We've covered alot of miles over the last month... as we headed north from Vail at the end of August, with a quick jog into Wyoming.. enroute to Montana. We plan to spend the rest of our time in Montana until we settle down for the winter.. with the hope of finding something by Oct. 1. We've still not figured out where that will be. With the possible exception of Pagosa Springs... Colorado is out. Too expensive, crowded, and just not the right feel for us. Hard to explain, but you know when it's right, and it didn't really feel right anywhere there.
The weather is also changing. August was an unusually cool and wet month in the Rockies. There were times when the rain did come a little more often than I would've liked, but I personally enjoyed most of it... Debi wanted her sun and warm. The good part of this is that there are literally no forest fires. A rarity for August in the Rockies... Usually, it's pretty smokey and dry. We have had a couple days of a little smoke, but it's been from fires all the way in California (funny, today is by far the smokiest day this summer) We've had a handful of below freezing nights, too... and some fall color is already starting in a few places.
After Vail, we stayed near Steamboat Springs for a quick stop at the Yampa River State Park... then the next day we drove ~5 hrs at Lander, WY. Lander was our first real stop when all of this began back in June. We stayed at the same little place as back in June, and the people remembered us. Debi got to tour the Sinks Canyon area, which she missed last time as she was traveling on business while I stayed here.
Sinks Canyon, Lander WY
After 2 nights in Lander, we were ready to go get our mail in Cody, WY... ok, kind of a joke. We have our physical address in Cody at the UPS store... where it is fwd' to wherever we want. We did go in and get our mail, but we also wanted to spend a couple nights in Cody.
Cody was a little bit disappointing. I was expecting this wild west town with cowboys riding down main street, and maybe a bull or two chasing a group of tourists. Ok, maybe I set the bar too high... but still, the downtown looked like any other downtown you'd see across the west. Not terrible, but nothing special either.
We found a cheap place to stay with full hookups... unfortunately, it was right along the highway.. and we had the only site left.. facing the road. Still, it got pretty quiet at nite, and the dogs has a big grassy area right outside the door.
While in Cody, we wanted to do a few things... mainly, visit the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. This gigantic facility is actually 6 museum's in 1. Of special interest was the Plains Indian Museum. We spent a good 90 minutes looking around this section, and it was pretty impressive. The collection of artifacts was astounding. We were both a little bummed there wasn't more of an interpretive history of the era though. Next we went to the Natural History part... but only spent a few minutes through here. We are both very familiar with alot of this part. Then, we went over to the Western Art museum. This was pretty cool. There were all forms of western art. We wandered through the Buffalo Bill part, and peeked into the Firearms Museum... and then headed out. The facility is really first class, and worth the $18 fee.
That night, we went out for Chinese Food... I know, I haven't had Chinese food in ages.. and the buffet we went to, while getting good reviews....reminded me why. It's just not that good. Now that we were in a food coma, we decided to hit the Cody Rodeo. They have it every night all summer. The previous 3 nights were rained out.. which has never happened in the 76 yrs! It was $20 to get in, and we settled down with couple beers to get the Chinese food taste out of our mouths. Neither of us had really ever been to a Rodeo. We both enjoyed it... it was obviously catered to the tourist, or first timer... but that was cool, because it gave us a nice intro to the Rodeo world. It was fun... bull riding, bronco riding, barrel racing, steer roping, and team roping.
The next day we took a drive up to the Dam, and over towards Yellowstone.. but not into the park. The Dam was pretty cool, and the drive was pretty... but it was time to head back and think about heading north.
After one more stop at the mailbox the next morning, we were off to Red Lodge, Montana.. about a 2 hr drive north and just over the border to this old mining/west town at the base of the Rocky Mountain front. Red lodge is interesting, as it sits in a little river valley created by... what else, a river. At first, it feels a little clausterphobic, but the town is virbrant, and there are plenty of trees and a big sky... so it wasn't too bad.
Red lodge has a great ski area nearby, as well as the famed Beartooth Hwy, reputed to be one of the most beautiful drives in the USA. We drove around and town and generally liked what we saw. It was touristy, but not overly so.
There was only 1 RV park in town, but we wanted to camp in a USFS campground, if possible. The problem was.. most of the campgrounds were south of town in the canyon... so cell reception was limited. Luckily, we found a great site by the river, and with our booster, were able to get a decent signal.
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| river/stream running through campground |
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| turkeys are lucky I was half asleep when they waddled thru the campsite |
The better part of the next 2 days we spent driving around, including up the Beartooth Hwy. WOW.. it was indeed spectatcular. It was a little spooky driving the switchbacks up the side of a 3,000 ft cliff.. but there were guardrails the whole way. We went up and over the 11,000 ft pass down to near Cooke City, MT.... then took the Chief Joesph Scenic Byway back around to Red lodge to complete a day long big loop. This highway was almost as scenic as the Beartooth.
Back in Red Lodge, we went out for a nice dinner and listened to a great duo... which we ended up buying their CD. We also got our our indian flute and played that a little.
Red Lodge was nice, and is on the short list... but again, VERY limited rentals.
We head north again and drive 3 hrs to Bozeman. Some are more excited about the drive than others...
Walmart parking lots are free for overnight parking, and we only planned on staying overnight, since Bozeman rentals are really expensive... and the town is just too big for our tastes. It's also nicknamed Bozeangeles... so that tells you something right there.
Our next stop is 2 hrs away at White Sulphur Springs.. a small town of around 1,000 in the middle of nowhere. Helena is the closest town at about 90 min.. as well as Great Falls and Bozeman a touch further. We arrive to the Labor Day Rodeo... what the heck? We went and had fun.. it definitely had a different vibe than the touristy rodeo in Cody, but the concept was similar. We enjoyed a few beers, sitting in the sun for a couple hours.
The only rv park was just outside of town, and was really nice. We got half off with one of our passports, and stayed 3 nights. The park was 3/4 empty, so we had plenty of open space. Town was not all the impressive. Many shops vacant, and just not alot to do. They have a hot springs in town, so that was on our list to do while we were here.
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| our campground |
We also wanted to go see Great Falls, and the Missouri River. That was a long day, as the drive went up through the forest (and passed a nice little ski area called Showdown) and out onto the great plains. The city was pretty big by Montana standards. it's amazing how even a town of 50,000 can seem like a million to people like us that that have gotten used to small towns. The mentality is that same as a big city.. fast and rude drivers, and all the other annoying things you find in the city. That being said, the town was fine... and has alot of history, so it was cool to visit.
We went up to the Lewis and Clark Museum on the river, and that was awesome.. the best one I've ever seen. Then, over to the Great Falls... which was lame. I forgot they put a huge dam right behind the falls, and the water is mostly diverted through the generator/pump station.. so in other words, it was disappointing. Still, if you used your imagination, you could envision Lewis and Clark coming upon this and going WTF.
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| The Great Falls |
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| Outside Great Falls |
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| Eagle Falls of the Missouri |
Back at camp, I make some dinner... some frozen smoked tri-tip. and we have the last our our HP Pino. The sunsets are amazing in big sky country!
That night, we head over to the hot springs for a late night dip. It was very nice and relaxing...and only $7.
We are now off to Helena, a town we've never been to. We find a great BLM campground on the east side of the valley, about 20 minutes from the city. It sits on a lake, which is actually a dammed section of the Missouri River. Easily the nicest BLM site I've ever seen. While it has no hookups, it's got water and nice bathrooms as well as a paved walking trail around the campground and lake.
Helena is the state capitol of Montana. Again, a very historic town, and it shows. Lots of old building and one way , sometimes windy streets. We drive around town and find a brewpub, called Blackfoot River Brewing... good beer!
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| St. Helena Cathedral |
Back at camp, we relax and watch a little TV, as well as have a good dinner. Debi makes some cookies, and the pups all have the CET chews.. life is good.
After hitting Costco and Walmart....
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| I don't think so... |
....it was time to head off for the 3 hr tour to Philipsburg, an old mining town with a ski area and lake nearby. We actually stopped here on a ski trip a few years ago... it wasn't the best experience, but we wanted to give it another shot. We got a great USFS campground and site right on the lake. There were even moose in our campsite when we got back one evening.
The weather has been great, and we've enjoyed our several days here. I went to an old ghost town about 4 miles from P-burg up an old bumpy road. That was pretty cool. We also drove around alot looking at the area. It is beautiful, with the only real downside is the beetle kill in the forest. It's really bad here. We had a pretty cool house on 5 acres on the lake, but they wanted too much money. Again, virtually no long term rentals in the area. It's a shame, because I could see us staying here. We will keep an eye out though.
So I guess it's off to the Kalsipell/Flathead Lake area tomorrow. The weather is supposed to turn Fallish, with snow even predicted pretty low down in the mountains. We will probably spend a good deal of time in that area house hunting. The only other place left after that area, would be the Bitterroot Valley, which is just south of Missoula. It's a pretty nice area... and has a good amount of rentals.
The pups are ready to go... DOGPILE!.. errr.. and cat.
Well, as I said at the beginning... I wanted to try and keep this relatively short.... not sure that happened, but I had a great connection tonight... so it seemed shorter... so there you have it!
Til next time...
Debi, Todd, Merced, Sierra, Dixie and Cheddar.
