September 6, 2012

When I woke up this morning and went into the dining room I saw that Danielle had gotten up early and made a “beer” cake for my nephew Adam for his birthday.

  He got up shortly after I did and was very surprised and delighted to see his cake.  Danielle also got him a Keurig coffee machine so he got two of his favorite things for his birthday, beer and coffee.  We skyped with my brother.  It was also his birthday.  We had real birthday cake for breakfast and then just lounged around.  It felt good to just relax after all the sightseeing we did yesterday.  Danielle had to leave for work at 3.  Adam puttered around in the garage and Monte puttered around with the R V.  I relaxed, did a couple of crossword puzzles and then did some laundry. 

It was a pretty uneventful day but sometimes the body needs days like that.

September 5, 2012

I was so tired last night I went to bed at 9:30.  I woke up by 6.  The house was so quiet and I took advantage of it and went on-line and took care of some over-due business. 

My nephew’s wife, Danielle, made us some crepes that were awesome.  After breakfast we dropped off Danielle at a friend’s house because she was driving her to a doctor’s appointment.  Adam took us to his favorite pizza place—it was delicious.

  We then went to Manito Park which has a series of beautiful gardens.  One was more beautiful than the other.

 

After the garden we went to a park in the downtown waterfront district

 

 

 and then topped off the day with a walk through Bowl and Pitcher State Park.

  Spokane is a beautiful place.  We ended up stopping at Walmart on the way home to pick up a rotisserie chicken for a quick dinner at home.  It was a wonderful day.  The only downer of the day was that Danielle couldn’t be there to share it with us.

Tomorrow is Adam’s 30^th birthday and his father’s (my brother’s) 60th birthday.  I am really glad that we are here to share it with him.

September 4, 2012

We got a late start this morning.  It was so cold we didn’t want to get out of bed.  After all of our chores, we finally got on the road around 10.  It was a long drive, but the scenery made it more tolerable.  I have been listening to audio books, which really helps make the time go faster.   We arrived at our destination in Spokane, visiting with our nephew, Adam and his beautiful wife, Danielle, at 2:30.

Danielle had to work but Adam had the night off.  He is in the Air Force and gave us a tour of the base and we went shopping with him in the commissary.  He then grilled some hamburgers and brats.  It was delicious.  We are parked in from of his house and will not be able to open our slides so we will be staying in the guest room for the next couple of nights. 

After dinner, Adam made a fire in his fire pit.  Since it had turned chilly, the fire felt great.  We look forward to checking out Spokane and the surrounding area.

September 3, 2012

It was very very cold this morning.  Monte kicked on the heat to take the chill out.  We started getting ready to leave when there was a knock at the door. It was Howard and Linda stopping by to say goodbye.  We will see them in two weeks at their rally in Harrisburg, OR.  It was wonderful getting to know them.

Because our RV battery was so low we had to bring in our slides in stages after hooking up to the truck.  This delayed our leaving until 9am.  We only traveled 250 miles and I was ready to stop for the night.  My back was really hurting and I was tired.  We stopped at a rest area and looked on Monte’s GPS, which has the great feature of having local campsites listed, and found one 3 miles away.  It is called Bearmouth RV Park, located in Clinton, MT.  The owner, Ron, comes from the area in Oregon where we are going to be in two weeks.  We were also able to fill our propane tanks that we had depleted while staying at Yellowstone and DUMP our black water tank.  YEAH.  The campground also has very clean showers and wifi so I was able to get caught up on emails and financials.

 

We could not get tv reception in the rv but there was a rec room with satellite tv so we watched a couple of shows and then went back home and watched a dvd.  We were in bed by 11.

September 2, 2012

It was very cold this morning.  We turned on the heat and it didn’t take long to take the chill out of the rv.  Since we are planning on leaving tomorrow, Monte started doing some prep work like putting the bikes back on the rack located on the back of the rv.  I made us some French toast and tried to get on the internet to research where we would stop tomorrow night.  The reception was very spotty so I gave up.  We took the wash into town (Gardiner) and took advantage of their power to charge up our laptops and use their wifi.  BUT the wifi did not work.  So after the laundry was finished we went across the to the pizza place, ordered a pie, and used their wifi.

We decided to take a ride up to the village and get an ice cream but the lines had over 30 people waiting so we just skipped it. 

It was just as well we didn’t have the ice cream because shortly after getting back to the campground, Linda and Howard returned and brought over cake and ice-cream.  What a nice treat.  We chatted for a while, then said goodnight.  We called it an early night as we were hoping to get an early start in the morning.

September 1, 2012

I woke up several times through the night from the rain hitting the roof and the wind flapping our slide toppers.  We slept in until 8.  It was a cold and dreary morning.  Hoping the weather would improve to set out around 11am.  We headed in the direction of Canyon Village because we had only just passed through it on our way home the other evening and it was too dark to really see anything.

Monte saw a dirt road and couldn’t resist taking it.  It was six miles of kidney-jarring bumps and we didn’t see any wildlife for our troubles.  On the paved road again we turned off on Mt. Washburn and climbed partway. 

 I was having a great deal of difficulty breathing and it was very cold so we didn’t go very far.  We hadn’t traveled far when we came around a bend and encountered several cars and a large group of people on the side of the road.  We weren’t sure what they were looking at so we pulled over and got out.  Someone said there was a black bear and cubs down in the valley. 

 I grabbed my binoculars and Monte his camera and we joined the people at the rail.   At first I didn’t see anything then a man pointed out the direction I should be looking and sure enough I saw the bear and one cub.  Monte tried seeing the bear.  He said he just couldn’t locate it but kept snapping away pictures in the general direction I said the bear was.  We don’t know yet if he actually got any pictures of the bear.  We won’t know until we download them and can enlarge them.

With so many people pulling over to both sides of the road and with some of them running across traffic, it is amazing that people don’t get hit by cars. 

When we arrived at Canyon Village, we watched a film, looked at some of the exhibits and browsed through the gift shop. 

 We took a hike down a trail at the Lower Falls.

  I thought I was going to need oxygen as we climbed back up the trail.  Monte had read about a trail that was very strenuous but had a spectacular view so we decided to check it out.  When I saw the people panting who were coming back up the trail I told Monte he would have to do the trail without me. 

I took advantage of the time he was gone to type this journal.  The trail he was on is called Uncle Tom’s Trail.

  It includes a series of paved inclines and more than 300 steps that lead down approximately 500 feet.  According to the literature descending the trail is an unparalleled canyon and waterfall experience.  I guess I will have to settle for just seeing the pictures Monte takes.

Monte was gone an hour.  When he told me how exhausting the trail was I was glad that I had decided not to do it.  We started for home and about half way there it started to hail.  The hail was coming down so fast and hard that it stuck to the road.  I am glad I wasn’t driving especially since we had someone behind us that driving way too close to us.   We drove like that for around 10 minutes until it started to clear and it was only raining.  I was really nervous going around those sharp curves which such a slick road.  I was really relieved when we got back home.  

I made us a quick dinner, watched a dvd on the computer and called it a night by 11pm.

August 31, 2012

When the alarm went off at 6am I did not want to get out of bed---it was cold!  But we told Linda and Howard we would be ready at 7 to leave for Boiling River.  We drove the short distance to the parking lot at the river and it was approximately a ¼ mile walk to the access point.  There was a sign posting several restrictions, one of which was not bathing allowed. 

 Bummer-I had brought my shampoo with me and had planned on washing my hair.

We took off our outer clothes in the cold (Brrr), put on our swim shoes and slowly made our way over the rocks in to the water.  It is a weird sensation when first entering the water because there is a flow of very hot water that mixes with the very cold water so at part of the river one part of your body is cold and one part hot. 

When you finally find the “sweet spot” where the mix is perfect, it is awesome. 

 It was so refreshing that we stayed almost 2 hours.  We decided to leave when it started getting very crowded so apparently the Boiling River isn’t such a secret after all.

We had a very leisurely day.  The only real frustration I had was trying to get onto the internet.  The reception is very spotty here in the mountains. But I was finally able to get on and do some banking.  A storm rolled in and we were forced inside.  I did a crossword puzzle and Monte worked on fixing his desk.  One of the joints on the desk had come loose and I guess with the constant motion when we are traveling the split was getting bigger and bigger.  After the storm moved through, and the sun came out, I read for a little while.  It felt great to just relax.  Monte did what Monte loves to do—putter around.   

Linda and Howard came for dinner at 6.  I made pasta with two types of toppings, shrimp scampi and red sauce with sausage and garlic toast. 

 It was the first time I used the oven.  Linda was very helpful, explaining how it is important to really let the oven heat up before putting anything in it and also to recognize by sound when the oven is ready.  Linda made coffee and baked a delicious cake for dessert.  She even brought ice cream to go on top. 

 YUM.  After a couple of hours of pleasant conversation they left and Monte helped me with the dishes.  By that time we were ready to go to the Ranger talk.  The topic was the forming of Yellowstone and how the creatures who live in it survive.  Back home by 10:30.  Monte went to sleep and I watched a DVD on my computer for about an hour but I’m not really sure how the show ended because I kept nodding off.   It was another great day!