visiting ghost towns in Montana

Once again quite the learning experience…..I just spent 45 minutes writing about today and adding pictures and forgot to hit publish! UGH! So here we go again, maybe I will be a bit quicker with my thoughts. Gary just finished splitting wood and is getting a fire started, it is a cool 45 degrees here. BRRRR….

Best part of the vacation is not having to be anywhere anytime, Gary and I travel so well together. We were planning on getting an early start but ended up waking around 8, took our third shower of the trip and enjoyed a long walk along the Madison River. It was a beautiful morning after a loud evening of rainfall, can’t remember it raining that hard for so long a period but when we awoke it was beautiful out! While Gary was getting things all hooked up I enjoyed talking to my sister, Kathy, wishing her a Happy Birthday today, oh, to be so young!

We left Ennis, Montana and headed toward Butte, Montana, stopping at two ghost towns from the gold rush era. Pretty touristy as you can see from the pics I included but fun. The house looks like a perfect haunted house for movies doesn’t it? Made our way to the lake we are camped on and it began pouring rain…..nice that it stopped but it is certainly chilly…got to join Gary by the fire! Donner is beef stew with homemade biscuits that I had froze..quite delicious! Cell tower close to the campground so I can add to my blog!IMG_4093 IMG_4095IMG_4099 IMG_4092 IMG_4091 IMG_4089 IMG_4088 IMG_4086 IMG_4085 IMG_4084 IMG_4083 IMG_4082

would love to continue all night but……

the adventures of tomorrow require me to get some sleep. It is great to have a connection and share just a few of the pictures and even fewer stories with you. The Tetons were magnificent…pictures will be coming! Have been kayaking three trips already and trying to do at least one short hike a day, longer hikes will be happening in Canada. We are going to go to some ghost towns tomorrow in central Montana then back to the national forest with no technology but will be staying with some friends over the fourth and maybe even a chance to catch up on next monday evening.

The RV is great – I’m just so glad Gary likes driving it! It still is a bit intimidating for me but I will have to try it on the open highway. We have been living the cushy camping style so far – only one place didn’t have electricity. The forest campgrounds in Idaho have electricity so that makes it very nice. Mosquitos are tenacious – always hard to coat yourself with insect repellant after you just showered. ( I’ve only showered 3 times since I left a week ago:-)

Hope everyone is having a good summer so far. I will be in touch very soon.

I’ll leave you with a picture of our home away from home – our rolling cabin:campsite-Mesa Falls Scenic byway

a week into the trip

Wow…trying to figure out this blog stuff has been a bit taxing! First off, I didn’t realize I would need a strong internet connection, my goal was to get away from technology, what was I thinking????Now I have got to work backwards and then insert my pictures – by the end of the trip I will have it together. We are in Madison, Montana, probably about 75 miles or so outside of West Yellowstone. This is big fishing country…fly fishing! It is beautiful and all the rivers and streams are full of guys in their waders throwing out their fishing lines. I think this is where they filmed the Bridges of Madison County with Meryl Strep. can’t remember what the movie was about but I would bet it was about fly fishing!

A rainy overcast day today but we got up early and kayaked down a Fork of the snake river. It is called the Big Springs Water Trail and is a favorite of people visiting Yellowstone so it is usually very crowded. With the cloudy weather today Gary and I had it all to ourselves. Gary was in front of me and a osprey dipped down into the water about ten feet in front of him and snagged a fish…I tried to get a picture as you can see…also say pelicans and bald eagles. Pretty cool….and that was the midday event today. ImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImage

Leaving Parker

What a nice change to wake up to an alarm  to go on vacation. Left the house this am around 5:30, a chilly 46 degrees but clear skies! Mountains look so cool with the cloud layers tucked into the mountains and the sun just hitting them.  My first post of the trip – will add a picture soon!