A Fond Farewell to Memorable Montana

We left Montana on September 24th.  It was quite a summer filled with shingles, smoke, and sweat.  We didn't see the sites as we had planned.  Gary got shingles fairly soon after we arrived, and then that was followed by the forest fires that surrounded us on all sides--the worst being the eastern Washington fire.  And then the sweat was because this was a tough summer, but we learned a few things that we will remember for our next assignment (if we decide to continue working our summers):

1. Never an assignment near a National Park again.  Way too many people populate the area in the prime summer months.  From June 15 to August 15 our 70+ site park was filled to overflowing and we were turning away guests.  With only one person in the office, chaos reigned.  The phones were ringing, guests were arriving for registration, and drive-ins were standing by waiting their turn to register.  Like I said, way too busy.
2. Never an assignment with a new owner.  New ownership means the place is in transition which, at this park, contributed to the chaos of the high activity level compounded by the fact that they had just put in a new, unfinished computerized system which no one really knew how to work and so they decided (initially) to run both the old, archaic, ridiculous manual system along with the new computer system ... NOT!!!  Seriously, I lost it.
3. Never an assignment where the ownership is not on site the whole summer.  I'll just leave this one at that.

Honestly, if it weren't for our wonderful Workamping friends we would have left, but it's the friendships we formed that summer that made Montana memorable.  So, on our last night we celebrated with an appetizer potluck with fabulous homemade Mojitos (courtesy of Heidi).

Mike with the hiking stick that Colette made for him.

 Joe, doing the grillin' honors.

 Heidi marveling at Sadie's desire to find out what was going on underneath the deck.

 Colette and Joe fighting over the grillin' responsibilities.

 Heidi and Gary.

 Mike and Judy -- cheers!

It was sad to say "goodbye" to these dear friends who we will greatly miss, but we know our paths will cross sometime in the future.



We stopped by the side of the road to change drivers and to give Sadie a potty break.  Here are a couple of photos from our journey as we traveled into Idaho.

 

 

 Sadie, contemplating the universe and how she fits into the overall pictures of things.

 Crossing over the border ... goodbye Montana!



Our first stop on our journey to Nevada was in Couer d'Alene, Idaho.  Initially, we thought we would stay two nights, but the weather wasn't all that great and we just weren't "feeling" it.  We did, however, stay at an awesome campground right on the Spokane River which dumps into Lake Coeur d'Alene. 

 

 



We took off for our next stop and headed into Washington.  And there we chose the city of Kennewick ... and that I'll cover in my next blog.

Proverbs 17:17a

A friend loves at all times ...

One last Glacier trip!

As you know, the heavens opened, the rains descended, the smoke dissolved, and the park continued to call our names!  We simply had to go back so we could--one last time--see the grandeur of the region without the hazy pallor of smoke sheltering our views.  And, we were not disappointed.  The azure blue skies highlighted the glacial peaks and gave us magnificent views all along the Going to the Sun Road.

 This mountain is called Heaven's Peak.

We also had the opportunity to view a few of the plenteous waterfalls along the route that were still running so late in the season.

 This short waterfall is right before you arrive at Logan's Pass.



These photos were taken at the Visitor’s Center at Logan Pass and are fine specimens of the glacial horns.  They may look familiar from our other trip, but this time the skies are bright and blue!

 

 

 

At Logan Pass, we turned around and started back down the mountain.  This waterfall (below—sorry for the lousy photo) is called Bird Woman Falls.  It plummets from a hanging valley—a side valley marooned above the main valley floor.  Waterfalls throughout the park follow a similar pattern.  The key to the pattern is glaciation.  A hanging valley is a glacial orphan. When ice filled this scene, the thicker, heavier, main valley glacier quarried faster and deeper than its tributaries. After the glaciers receded, the smaller side valleys were left hanging high above the main valley floor. 

This is Haystack Creek.

 

Our next stop was Avalanche Creek/Trail of the Cedars.  What we really liked about this trail is that it was short enough of a hike/walk for us to take since we had to leave Sadie in the car (national park … no dogs on trails!).  So, anytime we are in a national park and have a short hike that we can take we are happy, happy, happy.  This was a beautiful, plank trail that meandered through the cedars, following Avalanche Creek, exposing us to some incredible beauty created by an amazing Creator.

 

 

 

 

Some of these trees, according to the signage, were young when Peter the Great ruled Russia, Mozart dazzled the courts of Europe, Thomas Jefferson crafted the Declaration of Independence, Sacagawea helped guide Lewis and Clark to the Pacific, the U.S. fought its civil war, and the Wright brothers took to the air above Kitty Hawk.

  

 

 

One of the “side trips” along the trail that went down to the creek had this great display of cairns.  People are so imaginative!

 

 

 

The creek after the cairns.

 

Photo opp!! 

 



Here’s a cool waterfall on Avalanche Creek and it was about half-way through the trail loop.

 

 

 

The waterfall emptied into Avalanche Creek. 



Then, there’s beautiful Lake McDonald, but these photos are from the Going to the Sun Road and not from Lake McDonald Lodge, which is where I took most of our previous Lake McDonald photos.  The lodge would be somewhere in the middle of the picture … way back in there!

 

 



The mountains in this view are as follows:  Little Matterhorn, Edwards Mountain and Gunsight Mountain.

Now, here’s a close-up of Little Matterhorn.

What a better way to end the day than with some fall foliage.  I love the ground cover when it starts turning crimson. 



Check out my FB page for the running water videos.  Falls and creeks ... just love the sound!!

 Until our next blog …

 

Isaiah 1:18

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.”