Day 14 Glacier National Park

Off to drive through Glacier National Park on the 55 mile Road to the Sun.  It is the first day it has been open this season.  A beautiful, sunny day we started early (for us) at 9:30 a.m. 

 (To enlarge a photo click on it, to super-enlarge it click again)





Scenery is spectacular.

A mule deer meandered by for a late breakfast.  She didn't seem too concerned with us.

We ran into this fellow on his way to the Arctic Circle.  He was cooking his breakfast at the side of the road.  His bed was still made up in the back seat of his car.  We're all pretty sure we will run into him again along the way.

This guy was actually in the parking lot of the Visitors Center at Logan's Pass.

A Park Ranger had to shoo him across the road away from the mob of tourists armed

with cameras.

Some of his friends were waiting higher up.

The last of the snow was removed only yesterday, thus first day of road opening today.

Melting snow along the road was like driving through a waterfall.

And speaking of waterfalls....they are everywhere

A quick stop at the Lake McDonald Lodge.  Red open-topped touring cars carry tourists across the Road to the Sun.  (We enjoyed driving our own car so we could stop wherever and whenever we wanted)

Boat trips on Lake McDonald were also available

A rest stop to stretch our legs and breathe in the clean crisp air.

This Falcon was sitting on the river bank fishin' as Heidi would say.

Beautiful wild flowers everywhere you look.  These are called beargrass.

What a great country we live in.  We'll be leaving it tomorrow for Canada....but we'll be back soon!!!!!!  

Good Night Y'all

Day 13 - Great Falls, MT to Glacier Nat'l Park, MT

           

Not a good way to start the day. Water heating system was leaking

and was expecting to spend a day in the shop.

Luckily, Lon found the problem and it was an easy fix.

 Lon can be a pretty handy guy to have around.

We've had several people ask "Where does Heidi ride?" 

Now ya know. Toys in the floor, comfy pillows and big windows on 3 sides.

Just don't get much better than this. Unless we stop at a lake of course.

She's about to go to sleep.

 Pink clover. Picture doesn't do justice





 Rest stop.

A couple of horses escaped.

Gail is going to teach us all what to do in case of a bear encounter.

We have a bear bell and bear spray. We're good to go!

 . We were told tomorrow (hopefully) is the first day Going-to-the-Sun-Road opens this season.

They just got the winter snow cleared off the road!

Is that timing or what? Watch for pictures!

Day 12 Little Bighorn to Great Falls, MT


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Our home for the night at 7th Ranch RV Camp, which is a working ranch.
You can see forever in Montana. I know now why they call it "Big Sky Montana".



We started our day with a tour of Little Bighorn Battlefield.
General George Custer and 262 of his men, strongly out numbered, were massacred on June 25, 1876.
The Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians lead by Chief Sitting Bull were fighting to preserve their traditional way of life as nomadic buffalo hunters. The US Army was carrying out the Grant Administrations instructions to remove the Lakota, Sioux and Cheyenne peoples to the great Sioux Reservation in Dakota Territory.
These are a couple of headstones scattered around the battlefield. They are placed where each soldier or warrior died that day.
The white headstones are US Army and the red are for the Indian warriors.

A couple of modern day natives take a ride. Not uncommon to see men and women on horseback in Montana.







Left our camp at 11:30 headed for Great Falls. It was a long 334 miles.

Arrived at Dick's RV Park around 6:30 pm. Tomorrow on to Glacier Nat'l. Park.

Day 11 Sturgis to Little Bighorn Battleground MT

The 302 miles to Little Bighorn starts with cleaning the windshields, so there's not so many bugs in the pictures. Then a 9:15 departure.

10:00 AM and we are in Wyoming. After a fuel stop and another 45 minutes, there's Devil's Tower.

Devils Tower is a monolithic igneous intrusion, or in other words, it is the core of a volcano exposed from erosion. It is located in the Black Hills in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River. It rises dramatically 1,267 feet above the surrounding terrain and the summit is 5,112 feet above sea level.
 

 Devils Tower was the first declared United States National Monument, established on September 24, 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Monument's boundary encloses an area of 1,347 acres

Pam and Lon took the 1.3 mile trail around the tower. Pets are not allowed on the trail, so Gail, Heidi and I didn't have to go.

                                                     Heidi watched for their return.

The Tower (Lakota: Mato Tipila, which means “Bear Tower”) is sacred to several Native American Plains tribes, including the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne and Kiowa. Many Native American legends have been passed down through time, but this legend seems to be the most popular.
One day, an Indian tribe was camped beside the river and seven small girls were playing at a distance. The region had a large bear population and a bear began to chase the girls. They ran back toward their village, but the bear was about to catch them. The girls jumped upon a rock about three feet high and began to pray to the rock, "Rock, take pity on us; Rock, save us." The rock heard the pleas of the young girls and began to elongate itself upwards, pushing them higher and higher out of reach of the bear. The bear clawed and jumped at the sides of the rock, and broke its claws and fell to the ground. The bear continued to jump at the rock until the girls were pushed up into the sky, where they are to this day in a group of seven little stars (the Pleiades). The marks of the bear claws are there yet. As one looks upon the tower and contemplates its uniqueness, it isn't hard to imagine this legend as fact.

Approximately 5,000 people climb the tower each year. Since 1936 there have only been 5 fatalities, 3 of them on the way down.

Back on the road again about 1:00. A small 2 lane headed for Montana.

                                                                  Really pretty country.

We did make it to Montana, but Pam didn't get the picture of the sign because Lon was driving too fast. Gail missed  it also. Something about a camera malfunction. Whatever.

We made it to the campground at 4:30. Pam made dinner, then cocktails and Montana sunset.

Tomorrow, The Little Bighorn Battleground then on to Great Falls, MT and Dick's RV Park.

Day 10 - Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Deadwood

Today, Saturday, July 9, 2011

                             The more ambitious of our gang went for an early (8:45) morning walk

                      After breakfast and morning chores it was off to see one of our National Treasures:

Mt. Rushmore is truly awesome and inspiring.   Taking 14 years to complete at a cost of almost $1 million of which half were private donations and half government funding.  

The walkway and the State Flag entrance weren't there years ago. Nor was the parking deck we had to park in.   It was just George, Tom, Ted, Abe, us and an asphalt parking lot, all free.  Now it's $11 to park  your car.   More on that subject later.

You can see the Presidents from afar and don't have to pull in and park, which is probably what we should have done.

So on the road again we headed to see how the sculptors of Crazy Horse were doing with their project.

Funded totally by private donations they have been at this since 1948 (63 years).  Of the 4 of us, 3 of us had seen it before and agreed they're not making much headway.

                        Hmm.... I wonder why?   Maybe to profitable to just keep working on it?

No, friends and family.   We didn't make the same mistake again.


We decided to head over to Deadwood and catch a bite to eat since it was so crowded the previous night.  Along the way we ran into a local athletic contest.

                                                  So you know, we had to stop.

                                                           Pam ran into an old "Flame"

                                         It was fun but moved a little slow so we moved on.

We made it into Deadwood and found a place where we could eat on the patio and bring Heidi with us.   A gunfight broke out in the middle of the street during our dinner.  Fortunately, none of us were hurt. 

History buffs may know that Deadwood is where Wild Bill Hickok met his demise during a poker game.  Reportedly his hand was a two pair, Aces and Eights, now known as the dead mans hand.  Bill and Calamity Jane are buried just above Deadwood in Mt. Moriah cemetery.  We drove up there and they are now charging admission to the cemetery!!!   Everybody has there hand out, the Feds, the Indians, even the dead.  We turned around and headed back.  Don't these people know we're on a fixed income!

Tomorrow we head for Devil's Tower in Wyoming and then Little Big Horn in Montana.