Coeur D'Alene, ID

 June 23rd - July 2nd

As we said goodbye to Hungry Horse, Montana, little did we know how beautiful the drive would be to our next destination.  Since our trip to Glacier was a little disappointing this was a wonderful surprise. 

 

We were excited that our drive would again take us down along the one hour scenic drive of Flathead Lake with its beautiful views and calming blue waters and of course the dozens of cherry groves.  But what we did not know was that for the next 2 1/2 hours we would be in awe of this part of the USA! The beautiful river views along this route is a must-see!

 

Flathead Lake

 

 

The first part of the journey ran along Flathead Lake.  This is the largest, natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi in the lower 48 states, with over 200 square miles of water and 185 miles of shoreline.  The lake is located in northwest Montana and is the source of the Missouri River.  It is one of the cleanest lakes of its size and type anywhere in the world.

 

A bonus of traveling along this lake is also the rolling fields of cherry trees.  Flathead Lake Cherry Growers, Inc., is a co-operative of approximately 100 cherry growers.  These sweet cherries are a late-season cherry and are in demand for their high quality and exceptional taste.  The beautiful trees can been seen all along the lake's edge.  I only wish they had been blooming at the time when we visited.

 

 

Flathead River

 

Once we turned onto Hwy 200 in Dixon, Montana,  we picked up the Flathead River as it turned south.  This lead us through the Flathead Valley west of the Mission Mountains and toward the City of Paradise, Montana.  The 25 mile stretch was breathtaking. 

 
This was the second of the three incredible bodies of water we would observe on this drive.   Its rich blue-green hue and surrounding landscape left me dumbstruck.

This stunning river originates in the Canadian Rockies, north of Glacier National Park and flows southwest into Flathead Lake, then after a journey of 158 miles empties into the Clark Fork.  The river is part of the Columbia River drainage basin and is the largest tributary of the Clark Fork and constitutes over half of its flow.

 

 

 

St. Regis-Paradise Scenic Byway

 

Our third and greatest surprise was the hour-long drive along the St Regis-Paradise byway.  This meandering trail follows the Clark Fork River between St. Regis and Paradise, Montana within the Lolo National Forest.  The scenic route motto is: The River, The People, The Land. 

The drive takes you through varied terrain from spacious, rolling flats to steep canyon walls and winds through the Coeur d'Alene Mountains.

The Clark Fork River flows from the Rocky Mountains in Montana into Idaho and continues on to the Columbia River for a total of 310 miles!

 

 

Kootenai County Fairgrounds RV Park

 

Our stay in Coeur d'Alene landed us in the first fairgrounds we have stayed in.  It was also the only one in the area that we could get into that had excellent cell coverage.  The grounds were very well maintained and big rig friendly.  The camp managers/hosts were very friendly. 

 

Once we got settled into our preassigned spot, they came over and introduced themselves and provided us with a park information packet.  They were also a little OCD about letting people know when it was check-out time.  So on the day of your departure, you can be sure there will be a knock at the door at 10:30 sharp reminding you that check out is at 11:00. 

 

Our first site

Site #2

We ended up staying an extra few days due to the fact that our next spot in Spokane, Washington got canceled due to the owners caving in to the Covid-19 issue.

Luckily, the fairgrounds had a site available but it required us to move to the next row over.  We were willing to do so and it only took an hour of our time.  Boy, have we gotten good at at this breaking down and setting up thing!

 

Coeur d’Alene is located in the northwest corner of Idaho.  It’s known for water sports on Lake Coeur d’Alene, plus trails in the Canfield Mountain Natural Area and the Coeur d’Alene National Forest. 

The city of Coeur D'Alene is only 33 miles from Spokane, WA and during our visit there were a lot of demonstrations going on there.  We were very surprised to see that the rioting/protesting going on in Minneapolis, New York, La, just to name of few, would spill out into this quiet, peaceful city in Idaho, but they did.  

 

A couple of evenings, we had a line of cars, riding throughout the city for hours, honking their horns, shouting slogans over their PA systems.  Other than that, our visit there was pretty quiet and uneventful. 

One evening we visited the Wild West Furniture Store. It turned out to be a very interesting place.

Raccoon's Playing Poker! Who knew!

Otso the mythological bear all the way from Finland!

 

Wallace, Idaho

One of the guys from Dennis' work, that currently lives in Athens, GA, stated that his favorite small town in America was Wallace, ID and highly suggested that we check it out.  So we decided to drive to the town and check it out.  Very cool little place!

 

On Thursday, our next journey will take us 7 hours southwest to Cougar, Washington where we will meet up with Dennis' sister Yvonne and her husband Dave.  Totally excited to be spending some time with family!  It gets mighty lonely out here the road!

Hungry Horse, MT - Glacier National Park

 June 21st - June 23rd

Mountain Meadows RV Park

Mountain Meadow's office

Pond across from office

 

Mountain Meadow offers 56 wooded RV spots and is only 9 miles to Glacier National Park’s west entrance. This park is very wooded and the road to our site was at times narrow and steep.  Once we arrived at our spot in the woods, we quickly discovered our site was a very narrow, shady one perched on the mountainside with barely any ground to step out on.  Even though it was a pull-thru, it was a tight fit.  We thought we were going to have to measure the site and the rig so that we could open the slide-outs all of the way. 

We quickly tested the available cell networks and found that it was at 0 bars.  No bueno! as Dennis needed to work!  After driving around to ALL of the other parks within a 25-mile radius, we discovered that none of the RV parks had enough signal for him to work.  So he contacted his boss and got permission to skip work for a few days in order to just visit Glacier and move to a new location.

 

Glacier National Park

 

West Gate

 

On Monday, we attempted to go into Glacier National Park for the first time but were turned away at the gate.  We were informed they were restricting the total number of cars in the park due to Covid-19. 

 

We also found out from the nice person at the gate that our truck is too big to travel on the road called "Going-to-the-Sun".   We were so not happy even though we found out the pass wasn't open to anyone yet due to snow still on the roads, it was still upsetting.  So the next time we will plan on going later in the year AND rent a jeep!

 

So the next morning, we got up stupid early to made sure we were one of the first ones into the park.  This still didn't give us access to the entire park, but at least we were allowed in and were able to drive the first 16 miles that lead up to Logan's Pass.

 

 

 

 

For you guys (like us) who are clueless about the two-lane road called, Going-to-the-Sun inside Glacier Nat'l Park,  it is the only road that traverses the park and is 50 miles long.  It is a very narrow, winding road with hairpin turns.  Consequently, vehicles over 21 ft long, 19 ft high, and 8 ft wide are not allowed to go beyond Logan Pass from the west gate.  We were also informed it could take hours to travel the 50 miles.  So be prepared for a long day.

 

Going-to-the-Sun! The road left untraveled :-(

Moving on way too soon!

Since our adventure at Glacier Nat'l Park was put on hold and we couldn't find a park in the area with good cell service, we decided just to move on down the road toward our next destination. And so we continue our journey west to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Dennis' two cents:  So who knew that "I'll be your Huckleberry!" was a reference to real life... it appears that there really IS a fruit called a huckleberry.  In Happy Horse, one could find just about any product featuring this fruit; pies, jam, jelly, and and and...

Missoula, Montana

June 14 - 21, 2020

 

 

Missoula is known as the "Garden City" for its dense trees and lush green landscape.  The town is nestled in the heart of the northern Rockies where five valleys converge.  Missoula is a center for education, medicine, retail, and the arts.  It is located at the base of Mount Sentinel and the banks of the Clark Fork River.

 

 

Missoula is also home to The University of Montana (Go Grizzlies!).  The public research university is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and is its second-largest campus.  The 200-acre campus is one of the most beautiful in the nation and is home to 12,000 students.

 

Downtown Missoula

 

Jellystone Rv Park

This was our first stay at a Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park.  The park was on the small side and seemed a little run-down however the staff was very friendly and helpful and the store is well stocked with a lot of cute items.  The pool was not heated.   The miniature golf feature could use some maintenance but is still usable and fun.  Our pull-through site was easy to get into and level.  Mostly it was a good place to stay for a few days. 

 

Exploring  History at Travelers' Rest State Park

Just 10 miles south of Missoula, the Lewis and Clark Expedition stayed in an area called Travelers Rest near the town of Lolo.  Travelers Rest area was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and was turned into a 51-acre state park.  Six years later it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Bitterroot Valley

Lewis and Clark wrote about their visit in September 1805 and again in June of 1806 of Lolo Hot Springs and the treacherous trek across the Bitterroot Mountains. 

Significant archeological findings in 2002, including latrine sites with traces of mercury and fire hearths, make this the only site on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail that has yielded physical proof of the explorers' presence.

Lolo Pass

Lolo Pass, elevation 5,233 feet, is a mountain pass in the western United States, in the Bitterroot Range of the northern Rocky Mountains.   It is on the border between the states of Montana and Idaho and is approximately 40 miles west-southwest of Missoula, Montana.

I have to admit, the real reason we set out to explore this area is that my sister informed me that the show Yellowstone, starring Kevin Costner, was partly filmed in the area. 

Yellowstone Series

As it turned out The Dutton family's gorgeous log cabin is actually a 5,000-square foot mansion located on Chief Joseph Ranch near Darby, Montana which was just a few more miles down the road.  Even though we did not see the ranch or any of the crew from Yellowstone, we can say that at least we tried and got to see some beautiful mountains in the process.

 A Day Trip to an Old Gold Mining Town

 

For a trip back in time, we decided to drive an hour east to Garnet Ghost Town, a historic gold mining town with 30 preserved buildings.  This trip did not disappoint!  The drive took us along the Blackfoot River where it merges with the Clark Fork River.  This river was made famous by the novel "A River Runs Through it" by Norman Maclean.  The views were stunning! 

 

 

Once we turned off the main road to get to the old ghost town that was a totally different story.  Driving the narrow dirt road in a big dually truck was scarier than the aspect of running into a real, bona fide ghost by the time we arrived.

This is Montana’s most intact ghost town.  More than a century after Garnet emerged in 1895, remnants of the town still stand, hidden high in the Garnet Mountain Range.

 

There were four stores, four hotels, three livery stables, two barbershops, a union hall, a school with 41 students, a butcher shop, a candy shop, a doctor’s office, an assay office, and thirteen saloons.  By 1905 many of the mines were abandoned and the town’s population had shrunk to about 150.  A fire in the town’s business district in 1912 destroyed many of the commercial buildings and most of the remaining residents moved away to defense-related jobs.  By the 1940s, Garnet was a ghost town.

 

 

Rough Stock Saloon

 

On our way back to Missoula, we decided to stop for a quick bite and a hole in the wall bar in Drummond, MT.  We bellied up to the bar and both ordered a beer, D got a burger and I had them fix me a grilled cheese sandwich. 

 

The Rough Stock Saloon is the kind of place that you go to if you want to unwind from a long day at work or if you want to tie one on with the locals and friends.  The menu is limited to a selection of simple, delicious burgers that are cooked just right, chicken tenders, pizza, and the typical bar appetizers. They sport a decent selection of local beers that I understand rotate fairly often alongside the staple beers like Budweiser products, Coors products, and other microbrews.  Sadly, it appears that this bit of history lost the fight to Covid-19 and is now permanently closed.

 

 

Dennis decides on a new hobby... fishing?

 

Don't ask me why fishing, but fishing here we go!  I can just hear the theme song The Fishin' Hole, The Andy Griffith Show theme song, playing in my head as he is telling me of his new idea.  So after much research and him talking with his brother-in-law, Dave, we set off to find the local Cabela's store in Missoula.  

 

We ended up buying a trout setup for Penny, the rod and reel are PINK!  (This is important later.)  Dennis decides on a white bass rig.  Given the research, we did not overspend on everything.  Here's hoping to catchin' many of dinners, y'all!

Dennis' two cents:  While on the road, we caught up with a TV series called Alone.  In every season, most of the contestants would fish for their food!  I suddenly felt the pull to learn to fish.

Our next hop is to visit Glacier National Park. Wish us luck that it's open by the time we get there!