Glacier National Park/Canada

Journey End,

Fri, 06 Oct 2023 14:00:00 -0700

One last time we packed up and moved on. It was a good thing too. The universe was giving us so many signs that it was time to head home. This morning we woke up and found that the dogs had peed on both carpets and the electricity stopped working in the back part of the trailer. We get it…we’re going home! It was quite a transition too. For most of the trip we had been bundled up in our winter coats and clothes…today temperatures reached 100 degrees! It was a great trip…it’s hard to believe we’ve been gone almost a month! We saw beautiful country…both in the US and Canada…met interesting people and learned new things each place that we went. We had challenges, but were able to overcome them. We are thankful for our time together and that we are fortunate enough to be able to take these trips. Until next time!

Blue Heron Campground-Klamath River

Lake Shasta

Too hot!!!

Hornbrook, United States

Thu, 05 Oct 2023 14:00:00 -0700

Today was the last full day of our adventure. Tomorrow we go home. We started the day meeting yet another couple who was at the campground with their vintage trailer. Such lovely people! They hold that meetup each year. I think I’d like to go back next year! When we left the campground the GPS took us on a lot of back roads before putting us back on the freeway. Steve didn’t care for it, but I loved it. It’s really beautiful country…lots of fields and small towns. We finally got back on I5 and it was also quite scenic…certainly not the I5 I was used to going to LA! We are now in a lovely RV park right on the Klamath River. We can hear the water so that is the sound I’ll go to sleep with. While we were eating dinner (it was dark outside) I heard a strange noise. At first I thought it was one of the dogs but it turned out to be a herd of wild horses roaming through the campground. The campground host said it was a group that had probably escaped through broken fences during the fires. At any rate, it was definitely something we’d never seen before. The only downside to this idyllic site was that when we turned on the lights inside, there were about a million bugs! We were going around like madmen smashing them! Oh well, we must take the good with the bad! Oh, I forgot to mention that today was the first day of our trip that I could actually wear warm weather clothes! Temps were in the 80’s! Tomorrow in Walnut Creek it’s supposed to be 95 degrees!?

One last walk in Champoeg State Park

Driving to Hornbrook-colonial town

Driving to Hornbrook

Driving to Hornbrook-Pumpkins!

Driving to Hornbrook

Driving to Hornbrook-Interesting combination

Driving to Hornbrook

Blue Heron RV Park, Hornbrook, CA

Champoeg State Park, United States

Wed, 04 Oct 2023 14:00:00 -0700

Today was our “take a break from driving” day. We did have to change sites and our new one came with a sewage smell but it was a beautiful campground and we were able to get out with the dogs and stretch our legs for a nice, long walk and enjoy the autumn leaves in the park. Some additional vintage campers came in and I got a tour of the 1954 Spartan. The lovely owners, Brad and Tiffany Lloyd, were kind enough to give me a tour. What a labor of love! We had a late lunch/early dinner at a restaurant near by and came back and just relaxed. This area is largely agricultural but also very scenic. Winding roads with trees on either side creating a canopy effect. I’m glad we got to experience it. Two more days of driving and we’re home.

Coming by back from dinner…not sure what his deal was!

Champoeg State Park - They do take their Halloween Theme seriously!

Champoeg State Park - 1954 Spartan

Champoeg State Park - 1954 Spartan (Brad and Tiffany Lloyd)

Champoeg State Park

Champoeg State Park - Argosy

Champoeg State Park, United States

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 14:00:00 -0700

After what started out as a pretty miserable day, it ended up being pretty terrific. The misery began when I dumped an entire chocolate protein shake on the table and my lap. We were only spending one night at the KOA in Burlington, WA so the plan was to have breakfast and pack up to go. Well, that plan got changed. The dogs had gotten us up early so instead of having my delicious shake, I took a shower and when the laundry opened, washed everything that had gotten dirty from the spill. Silver lining…hot shower! When we got going we hit tons of traffic around downtown Seattle. At least the weather cooperated with no rain. We made it to the campground and it’s lovely. I asked Steve to see if we could stay another night. The weather is supposed to be nice and it’s a lovely park. We can stay but we’ll have to move spaces. While we were setting up two vintage trailers pulled in…one is directly across from us. Steve went to the store and the person with the vintage trailer asked for some help with his awning. He gave me the story on how he came to have such a classic trailer. It’s a 1954 30’ Spartan. Apparently, there will be a get together for people with vintage trailers this weekend! Too bad we’ll miss that!

Somebody needs to get out of the way!

Driving to Oregon

Driving to Oregon-Don’t know what this is but it looks good!

Driving to Oregon-Notice anything “off” about this picture?

Driving to Oregon

Champoeg State Park, OR-1954 Spartan trailer

Champoeg State Park, OR-Silver Streak

Champoeg State Park, OR

Champoeg State Park, OR-Silver Streak

Burlington, United States

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 14:00:00 -0700

Today was our last day in Canada. We decided that if we could get along by staying at campgrounds and RV parks with power, we'd just head home and have people we know work on the trailer. We also decided to leave our RV park a day early. When cars and trucks started leaving at 6:00a.m., and not quietly, we'd had enough. We found a place south of Bellingham, WA. It was a long day of driving...made worse by rain...but we're on the last part of our trip and looking forward to getting home. Lilly started feeling better so that was a very big relief. As I said, it was our last day in Canada and I have to say, I was pretty disappointed when we came through the border...there was no "Welcome to the United States" or anything like that. It was very anticlimatic. I very much enjoyed our time in Canada. It's a beautiful country. The roads are so smooth and well maintained. The scenery is spectacular. I saw little to no garbage anywhere. Nothing on the side of the road, in parking lots...anywhere. On to Walnut Creek!

Kamloops campground

Kamloops campground - industrial area where the campground was.

Driving to Washington…in the clouds

Driving to Washington

Checkpoint Charlie

Back in the good old USofA!

Kamloops, Canada

Sun, 01 Oct 2023 14:00:00 -0700

Today we woke up and it was 30 degrees outside and 45 degrees inside the trailer. It became very obvious yesterday that our batteries were on their last legs so unless we wanted to run the truck all night, we just would have to rely on our comforters to stay warm. Luckily the comforters worked like a charm. We packed up and headed to Kamloops where we are hoping to get the trailer patched up enough to get us back to Walnut Creek. At this point it looks as if we're going to be limited to RV Parks where we can plug into shore power. The drive to Kamloops was just beautiful. It was on the Yellowhead Highway and I can see why it has that name. The trees along the highway are all so brilliantly yellow that they almost hurt my eyes! With the majestic mountains in the background, it was a truly beautiful drive. We landed at our RV Park that had a 4 1/2 out of 5 star rating. Well, I think I might give it a 2 1/2 out of 5 star rating. There is electricity and we back up to a river which is nice. However, it's part of a mobile home park in an industrial area. The showers and washrooms are "adequate." We had considered maybe we'd stay an extra day or two to explore the area...I think instead we'll go straight to Bellingham and maybe explore that area instead. Another unfortunate part of the day is that Lilly seems to not be feeling too well. She has been very lethargic and did not eat her dinner tonight. Hopefully our list of items needing to be taken care of will not include a visit to an emergency vet.

Driving to Kamloops

Kamloops camp site

Kamloops Silversage campground - view from trailer

Kamloops Silversage campground -across the River

Kamloops Silversage campground - area where the campground is

Kamloops Silversage campground

Jasper, Canada

Sat, 30 Sep 2023 14:00:00 -0600

Well, apparently the person in charge of wildlife activities got the message that I was not pleased with the lack of sightings of any wildlife and put the word out that I needed to see some wildlife and fast because I saw multiple elk, a black bear cub, and some goats. So I’ll have to concede the fact that the Canadian Rockies do indeed have wildlife! Our decision to put off touring until today worked out well. It was still cloudy in the morning but we ended up having quite a bit of sunshine during the day. We had a “Guide Along” tour and spent the entire day exploring…with a delicious lunch at the Jasper Lodge Hotel. By the time we got back, we were both exhausted. Tomorrow we head to Kamloops. We’ve completely lost the use of our batteries and have to get new ones. Luckily, we’ll have power. It’s COLD!

Touring Jasper area

Touring Jasper Area

Touring Jasper Area - Wildlife

Touring Jasper Area

Touring Jasper Area - Jasper Lodge

Touring Jasper Area - Jasper Lodge (they put flowers everywhere!)

Touring Jasper Area - Jasper Lodge

Touring Jasper Area - Lake Annette

Touring Jasper Area - Lake Annette (Magnificent Wildlife!)

Touring Jasper Area - Lake Annette

Touring Jasper Area - Maligne Canyon

Touring Jasper Area - Jasper Lodge

Touring Jasper Area - Maligne Lake

Touring Jasper Area - Maligne Lake (Dogs rolling in the snow!)

Touring Jasper Area - Maligne Lake

Touring Jasper Area

Touring Jasper area

Touring Jasper Area

Touring Jasper area

Touring Jasper Area

Touring Jasper area-Jasper Lodge

Touring Jasper Area - Jasper Lodge

Touring Jasper area-Jasper Lodge

Touring Jasper Area - Jasper Lodge

Touring Jasper Area

Touring Jasper Area - Driving to Emerald Lake

Touring Jasper Area - Emerald Lake

Touring Jasper Area

Touring Jasper Area - Miette Hotsprings

Touring Jasper Area - Wildlife!

Touring Jasper Area

Touring Jasper area

Touring Jasper area-wildlife…finally!

Touring Jasper area

Touring Jasper area-wildlife in the campground

Jasper, Canada

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 14:00:00 -0600

Today, for the first time on this trip, there are no pictures to post. We got up this morning to more cold temps…33 degrees…and pouring rain. An executive decision was made to scrap the touring for today and instead do laundry and clean the mud and fur out of the trailer. Good decision. Rains are supposed to be gone tomorrow so tomorrow we tour!

Jasper, Canada

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 14:00:00 -0600

Today was our day to leave Lake Louise and head for Jasper National Park. We really lucked out with our weather at Lake Louise, I have to say. Even though it’s been cold and rainy, today we left weather that was even colder (33 degrees) and heavier rain. It would have been miserable hiking along Lake Louise and all the other places we saw yesterday with today’s weather. Speaking of which, our route today took us on the Icefields Parkway. I’ve used this term way too much on this trip but truly, it was spectacular! Absolutely the most beautiful stretch of road we’ve been on yet. It was challenging because as we got into the higher elevations the rain turned into snow! Luckily that didn’t last long but it was a bit harrowing. The downside was that this was a point A to point B day. That means no stopping to admire scenery and points of interest…which I know there are many. Probably just as well since it was rainy and the cloud level was low which would make viewing difficult. Also, I saw more signs about not feeding the wildlife…that there were aggressive elk in the area, etc. at this point I’m convinced that there is no wildlife in the Canadian Rockies. We got to our campground and again were cautioned about bears and aggressive elk. Have I seen any? No. Although I did hear elk trumpeting…but that could have been the campground host playing a recording for authenticity. Still haven’t seen anything. Oh, I did see some Canadian geese.

Driving to Jasper…Icefields Parkway

Driving to Jasper-Icefields Parkway

Lake Louise, Canada

Wed, 27 Sep 2023 14:00:00 -0600

Today was quite the day! We woke up almost before the dogs did because we wanted to get to Lake Louise while there were still parking spaces. We got there at 7:45am and the first lot was already full! It was about 40 degrees, drizzling and the sun was nowhere to be seen. We had the dogs with us so we did the walk along the lake…about 3 miles round trip. Even with the lousy weather, the sun did peak through a few times and it really was spectacular. What wasn’t so spectacular was the Chateaux Lake Louise hotel. After our walk we had planned to get breakfast at the hotel. Unfortunately, if you’re not a guest of the hotel, you’re basically scum. NO FOOD FOR YOU!!! We ended up going to a hotel in town where they were very welcoming and we had a lovely breakfast. After the breakfast we headed to Emerald Lake, Natural Bridge and Takakaw Falls. In between, we stopped at the spiral tunnels…an amazing feat of engineering. We were lucky enough to get there right before a 3 mile train came through. Because of the way the tunnels are set up, you can see the same train on three different levels. Amazing. Once again, we were told time and again to be on the lookout for wildlife in the areas we were driving through…zilch, nada, nothing! I’m beginning to wonder if the Canadian Rockies have any wildlife at all! We are back now and will get ready to head to Jasper tomorrow. The temps have been so cold that most peaks are snow covered. So far we’re clear on our route. Don’t want to get snowed in!

Lake Louise

Lake Louise -A man and his dogs

Driving to Takakkaw Falls

Lake Louise

Lake Louise -Nice bench!

Lake Louise -Chateaux Lake Louise

Lake Louise

Lake Louise -Chateaux Lake Louise

Driving to Takakkaw Falls

Driving to Takakkaw Falls-Spiral Tunnels

Driving to Takakkaw Falls-Spiral Tunnels (look closely and you’ll see three levels of train…all the same train!

Driving to Takakkaw Falls

Driving to Takakkaw Falls-Emerald Lake

Driving to Takakkaw Falls-Emerald Lodge

Driving to Takakkaw Falls-Emerald Lake…sad dock

Driving to Takakkaw Falls-Natural Bridge

Driving to Takakkaw Falls-Natural Bridge (crazy tourists)

Driving to Takakkaw Falls

Takakkaw Falls

Driving to Lake Louise

Takakkaw Falls

Driving to Lake Louise

Driving to Lake Louise-Crazy switchbacks

Driving to Lake Louise

Driving to Lake Louise-upper spiral tunnels

Driving to Lake Louise

Day is done…even they don’t like CNN.

Lake Louise, Canada

Tue, 26 Sep 2023 14:00:00 -0600

Today was our day to take the shuttle to Moraine Lake. They have closed the road to shuttles only. Apparently during the high season they can have 40-45,000 visitors EACH DAY! Unfortunately, the weather was less than perfect. It was wet from rain the night before, overcast and cold. But a reservation is a reservation so we soldiered on. We did see the sun peak through the clouds a few times, but as soon as it did it was gone…and then it rained. Still, the scenery was spectacular. It’s a lake surrounded by 10 peaks colored a brilliant Turquoise blue from dust from glaciers called “glacier flour.” Simply amazing! Tomorrow is Lake Louise day. For that we’re going to try to get up early…beat the crowds and drive ourselves with the dogs. Fingers crossed there. Although mornings are typically the worst time weather wise, it’s your best bet to get a parking spot!

Hoping for sun going to Moraine Lake.

Heading to the top of the rock pile…caused by an avalanche. More steps!

Steps up the rock pile

The rock pile

Moraine Lake

Moraine Lake-Peaks surrounding

Moraine Lake

Moraine Lake-Sunshine peaking through.

Moraine Lake

Moraine Lake-more sun peaking through

Moraine Lake

Moraine Lake-Interesting color changes when you’re at lake level.

Moraine Lake

Moraine Lake-Souvenir for Steve

Moraine Lake-souvenir for Diane

Lake Louise, Canada

Mon, 25 Sep 2023 14:00:00 -0600

Today was one our easiest drives yet…just under an hour. It would have been longer and more scenic but unfortunately that route was closed for the season. Not because of snow but because the animals need a break from all the tourists. The Canadians are very mindful of the needs of the wildlife. They’ve even built special overpasses for them over the highways. Apparently, there are some animals that don’t like tunnels and wouldn’t use them so they designed overpasses for them. We got to the campground and got set up. To our surprise (and relief since we think our trailer batteries are done for), they had power at the sight! Yay furnace! We made a shuttle reservation for Lake Morain (no cars allowed) for tomorrow and settled in for the night. I was even able to stream the Bengals/Rams game along with The Voice! Good day.

Overpasses for animals.

Driving to Lake Louise

Banff National Park, Canada

Sun, 24 Sep 2023 14:00:00 -0600

Today was our last full day in Banff. Tomorrow we move on to Lake Louise. It was more or less a recovery day for us…For Steve, it was recovering from all of his driving and for me…all of my directing and picture taking! We did go back to a few places that we had to skip yesterday because of all the crowds. The first place was the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel (the castle). What a phenomenal hotel! With rooms starting at $900+ it should be, although when it first opened rooms were $3.50 per room! It was said that people in the 1920’s used it as their vacation home and would arrive with a $50,000 line of credit for a 3-4 month stay! I’m glad we went back. I really wanted to see the inside and it did not disappoint. It really was grand. The next place was the Buffalo Nations Museum and our third was going to be The Cascade Gardens but by this time Steve’s back was begging him to stop so we headed back to camp for some down time. Only about an hour’s drive to Lake Louise tomorrow so it should be a relaxing day. I hope I haven’t jinxed us by saying that!

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel…Marilyn Monroe

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel-pretty cool way to eat dinner!

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel-I like a place that will direct me to ice cream!

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

Buffalo Nations Museum

Downtown Banff

House in Banff

Horse carriage tour of Banff

Banff National Park, Canada

Sat, 23 Sep 2023 14:00:00 -0600

Today was our Gypsy Guide day. We were supposed to have rain so we thought being in the car was the way to go. Again no real rain to speak of 🤦🏼‍♀️. Another glitch we didn’t plan for was that there was an annual 10k/4k race through Banff that was taking place today. We were taking detours and dodging pedestrians most of the day. We persevered though and saw many interesting sights in and around Banff. Our first stop was the Juniper Hotel. Apparently, Marilyn Monroe stayed there when she was filming the movie The River Of No Return in 1954. We had a lovely brunch with a fantastic view and set off to continue our tour. There are several places we had to bypass because there were so many people in town and no parking. We did have quite a bit of stair climbing in our stops so even though we were driving quite a bit, we still got some good steps in. Hopefully people will either be hung over or gone tomorrow and we’ll get an early start. A big win was that every place we went were signs telling us to watch out for wild life. We really had seen none to speak of . Finally, when Steve was coming back from the grocery store he saw some Elk! His first thought was “what a rack!” We’re back at the camp site, I took a nice, hot shower and we’re tucked in for the night. Speaking of me taking a shower, while I was doing that, Steve was at the grocery store. I thought I had everything put away so that certain dogs would not eat what they shouldn’t. Well, apparently that did not work. When I got back, Steve said they had eaten the camp guide as well as some of his dollar bills in his money clip! Good grief!

Banff-Juniper Hotel Brunch…Marilyn Monroe stayed here while filming The River of No Return in 1954.

Banff-Juniper Hotel Brunch

Banff-Juniper Hotel Brunch…Support for Ukraine. Much of their staff is from Ukraine.

Banff-Vermillion Lakes

Banff-Cascade Gardens

Bow River Falls-Banff

Banff-Bow River Falls

Banff-Bow River Falls…so many steps!

Banff-Bow River Falls

Banff-fall colors from 8,000 year-old Aspens!

Banff-Cave and Basin…more steps!

Banff-Cave and Basin…steps again!

Caves and Basin-My new friend

Banff-Cave and Basin…sulphur Springs

Banff-survey marker

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

Banff-Pata-Gucci

Banff bridge

Banff-Tunnel Mountain

Banff-Hoodoos / Tunnel Mountain

Banff National Park

Banff-Lake Minnewanka

Banff-Glacier water from Lake Minnewanka

Banff-Lake Minnewanka

Banff-sad dogs in the trailer.

Banff -Wildlife…quite a rack!

Banff National Park, Canada

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 14:00:00 -0600

Today also added yet another challenge…the generator in the truck is not charging the batteries for the trailer. Not a good thing when there is no shore power or sun for solar power. Thanks to Vinnie…aka Airstream Wizard…we made a quick stop at an auto parts store to get an external battery charger. Plus, we’ve had sun all day so we’re good…for today anyway! We are now in Banff. What a gorgeous drive! I kept seeing signs about looking out for Wildlife and was beginning to think I was being punked. The only “wildlife” I had seen was a few horses and cows. That is until a deer came bounding straight toward the truck but luckily made a quick u-turn. Then we saw a goat walking down the side of the road. So I guess there is wildlife to be reckoned with. We are now safely in our campsite. Not quite as picturesque as our previous one but we’ll have sun to power the solar…that is if the weather holds. It’s also next to the showers…another plus. We (Steve) had a bit of a kerfluffle getting the hitch off of the trailer but I’m happy to say that has been resolved. That combined with low blood sugar is not a good combination.

Glacier National Park, United States

Thu, 21 Sep 2023 14:00:00 -0600

For our last full day at Glacier I took the weather forecasters at their word when they said rain would be moving into the area late morning and decided to put the kayak away. It was sunny most of the day and no rain. Lesson learned. Since kayaking was not on the agenda, we decided to do some touring of the area in the truck. We ended up in Whitefish and had a delicious lunch at the Buffalo Cafe that included their famous Huckleberry milkshake! I have to say, people are pretty huckleberry crazy around these parts! There are roadside stands, huckleberry pie shops, huckleberry ice cream and The Buffalo Cafe had huckleberry pancakes until recently!

Watching Steve

Buffalo Cafe…Whitefish, MT

Enjoying my Huckleberry Shake!

Big Steve to the rescue! Two ladies next to us were struggling with a new pop-up and Steve gave them a helping hand.

Sally sad sack…poor Lilly

Glacier National Park, United States

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 14:00:00 -0600

WHAT A FABULOUS DAY!!! Today was our day to drive The Road To The Sun and it definitely did not disappoint! We got a fairly early start (9:00am) but we were far from the earliest. Even with it being the end of the season and a lot of places closed down for the winter, there were still so many people! I can’t imagine the chaos during high season! The views were spectacular. We were lucky enough to actually have a sunny day which was great since we had rain yesterday and last night. The road wasn’t as scary I thought it was going to be. There are some pretty dramatic drop offs but there are barriers the entire way. What is scary are the numbskulls who can’t drive! There were a lot of those. When we got back I changed and got Steve to drop me off at the boat dock and set off for a quick kayak on Lake McDonald. What started out as a fairly flat lake with a bit of wind turned into a much stronger wind with white caps! Luckily, that was more toward the end of the kayak. What was the most difficult part was coming into shore and getting off with the waves battering me and the kayak! It was not the prettiest of dismounts…suffice to say my butt was quite wet…and cold! I made it though and it was so worth it! Now I’m sitting by a nice, warm fire with a hot chocolate!

Road To The Sun

Road To The Sun-tunnel window.

Road To The Sun

Many Glacier Hotel

Road To The Sun

Kayak on Lake McDonald

Glacier National Park, United States

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 14:00:00 -0600

Today didn’t have the best of starts. We were jolted awake at 5:30am by Daisy throwing up. She did that three more times. So before we left our lovely KOA I took advantage of their laundry facilities to wash the rug. Luckily it is a Ruggable so I could just throw it in the washer and dryer. Another plus was that I met a lovely couple at the laundromat who were from Wisconsin…very near Steve’s cousins. Small world! Our drive to Glacier was a quick one and we got a beautiful campground. There is no one to the right and two ladies in a tent to the left. There are people behind us, but there is a lot of space and a lovely wooded area between us. We can barely see them. So peaceful and serene. Tomorrow on to The Road To The Sun!

West Glacier, United States

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 14:00:00 -0600

Today was another challenging day. We set out for what was supposed to be a quick drive to a campground outside of Glacier Park that was recommended to us. Well, we almost got there. But when we were driving down a gravel road and saw that we had another 7 miles to go, we turned around and headed for a KOA! Before we headed to there I had to “use the facilities.” I went in the trailer, turned on the water pump and headed to the bathroom. All of a sudden when I was right in the middle of my pit stop, I realized the pump was not turning off meaning that water was running. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in a position to stop what I was doing and by the time I got out there, water was everywhere and water was pouring out of the tap. Seems our bumpy ride jarred the tap handle enough that when I turned on the pump, water just started to pour out. We’re still drying things out! Steve put a dehumidifier inside and let it run but apparently no moisture is inside. Phew! I also banged my head on an upper cabinet. Other than that it was a beautiful drive. One thing that makes me kind of sad though is driving through Indian Reservations. There just seems to be so much poverty and slum like conditions. They are another very marginalized group that needs more attention. Good news is that we have a lovely place to be tonight and tomorrow have reservations inside the park until Friday so hopefully the weather will hold and we’ll be able to do some great exploring.

Driving to West Glacier

Driving to West Glacier - this signifies what’s wrong with the world today-no one goes to church anymore!

Driving to West Glacier - Flathead Lake

Driving to West Glacier

Driving to West Glacier-very patriotic!

Driving to West Glacier-Flathead Lake

Driving to West Glacier

Driving to West Glacier-Indian College Campus

West Glacier KOA

Missoula, United States

Sun, 17 Sep 2023 14:00:00 -0600

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to our lovely campground in Stanley, ID. It had been pretty chilly in the morning…the dogs’ water dish had ice on the surface of the water! During the day, however, temps would get up in the 70’s. Perfect. The drive today was just spectacular. We were on Scenic Byways almost the entire day…and they were indeed scenic! We went from beautiful pine forests to mostly rock formations. The geology in the areas is just fascinating! Once again we were lulled into a false sense of security and decided to put our faith in the truck’s GPS and once again, were let down. We were driving along when we got a notification that we were being re-routed because of road closures and the new route added over 150 miles! We switched back to Google maps and arrived at the original time with no sign of road construction, traffic or closures. Geez! Tonight we are at a KOA in Missoula where we showered and I’m now doing laundry. Tomorrow we head for a campground near Whitefish, MT and Glacier National Park. Moving along!

Ice in the dogs’ water dish.

Driving to Missoula, MT

Hot springs… Driving to Missoula, MT

Hot Springs-Driving to Missoula, MT

Driving to Missoula, MT

Interesting graveyard-Driving to Missoula, MT

Driving to Missoula, MT

You see these on Montana roadways…it signifies a fatality-Driving to Missoula, MT

Driving to Missoula, MT

We’re hungry and we know you’re in there dad!

Bunnies everywhere! Daisy and Lilly wanted to be friends so badly!

Stanley, United States

Sat, 16 Sep 2023 14:00:00 -0600

Today was our last day at Little Redfish. Unfortunately, I had some intestinal issues going on so definitively wasn’t up to another hike. We went to town to find some cell coverage and then went exploring at Stanley Lake. Of all the campgrounds we checked out, the one where we landed was the best. We had lunch in town and then came back. I decided to pull myself together for one last kayak on the lake before packing it up. It was a good decision. Even though I’m still not feeling the best, I would have been disappointed to have missed it. For dinner Steve whipped up a pretty delicious pizza and to top the day off we watched “Walk The Line”. Great day! On to Missoula, MT tomorrow!

Morning mist…cold temps

Daisy is laser focused on going out!

Our campground

How clear the water is.

Big Steve’s delicious pizza!

Interesting bus names

Not a motel I would choose!

Stanley Hotel