springs was tremendous as usual.
However we did see quite a few animals. Bison by the hundreds were roaming around. This guy decided to go for a silhouette.
Elk were found in the Mammoth Springs area as usual.
Twins maybe?
This elk was found crossing the road just outside Gardiner. She was in no rush to cross the road to the rest of her band.
I also saw pronghorn but too far for a picture.
A serious incident took place as we were driving back to Gardiner from the Lamar Valley. As we came around a corner, we saw a big motorcycle down and people just pulling off the road to help. Turns out a bison had run across the road right in front of the rider, and he had to lay the cycle down to keep from hitting it! The rider said he was fine, spoke quite calmly, and was with friends, so we left after asking if there was anything we could do. Luckily someone was thinking clearly and went to the Roosevelt Ranger station and told them; there was no cell service. We saw two Ranger vehicles heading that way with lights and sirens, and I knew the guy would be in good hands. Pretty scary though.
We did eat in the Mammoth Dining Room. I love NPS dining facilities. They are almost always filled with locally sourced, innovative ingredients, and this was no exception. Not inexpensive, but worth it.
We have found a camping site for the next 3 or 4 nights. It is on the Yellowstone about 10 miles north of Gardiner. It is a private dry camping facility for $25 a night, but it will be quiet and fairly roomy so worth it, especially compared to the $71 we are spending tonight! I have my own water, good solar, and tanks quite capable of dealing with dry camping for a few days.
We spent the nights of 21-23 August (Wednesday through Friday) at Medora Campground in Medora, ND. It gave us two full days to see the sights. The campground itself is fair to good. Sites were decently sized, and there was some grass plus lots of trees. In facet there were so many trees we couldn’t get the satellite antenna to track. It was ok since I had a few seasons of “Endeavor” to catch up on. It is the prequel to the Morse series that I originally saw on PBS.
We didn’t do much on Wednesday, but we wandered around the town a bit. There is a state historic site in town, the Chateau de Mores. It was the summer hunting “cabin” of a French Marquis and his wife Medora, the town’s namesake. The Marquis tried raising beef and cold shipping the meat to the east, but lost a huge amount of money doing it. The house is quite fancy for the time period, and it contains a veritable goldmine of original furnishings, both the mundane (utensils and cooking supplies) and the ornate (beds with mosquito netting hangings and a huge piano). The family owned the 22 room house from the 1880s when they built it until they sold it to the state in the 1930s. I didn’t remember to take a picture of the outside, but it was a tall, two story house with big verandas on the very top of the hill.
The view from the Chateau was amazingMundane items like the grinder are orignalsThe parlor is also almost all original with the exception of the wall paper, a copy of the originalDining was formal
Another fun thing was seeing the Colorado Model A club in town!
My favorite. See the little ice chest?My second favorite. I think that is a water container in front of the rear wheel.There were lots to choose from, at least 14
Thursday evening we really played tourist and went to the Pitchfork Steak Fondue. Their claim to fame is spearing the steaks on pitch forks then cooking them. They also had the normal “fixins” at a cowboy-style event.
Steak (notice the pitchfork holes), coleslaw, great beans, potatoe, Texas toast, fruit and brownies. They had some fresh veggies too, but I didn’t get any.The view was nice from there too
We then went to the “Medora Musical.” I was expecting a play with music, but it was a musical variety show. I was surprised, but not disappointed. Two MCs, one who sang and the other was more a comedian, a nice band, 12 college aged singers, horse riders, and even fireworks at the end. There was also a nationally known comedian just after intermission. He was good, but the spectacle was the musical acts. Lots of costume changes.
Left center of setCenter right of setFar left of setThe band and MCs were quite goodNote the horses to the right of the stage
Lots of flag-waving patriotism with a mixture of country, rock, and gospel songs.
Friday we headed to the National Park. We went to the south unit this time (we did the north unit when we were at Lewis and Clark State Park). The scenery was more “badlands” in the north unit, but the south had some great views too.
The views are vastMore rounded buttes hereGood skies too
But there are still badlands
There were also animals. The bison was walking at the edge of the road, away from the nursery herd. The main attraction of the south unit are the wild horses, and we did see this one band. I also got a hilarious video of a territorial prairie dog. Click on the link to see it. He or she is really getting after a territorial rival!
Rather ratty looking fellow at this time of uearNursery herdWild horsesA close up of a prairie dog
Umm. Video doesn’t work, so I will work on it later.
In the middle of all of this “touristing”, I also finished a sewing project. It is a washable throw rug made with quilt batting and a jelly roll of fabric (2 1/2” strips). I was quite pleased with it, and it fits fairly well in front of my sink. Hopefully it will keep the carpet there cleaner! It is actually isn’t as oddly shaped as it seems in the picture! I must admit I really like my new sewing machine and the sewing table I bought for it.
Tonight we are staying in a Cabela’s parking lot in Billings, MT. We have decided to head toward Yellowstone instead of Great Falls, so we are hoping to get a Fish and Game campsite north of Gardiner tomorrow. I will let you know how it goes.
We spent Monday, 19 August, seeing some sites around Williston. Williston itself is a heavily industrialized oil field town in the Bakken oil field area. I grew up in Oklahoma and have been through the Permian Basin in Texas, but I have never seen so much oil development as I did in this area of North Dakota. Most sites had only 2-4 pump jacks, but the largest we saw had 24 pump jacks in three gangs of eight. These were the big ones too, not the little ones seen most frequently in Oklahoma. It was still pretty clean with the rig sites being contained. Of course occasionally I would get a whiff of petroleum due to the numerous gas flares that burned, but it wasn’t as bad as Texas. I am guess it is because the Bakken field was developed more recently with stronger environmental policies. It was pretty amazing.
We first visited the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Center. Besides the obligatory Lewis and Clark exhibits, there was also a surprising display about rural electrification and the growth of electric co-ops. It was an entire room, and it was remarkably interesting showing the electric and non-electric versions of all kinds of conveniences such as irons and washing machines. Of course I forgot to take any pictures, but the river was not very close anymore.
We then went to the nearby Fort Buford site with a few rebuilt buildings from post civil war era. We weren’t as interested in that era, so we just looked around a bit. I did take pictures this time though!
We then headed to Fort Union, a much more interesting location to me. It was from the fur trade era, and is a National Historic Site (the two previous sites were ND State Historical Sites). I have never been to a bad NHS, and this one didn’t disappoint either.
It sits on a lovely hill overlooking the MissouriMight as well post the first information sign for details.
The fort was the most important trading center along the Upper Missouri from 1828 – 1867. They have rebuilt much of the main fort including the palisades and some of the working rooms.
Looking at the gate and wall from the inside.Store rooms
Trading spaces
The crown jewel of the fort was the main building. It had a well documented exterior, and was rebuilt very faithfully to the 1850s view. Fabulous place, though no documentation of the interior was available.
While we were there two men who were retracing the route taken by General Ashley in the early 1820s. They had come the Columbia River drainage across South Pass using horses and mules. They had just arrived in pirogues and bull boats after a trip of hundreds of miles on the Missouri! They were dressed in period clothing, one as a French Canadian trader and one as Indian complete with only a breach cloth and shirt. I wanted to get a picture of them, but I was too shy to bother them. They were coordinating with the NPS about their journey.
We also decided to visit the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, about an hour from Fort Union. Gorgeous place.
Obligatory buffalo picture. Notice the tracking color.It was hazy and I was shooting into the sun.The Little Missouri carved the badlands of the park.StriationsThe colors are muted by the sun angle, but even better in real life
One of the more unique features of this part of the park are these odd cannonball secretions. They are just big circular rocks resulting from some sort of secretion, but no one knows exactly how they were formed.
Some not quite so round, but interesting.Some are almost spherical
We didn’t get back until late, and we were tired. We decided to just take Tuesday off, relaxing, sewing (me), and bike riding. We also caught up on the mundane chores of laundry and grocery shopping. We arrived Wednesday afternoon at Medora campground, the subject of the next posts.
We arrived by 11:00 or so, and we didn’t wait in line much for parking. While the parking crew was getting us ready, I heard them saying they were short volunteers, so Kevin said he’d help out. That turned into three long days! They really did need the help though. FMCA is an organization for RVers, and they are run by volunteers. Yes, there is a fairly small paid staff, but all the heavy lifting is by volunteers. The parking crew had to help more than 1600 RVs (mostly motorhomes) get through crowded interior roads and park in a spot that matched what they had requested at signup – 30 amp electric, 50 amp electric, dry camping (generators allow), handicapped, etc. It was a lot of work, but he seemed to enjoy it.
My volunteer job was driving a golf cart that picked people up and took them wherever they wanted to go in the grounds. There were also trams that went on defined routes, but most people preferred us since we went point to point. Kevin also drove a golf cart when his parking duties were done after the third day.
As for the FMCA rally itself, it was informative, wet, muddy, enjoyable meeting friends again, and the entertainment was quite good. The problem was that the headliner entertainment was in an arena with miserable accoustics! We heard Captain Sullenberger (Miracle on the Hudson) gave an outstanding talk about integrity and leadership. There was no mention of the current president, but one could see that Sully wasn’t a fan. He really demonstrated the best that our military academies produce. Sully for a President! (I wish). Like nearly all membership organizations, FMCA is going through a membership decline. They are trying to address an aging membership by adding some younger entertainers, and those were very good. Mostly they were local country or bluegrass batsman and I liked them all. The headliners were two dance bands playing mostly older music and the Spinners who would have been great fun if not for the lousy sound.
Since we had heard some of the seminars before, I did get a bunch of sewing done. I finished the individual strips for my planned kitchen rug, and it is now ready to be assembled. I hopefully will get that started soon.
We left this morning, and I was ready for something other than 10’ between motorhomes! We found it at Lewis and Clark State Park on Sakakawea Lake, but far up river from our Corps of Engineers spot from just before the river. It is lovely.
Note I didn’t take a picture of the FMCA spot – it was just gravel in a parking lot.
We are heading to Williston tomorrow to do more Lewis and Clark stuff, so more to come then.
We are spending three nights at the Corps of Engineers campground at Lake Sakakwea, 80-ish miles south of Minot, ND. It is an absolutely gorgeous campground with huge sites, asphalt and concrete sites, lots of grass and trees.
We arrived on Thursday, and went spent time Friday and Saturday seeing historic sites nearby. We started at the North Dakota Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center outside of Washburn, ND. Very, very nice historical presentation and some replicas of outstanding art, both modern and 1800s.
Sculpture in front of the Lewis and Clark Interprative Center
Once we got ourselves oriented, we went to Fort Mandan, a recreation of the fort the expedition stayed in during the winter of 1804\1805. There was a charge for the interpretive tour, but the guide was really, really good.
Looking at the enlisted men’s quartersFront of the recreated fort
The fort had had a lot of furnishings to show how they lived.
Eight enlisted men lived in each of these small rooms plus the atticEnlisted quartersRoom where Clark and Lewis lived
We then went to the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site a few miles away. This is the same group of Indians whose dirt/log buildings we saw recreated at Fort Abraham Lincoln a few days before. This recreated building had a number of furnishings in it and was slightly larger.
The original inhabitants built caches for food both inside and outside the lodgesHistorically accurate artifacts were all aroundDefinitely bigger than the others we sawThe lodge from the outside
It was a foggy, dreary morning. We noticed how many boats were fishing the outlet of the spillway, and we drove down it a little to see.
There was a LOT of water coming over the spillway with 4 big gates open
Today we went back to Washburn for a late breakfast and tried to see the local county museum. Silly us didn’t check the times though, and it wasn’t open. Then we decided to go to the “ big town” of Garrison to get some groceries before heading to the FMCA rally in Minot. We had a fascinating detour through the Audubon National Wildlife Refuge. The building itself was officially closed, but the cleaner let us in. I didn’t want to spend too much time inside, but we did do the Auto Tour. It was gorgeous, and I saw this huge hawk. I am not sure what kind it is, but it was so big I thought it might be a a juvenile eagle. This is a picture I took at as big of a zoom as I possibly could manage.
I will put the name of I find out what it is!
We had pork chops in the sous vide along with potatoes mixed with onions and mushrooms. Lovely. Tomorrow we head to the rally pretty early so we don’t get caught into the line here for the dump station. They only have 2 dumps for the 90 or so campsites here!
We moved yesterday to the Bismarck KOA. Nice place where we are going to stay for two nights before heading to a Corps of Engineers park at Lake Sakakwea (yes, it is really spelled like that). What a surprise! Shady sites which means no satellite, but we get decent OTA channels.
Unusual to have a pull through shady site with full hooks
Today we went to Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. Great place with lovely views and interesting history. First the scenery along the Missouri River.
The park is set on a small hill overlooking the Missouri. The first settlements known were Mandan. They lived here in a town of up to 1500 people known as Slant. Sadly their numbers were decimated by small pox brought by Comanches in the mid 1700s and the site was abandoned by the time Lewis and Clark arrived in 1805. A few of their earthen lodges have been recreated.
A view from the hill above Slant
A bit closer via the path from the Visitor CenterShowing the construction details
I think the thick earth walls would make this a much more comfortable place to live in the hot summers and the cold winters.
The next people to settle were American infantry soldiers who were to protect settlers and rail readers. Not a very intelligent move to send infantry to protect against some of the finest horsemen ever known! Fort McKeen was built in 1872 on a tall site overlooking the river.
One of the reconstructed infantry blockhouses
When the US decided to send cavalry, the fort was moved closer to the river and renamed to Fort Abraham Lincoln. The first commander of the expanded fort was George Custer (until he went to the Little Bighorn). A number of buildings have been reconstructed.
Reconstructed barracksOne of the many horse barns. This was the only one reconstructed since the river took the foundations of many of the othersEven the old post cemetery was still thereReconstructed barracksA distant view showing some barracks and Custer’s house, tucked next to the barracks on the far leftOne of the many horse barns. This was the only one reconstructed since the river took the foundations of many of the othersThe old post cemetery
The fort was abandoned in the 1891. As usual it was the CCC who built the park visitor center (a lovely stone building), shelters, and roads. They also built the Ft. McKeen blockhouses and the Mandan village. The other buildings were built by a combination of park employees, volunteers, and the ND National Guard.
Oh, and we went by Scheel’s to buy me a new pair of walking shoes. Woah! Those things are expensive, but hopefully they help me walk more.
First, I threw away the baby bubble I was sewing. After thinking about it overnight, I decided it had too many errors for me to finish. Sigh. I will use a different pattern next time.
We left Ely on Sunday, driving to the Bemidji KOA. Nice enough place, but quite different than the privacy we had at Fall Lake. Then again, I have full hookups so we are doing laundry! We had dinner at a local bar and grill. I had fried bluegill, and it was great. Kevin’s brisket was so so, but at least the portions were big enough they covered dinner tonight too. We had a busy day driving the Lady Slipper Scenic Byway. It begins about 25 miles from the campground in the Chippewa National Forest, though it starts in the town of Cass Lake. Sadly the little museum in town was closed, but we got a view of the recreated logging camp across the street from the museum (housed in an old railway depot).
Recreated logger’s buildingThe museum was located in the rail depotNice building
We continued into town to the old Forest Service Superintendent’s office, a spectacular log building that I didn’t get a picture of! I did take a picture of the plaque, a very poor second. The building was built by the “boys” at the Rabideau CCC camp that we visited later in the day.
We enjoyed an absolute riot of wildflowers along the route. Here are just a few pictures. Note the dragonfly and bees around the flowers.
There was a restored CCC camp, dubbed the most complete in the US. It got lucky because a few years after the CCC abandoned it, it was leased by a university as a field study site until the mid 70s. It then sat vacant (and vandalized) until the early 2000s when the restoration started. The “boys” at Camp Rabideau planted something like a half million trees in the first 3 years. They also built campgrounds and buildings all over the area.
We also drove over the Mississippi which is much, much smaller this far north!
We took a big detour to “The Lost 40”, a patch of old growth pines now preserved as a state protected area. They were amazing! Look at the video since there is no way I could get a picture showing the entire thing.
Back at the campground we have discovered all the other motorhomes parked near parked near us are on their way to the FMCA rally too! I will end with a (poor) picture of Paul Bunyan and Babe, a requirement if in Bemidji. Tomorrow we head to the Bismarck KOA a couple of days before on to a COE campground at Lake Sakajawea in North Dakota.
We arrived in Ely after a short 3 hour trip from Askov. Roads were good without much traffic. We were set up in the Forest Service campground at Fall Lake by 1:00. The site is very deep, but the entry road is narrow. Luckily Kevin got us tucked in just right with room for the Jeep up front. The site has 30 amp electric. Water is available at random spigots or when you check in (we came in full), but the dump is in town at the visitor center for a $5 fee.
Lighting was bad, but the shade is lovely
We headed to town for the Blueberry Festival. This is one of Ely’s big activities, and parking was crowded. There are vendors for food (we had a great gyro) and artisans of all types. I ended up buying a lovely silver necklace and matching earrings with a dragonfly design.
We also stopped by Piragis, a local outfitter, to buy a new daypack. Turns out we left mine at home. I won’t complain if that is the only thing we ended up forgetting.
Saturday evening we met friends at a party. Some of these folks I met online 20 plus years ago, so it was nice to catch up. Sunday we had breakfast at Britton’s, an institution. We also went to the local Presbyterian Church, nice! We then went back to the Blueberry Festival. This time the food was Indian fry bread, another yummy. We also saw Pat Surface do two sets. He is a local standout singer/songwriter even though the sets were mostly covers of other artists. Monday we had lunch at Boathouse Brewpub. In keeping with the Blueberry Festival theme, we had nice burgers and blueberry beer which was quite good. we hung around the campground. I also sewed much of the day – a cute little bubble for the new grand baby. The sewing that day went fine, but I am ready to tear my hair out today! I am learning to make buttonholes on the new Viking, and I am fairly frustrated. We will see what I feel like tomorrow! Either I will finish the bubble, or I will throw it in the trash. The odds favor the trash right now.
Tuesday we went to Duluth. Lovely trip, but I didn’t take many pictures. We have been there so many times that it just doesn’t seem necessary.
Lake Superior looking quite calm
Wednesday day we had breakfast and chai teas at The Front Porch, a local coffee place. We had a lovely lunch at the new Insulated restaurant. Definitely a nice upscale option. I also did some cooking for friends who came over in the evening – Dutch Oven cobbler with fresh gala apples, flan in the Instant Pot, and two types of dip along with store bought chips. As usual, I made too much! I also had some very interested fauna.
Thursday we got out by 8:00 am and headed to Grand Portage National Monument, a long 150 miles away. The drive was nice though, either through a mixed deciduous forest or along the shore of Lake Superior.
Superior was still in a mild mood
I wish the pictures showed the hillsides better. Besides the green of the forest there were riots of wild flowers – yellow, white, shades of pink.
One of the highlights of the trip was lunch at the historic Naniboujou Lodge. It started out as an exclusive hunting and fishing resort, but now is a public facility. Oh my the colors! They advertise the fireplace as weighing over 200 tons, and it is huge! Oh, and the food was very good, much like it would be in an upscale eatery at a national park – lots of locally sourced items.
The National Monument was pretty good too, and well worth the drive. Native history interspersed with European history, primarily about the fur trade that drove the Grand Portage. I thought I had taken a number of pictures, but I was sadly quite wrong. I would like to spend a lot more time both at the monument and the towns we went through along the shore. Oh well, there is always time for another trip!
Today we again had breakfast and a chai at The Front Porch before I came back to sew. Ugh. I decided to quit for a while and update the blog while deciding to not cut everything up! Hope for a better mood tomorrow.
