Author: Wanda and John

We are meeting our friends Dale and Karen in Kalispell MT next week to explore Glacier National Park so in the meantime we’ve just been meandering around the area enjoying the beauty and great weather.  We traveled over to northern Idaho for a few days and stayed in an Elks Lodge near the Idaho/Washington border.  We even took a day trip over to Spokane WA just to check it out.  What we discovered is that we’ve been in the woods for so long that we’ve forgotten what’s its like to navigate in traffic or even small cities anymore!  We’re happy to be back in the woods in Montana again 🙂  We should have some pictures and drone video of this area over the next few days and we’ll have spectacular photos next week from Glacier for sure.

 

We left the lake on Sunday and drove west to Deer Lodge MT.  Yesterday we visited something surprising to find in the middle of Montana called the Garden of 1000 Buddhas.  It’s actually located on the Flathead American Indian Reservation and it was built as an international center for peace in 2000.  The statues are centered around a 24 foot statue of Yum Chenmo (the Great Mother) in the formation of a “wheel of dharma” which represents the eternal cycle of life, death and rebirth.  It was a very peaceful and thoughtful place to spend time no matter what your beliefs.  Below are some photos that John and I shot.

And here’s a video below.

Today, we visited the Old Montana Prison Museum located in the town of Deer Lodge.  Quite the opposite of the peace and calm spaces from yesterday, this was a real lesson in the harsh life of the people who committed crimes and were incarcerated here.  The prison was established in 1871 and was an active prison until 1979.  We were able to tour many buildings including the main Cell house and the women’s quarters.

The photo below was taken in what used to be the chapel.  To the right of the statue you can see a gun port which allowed the guards in the tunnels to oversee the inmates.

The video below was shot in ‘The Hole’ which is where they sent the most difficult inmates.   It was very creepy down there and I was getting very bad vibes.

Then I was flirting with an inmate so John threw ME in jail!

We left Three Forks on Sunday and drove about an hour north to Canyon Ferry Lake.  We are right on the water and we can see the mountains on the other side of the lake.

A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOHN who is celebrating the BIG 60 today!  To make us feel young, we took the kayak out on the lake this morning and paddled around.  It was a peaceful ride and very good exercise.  Then we came back and relaxed and took naps 🙂  John did some drone video of me out by myself.  I didn’t go far because it’s a lot harder without John in the kayak doing most of the rowing.

We took a ride yesterday out to an old mining town by Boulder MT about an hour south of us.

These buildings were built in the 1890s when the town of Elkhorn was popular for silver mining. They were both used as a public gathering places for meetings, dances, weddings and other town events.  We were able to go in and walk around and you could feel the history of the place.

There was some traffic on the way home – gotta expect this in Montana:

 

 

 

 

We were lucky to be in Three Forks on the weekend of their annual Rodeo.  We heard about it from the friendly couple camping next to us (Sue and Jim) who happened to be the parents of the announcer for the event (Larry Lorang) and their grandson (Jett Lorang) is the Funny Man.  It was a perfect summer night and what a show!

John and I especially enjoy how patriotic people are here in the heart of this country.  We felt privileged to stand with everyone and proudly salute our nations flag.  I think the announcer says it all in the video below.

They had everything from Steer Wrestling to Ladies Barrel Racing to Bronc and Bull Riding.   Every minute was exciting and entertaining.

Here’s a video from the last ride of the evening.    These guys and girls, all of them, including the riders and the handler’s are so brave and so skilled.  It’s just amazing to see it up close and in real life.  The animals are equally amazing. It’s beautiful to see a strong horse well ridden and so thrilling to cheer for the riders on the bulls!

Check out Joker Jett in the barrel in the video below.  That kid is 12 years old and is far braver than I am that’s for sure!

John took these great shots of the action.  We both really enjoyed the show and suggest that if you ever have the chance, go to a rodeo!

 

This morning we left our quiet little spot by the Yellowstone River and drove about an hour and a half west to Three Forks MT.  We’re here until Sunday and planing on going to the big local rodeo tomorrow and a local parade on Saturday.

Yesterday before we left the river, we took a ride about an hour north of our campsite to the Crazy Mountains.  That’s really what they’re called 🙂 Check out John’s drone footage and photos below.

 

John also got this shot while he was watching the Yellowstone river just outside of our RV.  Very cool.

And just across the road from the river is the ‘Prairie Dog Park’.   There are hundreds of them there and they are so cute!  They were making a lot of noise too.

 

Yesterday we pulled out of Reed Point and drove about 15 minutes down the road to a site right by the Yellowstone River. This is our first official free spot of this trip. And I can’t believe how beautiful it is. I keep using the word beautiful but when you look at the videos below you will see that it is actually amazingly unbelievably gorgeous. And it’s FREE!!!! I’m not sure how long we will be staying here but I am in no hurry to move from this spot.

 

It’s a VERY small town but it does have a lot of character.  Here are a few pictures of the very few buildings in the town.

They have a little library.

And this building was a bank built in 1907 but has been purchased and renovated into a private home.

This is the old trading Post.

And this building used to be a dance hall.   They are renovating it into a restaurant but keeping as much of the original building as possible.

On Friday we traveled to a nearby state park and took the kayak out. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun.

We are leaving Reed Point today and not sure exactly where we’re headed but moving toward glacier national Park in the next few weeks.

We left Devils Tower on Saturday morning but on Friday we went back to the Devils Tower monument and took the longer trail around the base of the tower.  Here are a few sights from our hike that morning.

 

 

 

Look at the rock over John in this picture.  I think it looks like an eagle with wings spread soaring over him.

We had the trail to ourselves most of the way around so I took every opportunity to stand (or sit) and look around and be in the moment.

We have had some heavy rain out here too.  Check out the video below to see what it sounds like inside the RV when it’s storming outside.  Kinda like we’re in a tin can getting hammered.  Oh yeah, we ARE in a tin can getting hammered 🙂

 

We left Devils Tower on Saturday and headed up to Big Horn National Forest in Wyoming to stay for few days.  It was a real test for the new truck (8300 ft elevation) but we had no problem getting up into the mountains.  And wow, how beautiful it was up there.

We took the truck off the main roads down a few dirt back roads.  We didn’t see any big horn sheep but at one point we pulled off the road so that John could capture some drone video and he spotted two moose in the fields very close to us.  He followed them with his drone (not too close!) and then they came across the road less than 30 yards away from us! I couldn’t believe how big they looked up close but I was too excited to be worried.  John said he was ready to run back into the truck if they decided to come our way 🙂

 

For a longer version of the video click here.

We left Wyoming this morning and arrived in the small town of Reed Point Montana.  It’s situated north of Yellowstone so there’s a lot of hiking and site seeing to do here.  We’re staying until Sunday and we’re looking forward to checking out this little spot in beautiful Montana.

John wants me to point out that we’ve updated our banner photo at the top of the blog with the new truck picture.  Of course, it’s all about the truck don’t ya know. 🙂

Last night, a few hours before sunset, we drove up to the Devils Tower parking area and then hiked around the base of the tower. Here are some pictures and videos.

Can you see the two people climbing up the tower in the video below?

Those were from yesterday. The photo below is from today. Much different when the clouds are around.

Our good friend Dale commented with this important and interesting background on Devils Tower:

“Devils Tower is sacred to the Northern Plains Tribes and represents their ties to the natural world. Sweat Lodges, Sun Dances and other ceremonies take place there on a regular basis. You may have noticed the cloth prayer bundles tied in the trees as you walked around the trail. Tobacco ties as they are known are a common offering among Native Americans during prayer ceremonies. It is respectful to walk softly and quietly when passing through the ceremonial sites. Very spiritual place.”

Thanks Dale! It certainly felt very spiritual.

 

We spent the last 4 days in Spearfish Canyon in the north end of the Black Hills.  The scenery was just magnificent and our spot in the canyon was quiet and magical.

This is a drone shot of our RV at one point when we were the only people staying in our small campground deep in the canyon.

Since we were in the canyon we had no internet connection which is why I haven’t been able to post for several days until we came out of the hills.  No internet, no cell service, no hookups for water or electric, but John had his satellite dish so we were able to get Fox News which shows you his priorities.  These waterfalls were just down the road from us and we hiked a few miles along the stream one morning.

We were out riding around the area one day and John found his street. 🙂

I was sad to leave but we moved into Wyoming today and we’re staying right under the Devils Tower which was featured in the movie ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’.

I know it looks fake, but this is our view out the back window!

We’re here until Saturday and they are saying that there will be amazing fireworks over the tower on the 4th so it should be a spectacular show.