Our Visit to South Dakota

In case I have forgotten to mention a couple of things:

There are a lot of Cottonwood Trees here. During the Spring, they bloom and then the blooms fall and it looks like it's snowing, in fact, they call it "summer snow". It piles up in some places and even looks like snow.

Another thing was when we drive through Belle Fouche, SD, we found out that it has been determined that this is the geographical center of the U.S. They actually have a large placque in the center of town.

One of the places I regret no going to was Phillipsburg, SD. It seems to have a lot to do and see there and if we ever come out here again, we will be sure to visit this town and the area around it.

Now to continue with our journey...
Rapid City and Beyond

Today is July 2 and we are leaving Rapid City which has been a great experience for us. We arrived here on June 25 and settled in very quickly. We took the afternoon to go into Rapid City (known as the City of Presidents - there are bronze statues of 35 U.S Presidents in the downtown area. Then on to Walmart to pick up the items we needed. Since it was the weekend, we decided to just relax (you’d think that’s what we do all the time, huh?) Not so, we still have a house to clean. laundry to do and groceries to buy.

It started raining while we were at Walmart so we decided to head home. On the way it really started raining hard....then it started to hail. We had to pull over because we could not see where we were going. The hail was marble size and it sounded as though it would come through the roof of the car. There are a couple more pictures at the end.

We made reservations to take a tour on Monday (hopefully there won’t be too many children after the weekend) to see all the things that tourist want to see when in this area.

In the meantime, we decided to take in some of the things the tour would not cover. We stopped at the Scandanavian House which is really a gift shop with items from Scandanavia. Very different and a little costly (which is to be expected). While there she took a map and drew the route we should take to see the Chapel in the Hills.

We left there and started out. Well, if you know me, you know I could get lost in a box even if I had a map. Somewhere along the way we made a wrong turn (not at all unusual for us) and ended up taking a scenic tour of the area around Rapid City. It actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We went by this beautiful lake (Pactola Lake) which is man-made (as are most of the lakes in the area …so we understand) It is beautiful and is a national park area. (We were and have been in and out of the Blackhills National Forest) Don’t know for sure how large this National Forest is but it seems to go on forever. While there, we asked the Rangers how to get to the Chapel in the Hills….we were not too far off course.

On the way, we saw a sign advertising Thunderhead Underground Falls and decided to see what it was. It turned out to be an old gold mine shaft (we think this is the first place gold was discovered in South Dakota). The underground falls at the end of the shaft. It was not well lit and would have been much better if it had been. Pictures were so-so. We had to walk down the mine shaft which is just a tunnel into the side of the mountain (dark, and wet as the water from the falls ran beside the walk we were on.. Here again, it would have been much better if it had better lighting so we could actually see the walls and some of the things that were pointed out on various signs along the way.

When we went back outside, we realized how cool it was inside the mine shaft… we looked at the falls formed by the water coming out from the underground falls. It was a prettier falls than the one that was underground.

After leaving the underground falls, (we think it was over priced but we’re glad we stopped to see it) we continued on with our journey to find the Chapel in the Hills.

Oh what a sight it was. The Chapel in the Hills is an exact replica of the famous 850 year old Borgund Stavkirke located near Laerdal, Norway. It was originally built as someone's home but was eventually came under the protection of the non-profit organization. It is very umique in it’s construction. There were no nails visible. The front door is known a the Men's door.

Inside is just as unique as the outside. There is a square hole in the side wall which we understood was to allow the lepers to stand at the hole and hear the sermon. There was also a small door which is known at the women's door. There was an audio about the chapel and ended with music that in my opinion, should have been playing every time the door opened.

Behind the chapel is the “Peaceful Walk” which I can’t begin to tell you how it affected me. It is just a path that goes into the area behind the chapel past the bell tower and there are statues along the way and at each statue there is a Bible verse. By the time we got to the end, I could feel the peace and serenity this path brought me. Extremely worth while taking this walk and feeling the peace come over you.

There is also a gift shop and when you first look at it, there is nothing specticalar about it….that is until you look at the roof. It is a sod roof and there is grass actually growing there. I don’t think that the grass is cut…they just let it grow and it reseeds itself. They have flowers but have some type netting over them so the deer won’t eat everything. (I’m going to try to find some of this stuff when we get back to Texas to see if I can keep the deer from eating my flowers)

There is also a small museum on the property with old relics from the early Scandanavian times.
Our Monday tour started off (they picked us up at Rushmore Shadows) with a pancake breakfast and since I normally do not eat pancakes, I have to tell you these were pretty good. We boarded the bus at 9:00am, met our driver/tour guide (Pastor Bill Martin) and started off.

The first stop was at Mount Rushmore, with plenty of scenery and information along the way. Upon arrival we were instructed where we should go first (we wanted to have our picture taken with Rushmore in the background), We toured the museum and found out a lot about how it all began and saw a lot of tools that were used.. There is a video but we ran out of time and did not get to see it..

As we left Mount Rushmore, our driver kept a running commentary about what we were seeing and threw in facts that we would not have known otherwise. He told us about the “pigtail bridges” which were designed by a man with a third grade education.

Well, let me tell you about the tunnels along the way. At one place we were allowed to get off the bus and take pictures looking through the tunnel at Mount Rushmore. Awesome! In fact, traveling along the highway, you can see Mount Rushmore from several different places which gives you some idea of just how large it really is. We stopped at one place and our driver took our picture with Cthedral Spires in the background. (He did a good job too) At the entrance of one of the tunnels we were stopped waiting for our turn to go through the tunnel and guess what, some young boys (I did not see them but presume they were young) JUMPED from the top of one side of the road across the bus to the other side of the road. Apparently this is something that is done all the time. Don't really know if it's actually planned or not.

This is a shot of Cathedral Spires. Pictures cannot do any of the scenery justice.

We traveled along Iron Mountain Road which leads from Custer State Park (named for George Custer) and went through three granite tunnels which frame Mount Rushmore in the distance.

We had lunch at State Game Lodge where two of our Presidents spent time. (You could order from the menu or they had a buffet, good food and reasonably priced).

Well, as everyone knows, once you have lunch and get back on the bus, your eyes just automatically close. The driver put on some instrumental music and gave us about 24 minutes to nap or whatever. After our short nap, Pastor Bill pointed out that we were approaching another tunnel. Keep in mind that these tunnels are only about 9 feet wide and you know how big our bus is. (the newer buses cannot take this tour because they couldn’t get through the tunnels). These tunnels are along "Needles Highway".

Along the way we came across the "begging burros". They ate pancake pieces (driver had brought from our breakfast) from our hands and we saw them stick their heads into cars looking for some treat or another. We only saw one little one and the mother was very protective.

We also saw deer and great herds of buffalo/bison. (more than we had seen in Yellowstone). We drove by another beautiful lake (Sylvan).

On we went in the Black Hills toward Crazy Horse Monument. Personally, we were very disappointed. The carving of the monument is going very slowly even though they say it is the World's largest Mountain Carving - now in progress. (It was begun in 1948). It will be huge when it's completed. There is no date for completion. The museum there was interesting and filled with indian relics, but all in all it was extremely commercialized. There were indians selling their hand crafted merchandise as well as a large gift shop.

Oops, didn't mean to put two of these on the blog.

We reboarded the bus and headed back to Fort Hayes for a Bar-B-Q dinner and a show. The food was good but the show was better. The musicians were very good and some played several different instruments. Did I mention Fort Hayes is where some of the movie "Dancing With Wolves" was made.

These are a couple of shots taken during the hail storm.

All in all is was a long day but one we are so very glad we took.

Our Stay In Medora, ND

What can I say about Medora, ND. It was to be a stopping off place since our reservations in South Dakota are not until June 25. We only planned to stay three nights and here we are staying for a fourth night.

Medora was founded in 1883 by a young Frenchman, The Marquis de Mores who named the town for his bride, Medora von Hoffman.

A little about where we are staying. The name of the campground is Red Trail and it is a family owned, family run place. The sites are long but narrow. They are gravel and grass and very few have a concrete patio.They are full most of the time. They have live music EVERY night. A man and his wife (Vern and Rita Davis) play and sing country music (softly). They do not blast you off the map with loudness. Vern plays the guitar and drums and his wife, Rita, plays the keyboard and bass. She plays the bass instrument with one hand. Both are multi-talented. They play from 6:30 to 9:30 pm.

When we arrived and got things set up, it was still early so we decided to look around town. Medora is small and it's claim to fame seems to be the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This apparently brings in a lot of visitors every year and it appears to be growing (no Walmart though). We went to visit the Information Center to get the lowdown on what to do in the area. Then we went to the Medora Museum which is full of relics and memorabilia about Roosevelt. Rooselvelt grew up in North Dakota and they are very proud of this fact. He attributes his interest in nature and conservation to his time spent here.

At home and as with everything else we have encountered, our router went out and after many conversations with our friend, Norm, it was determined that we needed a new router. So-o-o, the next day we took off to Dickinson, ND (the nearest Walmart - 33 miles away) to get one. No problem there as Walmart had what we needed. Decided not to attempt hooking it up that night and just went to hear the music. We ended up spending many hours trying to get things back to normal...and partially succeeded. Have just decided to wait until we get somewhere we can get expert help to completely get things back to normal.

The next day we took the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We watched the short video (most visitor places now have a short video to get you started) and then took off on the 36 mile scenic loop. The first thing of interest we saw was what is called "Prairie Dog Town". Having never seen a live Prairie Dog, I was enthralled. They were scooting around or just sitting up everywhere.

As we continued on, the came across buffalo (they're called bison here). They don't seem to pay much attention to cars going by. There were plenty of overlooks, such as the North Dakota Badlands Overlook and these are like overlooks everywhere. Beautiful, beautiful scenery.

We were beginning to get discouraged because we still had not seen the wild horses or deer. All of a sudden, the wild horses appeared. Not right up to the road but off in a distance. The first one we saw was a black stallion on top of a hill and below was a herd of mares. WOW, it was like something you seen in the movies. After that, we saw many more but the first one was the most impressive.

As we were about to exit the park I looked out the window and there was a beautiful deer. She looked as if she was sitting down and did not move even when we stopped the car. AND, she was pretty close to the road. What a sight she was. I think she was just doing her business and would not be interrupted. At the end of the route, there was another Prairie Dog Town. Still can't get over those little creatures.

On Monday, we went to the "Ticket Office" to purchase tickets to the Pitchfork Fondue and to see the Medora Musical. Tuesday was Senior Day and we got a discount which we'll take any time we can get it.

We went to the Cowboy Museum and looked at all the cowboy stuff that the museum had. It also had rodeo memorabilia since a couple of cowboys from ND had won national recognition and a couple of the girls from ND had been named "Miss North Dakota Rodeo Queen". (or something like that)

We went to the Pitchfork Fondue at the Tjaden Terrace which was an experience in itself. They put steaks on pitchforks and cook them in vats of oil (fonduing they call it). It was something to see and there were a lot of people there. You could get a 12 oz. ribeye, 9 oz New York Strip or you could have the "hotdog buffet". The Coal Diggers band played while everyone found a seat. Long picnic tables and benches were set up. They started serving at 6:15 sharp and you went through a line (in fact they had several lines going) got your plate, your veggies, fruit, beans, potato salad, bread and then picked up your steak AND they had really good brownies for desert. It was quite an event we are so glad we did not miss.

Since the Musical was at the Burning Hillls Amphitheatre next to the Tjaden Terrace and started at 8:30 pm, we decided to hang around. So glad we did. We saw more wild horses and the first elk we have seen anywhere since we've been gone. Beautiful, big and has huge antlers. There were three of them that just seemed to hang out munching on grass on top of a mountain right at the theatre.

To get to the seating area, you could walk down a ramp most of the way then take an escalator or elevator down to seating area. THEN, you had to walk down the steps to get to your seat (keeping in mind that you also had to walk back up the steps). They also had courtesy golf carts that would take you down the first level.

Now to the Medora Musical. I find it hard to describe the incredible job these performers did. They dance and sing (I got out of breath just watching them) and are extremely good. The Coal Diggers band support the singers/dancers.

As with all performances, they begin with The National Anthem. From there it was all up hill. Every song and every dance was superably done. The costumes were colorful and I loved the boots the ladies wore. They could square dance, clog and even tap dance. It's hard to tell you just how much we enjoyed this

Next to the last part of the performance, they brought in the Peking Acrobats....if you have never seen these young people perform, you don't know what you have missed. They are so talented and their balancing is unbelievable. They are just incredible.

The last song was I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN.

We are so glad we came to Medora. It is a beautiful place and the 36 mile South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and its scenic sights we will not soon forget. It seems every where we go we find more and more things we want to remember and tell people about.

Oh, did you know they have "summer snow" here? Well that's what they call the fuzzy stuff that comes off the cottonwood trees. Apparently it is so heavy that it piles up like snow along the streets and other places. I try to remember everything we see but I do forget so if I find I have left something out that I feel you may be interested in, I'll update you next time.

One other thing that I just thought of....when we first arrived here and set the clock on the microwave, I used my cell phone. Well, low and behold, I found out that we are sitting on the boundary of the Mountain Time Zone and Central Time Zone. I tried to reset my cell but alas, it just went right back to Central Time. Just had to e-mail the family and tell them we were still two hours behind them.

If you read anything in our blog and think we may have a picture to go along with it, let us know. I am still trying to figure out how to put all the pictures out there for everyone to see if they want to. I'll keep working on it.

Hope you've enjoyed reading about Medora, ND and if you ever get a chance to visit here, you should do so.

We're off tomorrow for Rapid City, South Dakota and new adventures.

Things I forgot again

One thing that I definitely want to include in this blog is 0ur meeting with Jon Beartusk, a Cheyenne Indian who works part time at 7th Ranch. He is 35 years old (even though you would never know it looking at him). The thing about Jon is not only is he an artist but his art is done with magnifying glasses and the sun. He works mostly on plywood. He does portraits and is amazing. In 2008 (before the elections) he did a portrait of Obama which he hopes he can present to the President some time this year. If you are interested in learning more about Jon and seeing some of his work, go to

www:danceofthesungallerycom

I hope you will be as impressed as we were with this young man. Unfortunately, all his work is much too large to put in the coach so we have to be satisfied in knowing that we met him and marvelled at his work.

Continuing in Montana and Wyoming

Before I forget again, I want to mention a couple of things that came to mind since I posted the respective locations.


There is camping throughout Yellowstone National Park. I'm pretty sure it is on a first come basis. We did not check this out since we were going only for the day.

The campground we stayed at in Bozeman, MT was Sunrise RV and we really enjoyed our stay there. The folks who own the park are extremely friendly and will bend over backwards to make your stay there a good one.

The major thing I left out while we were in Salem, OR is that we crossed the 45th Parallel which passes through Salem's City Limits. (This is halfway between the North Pole and the Equator... in case you're like me and didn't know).



Now, on with continuing our journey.

We left Bozeman heading on to Garryowen, MT and the 7th Ranch RV Park. What a surprise this has been. It is or was actually a ranch. They have horses (which are plentiful in Montana) and cows, of course. The sites are gravel and one side has to be raised a good bit (we are on a mountain side). We were able to get set up and level and it has turned out to be a delightful place to be, even if we are out and away from anything. Also, I have to mention that we are on the Crow Indian Reservation.

After we got everything set up we headed out to see theBuffalo Bill Museum. It is small but has a lot of artifacts on display. The indians played a very important part in the history of the West so there are also a lot of indian artifacts exhibited. It is small but very interesting.

At Custer Museum. which is also small but very interesting we found out more about the war with the indidans. There is a lot of controversary about Custer's last stand (whether if protocol had been followed by soldiers under him, could Custer have been saved).

We went to the cemetary where early soldiers are buried and it is laid out like Arlington Cemetary in Washington. Around the monument are markers where soldiers were buried where they fell. We understand that Custer remains was dug up and moved to West Point.

We left the coach at 7th Ranch and I took Chris to Cody, WY for Father's Day. We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast which was a wonderful place to stay. The owners, Sondra and Terry, were very friendly and outgoing.

We went by the Visitor's Center (which we do when we go into a new city) to obtain more information about the area. We purchased a combination ticket for a trolley tour and a two day visit to the Musuem (which is actually five musuems in one...even though one is closed at present).

We had time before the trolley tour so we visited the Indian Museum and the Gun Museum. (The largest gun collection in the world). I got tired of looking at guns and Chris said he saw guns that he didn't know existed. Actually, it was a good thing we did this first as it was really raining and this kept us inside and dry. We did take pictures of some of the statues through the windows and some you can see the rain on the windows.

We are so glad we took the trolley tour as we got a lot of facts about Buffalo Bill that otherwise we would not have known. For example, he and his wife did not get along. So when he died there was a disagreement on where he should be buried. Some say he is buried in Cody and others say he is buried in Denver, CO. It was not just about Buffalo Bill but other people of the old west (did you know Annie Oakley was born in Greenvlle, Ohio where our youngest daughter was born).

The trolley took us out through three tunnels (the longest they said was where one high school held their prom.) It certainly was big enough and was well lighted and if you know me, you know that I DO NOT LIKE TUNNELS. We also went by the dam.

The tour took us around the city of Cody where we saw beautiful homes (some very expensive and some in the medium price range). Then back to the museum where we still had time before they closed to go through the Buffalo Bill part of the Museum.

Here again there were a lot of stuffed wild animals, western and indian artifacts, as well as posters and other information about Buffalo Bill and other western personalities. Did you know that Annie Oakley was born in Greenville, Ohio and she and her husband are buried there? I didn't know that but I do know where Greenville is since our youngest daughter was also born there.

The rain had let off so we went to watch the shootout. We chose our seats carefully when we looked at the sky and saw dark clouds heading our way. We made sure we were under the cover of the porch at the famous Irma Hotel . We sat with our refreshments and waited not willing to give up our seats just in case.

Well, we chose wisely. Just as the time for the shootout was to happen, it started raining "cats and dogs" (as the old saying goes). People who had paid for chairs down front close to the happenings rushed to get under the covering. It rained really hard for the next ten to fifteen minutes during which there was a discusion whether the shootout would be called off or not.
It slacked off and things proceeded just a few minutes late.

If you've been to a shootout anywhere, you know the outcome of this one. The only variance was there was a lot of humor in this one.

Afterwards, we went to Zapata's for a Mexican meal which was very good and in line with what we have paid in other places.

Enough about Cody, WY. After a peaceful night at the B&B, we headed back to Garryowen, taking a "scenic route" we had been told about and which we saw on the map. This route took us up across the Bighorn Mountains and also Bald Mountain, where we were up 9,000 to 10,000 feet around curvy roads. At some places going up the mountains, it looked like we would reach the sky. There was snow in a lot of places.

We kept watching for wild animals (which we were told we might see) and we did see some but they were a long way from the highway...so no pictures. The only one we got a good picture of was a moose (maybe "Bullwinkle"). We did see a deer; he was ready to come acoss the road in front of us...don't know if the "deer whistles" stopped him or not but he stopped and went the other way.

We finally arrived home and collapsed. It was a long day and Chris and I were both exhausted; Chris from driving and me from sitting in the passenger's seat where I could look straight down where there were no security fences. It was NOT a gradual down, it dropped down.

Now we're getting ready for the next part of our journey to Medora, ND.

In to Big Sky State of Montana

After the day we spent coming across the Bitterroot Mountains, we were so very happy to stop for the night. We found a new Super Walmart not too far off the highway and after asking permission to stay the night, set up in their parking lot. This was a wise decision on our part as there was a restaurant we knew about right across the road so we were able to have a good meal and I didn't have to cook or wash dishes. What more can I say. We thought it might be hard to sleep because of the noise, but the only thing we heard after we went to bed was an airplane that sounded like it was landing on top of us. (this was over in the morning sometime)



We got up about 5 am and decided to get on the road (we were still traveling on Highway 12 but did not know what this route would take us through. It turned out to be a very pleasant ride through another mountain range. This one led us up and across the "Continental Divide" at over 6,396 feet. There were a couple of steep downgrades but we made it.



We arrived at our present location (Sunrises RV Campground) in Bozeman, MT. We got here so early that we were able to get set up, go out to lunch at Perkins and then go see the grizzly bears about ten miles away. This particular grizzly bear is huge. We understand he has been in movies. We only saw him stand up on his hind legs once but did not stay long enough for me to get a picture.



It has rained this afternoon but we are determined to continue on with our sightseeing. Tomorrow we go to Yellowstone.

We got up early to stormy skys and rain. It was hard to try to get enthused about going to Yellowstone in the rain so we decided to find the mall where the movie theater was located. On the way there we decided just to go on to Yellowstone as planned. We did not have the the big camera or the water I had intended to take when we went there. But, we did have on our rain coats.

We traveled highway 287 which everyone had told us was the scenic route to take. There were a lot of places to stop and read about this area. To begin with we entered Gallatin National Forest. We followed the Madison River stopping at the Ranger Station where we learned about the severe earthquake in 1959. Apparently this caused a massive landslide and measured 7.5 on the Richter scale. The ranger station was set up with a working seismograph to measure earth tremors which they told us were going on a lot of the time. Scary huh?

The history about this earthquake is something else. One of the most amazing things was that the rock slide dammed up the Madison River to form a lake (Earthquake Lake) which filled in three weeks and was 190 feet deep and six miles long. When the earthquake happened it cut off sections of highway 287 trapping hundreds of people who were vacationing in the area. Twenty eight people lost their lives.

There's a lot more information about this area but we must go on to our destination... to see "Old Faithful".

We entered West Yellowstone and the little town there reminded us a lot of Tombstone. Visited the Chamber of Commerce to check on tours, which were costly and we were told you would need to make reservations at least a day in advance. Needless to say we opted to just drive ourselves. We did not hang around town very long as we had gotten a late start and didn't want the day to get away from us. We stopped at MacDonalds to grab something for lunch and headed out.

From the entrance to West Yellowstone to Old Faithful is approximately 30 miles. The road goes along the Firehole River which is beautiful and full of fly fishermen. Don't know if they were catching anything or not but there sure were a lot of them.

The lady at the Chamber had told us to watch for animals and to stay at least a football field length away from some of them. She also said to watch where others were parked along the side of the road. That is where we would see some of the wildlife. The first thing we saw were the buffalo (we saw more of them than anything else). Since we had seen buffalo before, we decided they are still big and dirty looking (especially now when they are losing their winter coats).

Next we saw a lot of cars parked so we stopped too. The sight was something to behold and I wished (not for the first time) that I had the big camera. It was a bald eagle sitting on her nest. I had seen this once before but it will always impress me to see them live.

Onward to Old Faithful.....the first geysers we came to in the Lower Geyser Basin. It looked like steam coming out of the ground, hot and smelly. As we walked around, we saw the Fountain Paint Pot which looked like mud bubbling out of the ground. We skipped the Midway Geyser Basin as we were anxious to get to Old Faithful.

As we traveled on, we saw more buffalo and more fly fishermen. The majority of the fishermen were standing in the water. Don't know how they could stand it as I imagine the water was extremely cold.

Finally we reached the Old Faithful area. We parked and walked around to familiarize ourselves with the area. It is actually a small community-like place. They have lodge/hotel, gas station, gift shop, restaurant, etc.

There are benches set up all around the area where Old Faithful errupts. After our visit to the gift shop where I was able to get my National Passport book stamped, we found a viewing seat on the first row right in front of "Old Faithful's" area. We heard several comments on when Old Faithful would make her appearance. It was anywhere from 40 minutes to 126 minutes between the eruptions. We actually waited the longest span of time which we calculated as being around 120 minutes (it was now about 4:05 pm). There were lots and lots of people (children and dogs too). After it was all over, there was mass exit from the park.

On our way out, we saw a wolf (surprised us so I didn't get a picture). Of course we saw more buffalo (they call them bison) and finally saw elk grazing in the distance. We saw a herd but they were too far back to get a picture of them. We also saw several deer. The deer here seem to be much smaller than the ones we have seen before and they are a buff color.

Well, this was a long day. When we got back to Bozeman, we stopped at Ace Hardware (Chris had another project) and asked where to get good pizza. The young lady told us about a pizza/pasta place (Colombo's) and told us where it was. Good pizza and reasonable.

Today (Tuesday) is a day of rest and getting ready to head to our next destination (I think it's Billings, MT).

Oh, I have forgotten to mention that we are traveling with two potted plants and an upside down tomato plant which now has a small tomato on it.

Washington and Idaho

We arrived at Granite Falls Premier RV Resort in Clarkston, WA and it is certainly a five star resort. It is located on the Snake River (covenanted spots face the river) and right behind Cosco. Across from Cosco they are building a Super Walmart which should be finished in September. The location was near shopping, restaurants, grocery store, etc. A great place to stay. We were treated each day to a continental breakfast and a paper delivered to our door. WOW, what more could you ask for.

We lunched at the "Rooster" restaurant right on the Snake River. You know, you forget how nice it is to sit outside, eat a nice mean and meet new people (which we did). The people we met were a man and his wife who own a nearby pawn shop and a couple of their friends. Nice and friendly people.

We met a man camping across from us who happened to be the Manager of the Flying J in Lewiston. His family was not with them as they have school age children and are trying to sell their home. He came over every evening when he got home from work to sit and relax and chat for a while. I guess Chris and I just attract the right kind of people as "Carl" was outgoing and very friendly. We enjoyed meeting him and add him to new friends we have made on this journey.


We met up with a friend from high school and went to visit the Nez Perce Museum which is actually in Idaho across the river from Clarkston, WA (about two miles). We watched a 20 minute narative about the Nez Perce indians. There was a lot of history regarding the Nez Perce indians in the museum. The museum is full of indian relics. The bead work on the clothing is mind boggling. I guess I have to copy something from one of the brochures about the Nez Perce indians since I know nothing about them at all. According to the brochure

"The Nez Perce War of 1877 symbolizes the dramatic collision of cultures which continues to shape the West and its people. A native people were forced to flee their homelands in a futile attempt to avoid warfare and live their own way"

The biggest thing is the Lewis and Clark treak across the mountains and I'm sure valleys from Oregon to the Pacific Ocean. Highway 12 is suppose to be the trail they followed even though today we are traveling on paved highways and not in snow up to the gazoo and we are not forced to eat "colts" to survive.

We had lunch at Blues & Bar-B-Q which in no way compares to our North and South Carolina bar-b-q. BUT, we have to give the "A" for trying. The cook and waitress were very friendly and prices were in line with what we expected.

Next day we went to the Asopin Museum which houses some really old items plus some replicas of a one room school house, an old barn, and several other old structures. We met a gentleman there who told of his grandfather who lived in A TERRITORY, and TWO STATES but never moved. He was an older gentleman and time permitting it would have been very nice to sit down with him and listen to some of the tales he could tell us.

We had lunch at the Deli in Asopin. They made their own pastries and bread and the food was outstanding. So were the pastries.

While there we struck up a conversation with a single gentleman who was also lunching there. He had a very outgoing personality, was single, and was riding a motocycle. He came over to our table and we chatted for a while. (I did mention he had an outgoing personality didn't I?) After finishing our lunch we all walked outside and stopped to admire his Harley. Well, let me tell you something, he had a "scary" addition on it. He had a vibrator added to the companion seat and he controlled the switch .... can you believe that? AND to beat all, he was camping at the same Resort we were in. (He came over later that evening when we got back and what can I say, his toe nails were painted RED and he had on sandles to you couldn't miss them.

We said goodbye to our high school buddy and left Clarkston the next day, crossing into Idaho heading for our next stop... Missoula, MT. But first let me tell you about Idaho. Here again we traveled Scenic Highway 12... (Lewis & Clark Trail) The highway goes along the base of the mountains and is very wiggly (lots of S curves). It did not take long before we were looking at the map to see exactly what these mountains were. We discovered we were going around the base of the Bitterroot Mountains in Clearwater National Forest. Almost the entire way the road followed the Clearwater River. This was an absolutely fantastic route (if you forget the curvy road). The river flowed extremely fast with lots of rapids and when we got close to the top (or whatever it was) we began to see canoers and rafters. I'm sure the water was ice cold and hope none of them fell in. (Better them than me). It was definitely the scenic route to come across.

Next stop ... Montana

Beautiful Oregon

We left the redwoods of California and headed to Oregon. We stayed a couple of nights at Lincoln City, OR where we watched a young lady "blowing a glass float" to be used at her home. Since no one was with her, I took pictures of the various steps with the hope that we could somehow get the pictures to her for her memory book. We also visited one of the casinos but found out the food was not as good as in Pahrump neither was it as inexpensive. A;so made our usual deposits.

Then we headed on to Salem to visit with our friends, Dave and Marlene Kohanes and Bill and Margaret Cook. We stayed at Hee Hee Illahee (when translated means A Place of Fun.) Dave and Marlene had already planned a trip out of town so we did not get to spend much time with them

However, believe me when I say Bill and Margaret really showed us everything that visitors would want to see in the area. We traveled up to Columbia Gorge which is full of beautiful water falls. On the way, Bill pointed out Mt. Hood which was covered with snow. We did not get close to Mt. Hood as we were going in the other direction.

We went to visit an Iris farm and I do not think I have ever seen such beautiful Iris and every color under the sun. The one I was most impressed with was rust colored with large blooms. We visited a peony farm and here again there were so many different colors, it was unbelieveable. One was red, not the magenta or pink or white but a fire engine red.

We left the beautiful flowers to visit covered bridges and you might know this was the one day that they had the worse storm they have had in ages. The wind blew and it really rained hard. (Should I say here that when we got home Chris had left the window on the driver's side of the car down).....Wet, wet, wet. ...Oh well, what's a little water.

We went to Mount Angel and the Monastery (Margaret said this was to make up for going to the Brothel in Pahrump, NV). Before arriving at the Monastery, we stopped in the town of Mount Angel where at 11 am, 1 pm, 4 pm, and 7 pm. the bells begin to chime, the music in the Glockenspiel tower began to playand the doors open and it was like watching a giant clock. Each of the figures that appeared after the doors opened represented a specific period of history in this small town. It starts with the Native Americans who came to Mount Angels to communicate with the Great Spirit and is followed by figures depicting the founders of both the civil and religious communities. We're told they also have a huge Octoberfest celebration here.

Well, on to the Monastery. It was like walking on the campus of a university. EXCEPT, you did not see any students... As twelve noon approached the bells began to toll (never did find out why they tolled so long), we did see the Benedictine Monks approaching for their prayer time. We were able to walk in the "lobby" and watch while the Monks sang "across" the room to each other. We did not stay for the entire thing as there were other places we wanted to visit. On one side of the campus were three bells which we understand were brought over from Engleberg in Switzerland.

There are also Benedictine Sisters but they live in the town of Mount Angel and help with unfortunate children and other unfortunate citizens in the town.

We went to a Fish Hatchery where we saw where fish eggs were incubated and read how they progressed to become fish and were sent to various places. We saw Steelheads, Chinooks and salmon going upstream in the locks at the hatchery. They were being counted by man sitting in front of a narrow window with a computer and counted as the fish came through the narrow lock. Some of the Steelheads are tagged so they can trace them from the time they leave the hatchery until they return to spawn. One Sturgeon in the Sturgeon Pond was ten feet long and 450 pounds. There was also a trout pond and I have never seen so many fish in one place.

Well, on to the next adventure with our friends. Margaret arranged for me to attend a Stampin' Up card meeting with her up-demonstrator. It was a pot luck lunch and we made six cards (or I should says items since one was a trio of boxes in a basket. What fun I had and what new things I learned.

Bill and Chris went to the "Evergreen Aviation Museum" specifically to see the "Spruce Goose". Chris said it was so large he could not get it on one picture. Imagine that!

On Sunday, Chris and I went to Church in Salem and then Margaret gave me an preview of what she was going to do at her card club the following Saturday. I made cards and you cannot imagine how good it made me feel to stamp and glue again.

I hope I have not left out anything but this was a busy, busy week which we enjoyed so very much.

We left on Monday morning heading Eastward.

The Redwood Forest

WOW! I cannot tell you how impressed we were with the Redwood Forest. Even though we have big trees in North Carolina, the trees here are huge. Not only do they have a big trunk, they are also extremely tall and straight.

We stopped and walked through Lady Byrd Johnson Grove. We were fortunate enough to run into a volunteer from the ranger office who very graciously walked with us and told us about all the various plants along the way. He told us about the different trees and how the redwoods could sometimes heal their own outer bark when damaged.

We stood in a large tree that was burned out in the center but still lived. We saw where trees had fallen over and other trees grew out of this fallen tree. It's absolutely amazing how these trees overcome damage from fires and cuts and still live. If the top is damaged or lost, then other "branches" take over and grow so that the tree is actually several trees at the top which increases the height of the tree.

One thing the volunteer pointed out was "the widow maker". This is a curved branch which had fallen from the top of a tree. Since it fell such a long way, when it hit the ground it was embedded sometimes two fee. If it was a man cutting down trees, it could very well make his wife a "widow".

We actually drove through a tree at Klamath, California. This was an experience in itself. We drive a small Toyota Rav 4 but had plenty of room to get through. This is called "Tour Thru Tree" and there is nothing else there except the tree.

We went out to the harbor at Crescent City and saw seals (a lot of them) just resting on the dock. We could get pretty close to them and they didn't move too much. They are extremely loud. People did not seem to bother them and the locals are so use to seeing them that they just ignore them.

Before leaving California we went to go to Klamath, and visit the "Trees of Mystery" and ride a tram up to the observation tower where we could look out over the redwoods and get a really good view of the range of mountains covered with redwood and other kinds of trees (all very tall).

At the entrance was a huge (I keep saying huge because everything around the redwood forest is very large) is a carving of Paul Bunyon and his pet "Babe' (a blue ox). Each had been carved from a single tree. As we walked thru the area, we found that there were carving everywhere and these carvings not only were carved form a tree but had been done with a chain saw. Someone was very talented.

On the way to Oregon from California, we stopped at the Seal Cave along Highway 101. We had to ride an elevator down 200 feet to the cave. It was cold and wet. There was an entrance from the ocean where the seals come in, get on a rock in the cave and apparently "rest" for a while. Since this is a big attraction I presume that the seals stay around here year round.

Now let me tell you about the fog along the coastline (Highway 101 California to Oregon). It appears to be ground fog and is sometime so heavy it is hard to see very far in front of you. We went to Subway for lunch and while sitting there, the fog rolled in and it looked like smoke blowing through, then it was gone.....just like that.

The flowers here are just beautiful. There are flowers along the roads, some I can identify and some I will have to get a book and look up. A lot of the flowers grow wild.

If I find I have left out sanything I will add it later.

We're getting ready to leave the coast of Oregon and travel inland to Salem to visit friends for a week and then on to Clarkston, WA to visit a high school classmate.