Friday/Saturday....10/21&22 Horsethief Campground and Moab Area

We've rather accidentally stumbled on a great campground here southwest of Moab, on the road to Canyonlands NP. We will be here for three nights - a night longer than anywhere else we've stopped on this trip. No services to speak of (there are restrooms for those that want them) but, again, we are independent and don't really need them. Our campsite, #15, is just across the small campground road to a great trail for Molly, where she can run freely off leash. The sun sets on the port side of toutou and rises on the starboard. Terrific spot!

Thursday was spent in Canyonlands, with a couple of cool hikes to amazing viewpoints. Today (Friday) we are going to visit Dead Horse State Park, adjacent to Canyonlands NP, but run by the state of Utah. Dogs can hike with you there. Then we'll drive into town to provision one last time, dump our dirty water and take on fresh, and hike a hike all three of us enjoyed two falls ago just outside Moab. I suspect there might be an unscheduled stop at the wonderful Moab Brewery as well...

A side note: I'm reading a biography of Wes Powell, as I mentioned a few blogs ago (a great read if you enjoyed his famous journal from 1867). Interestingly, I am at the part of the book where Powell's group is navigating the Green River as it approaches the confluence with the Colorado - exactly our location today!


Later Friday: we did indeed have a great hike at Dead Horse Point....great view of the meandering Colorado from the point. It is a dark green at the moment, rather than the chocolate brown I'm used to - unsure why. Looks more like the Green River.....

Lunch consisted of great hamburgers at the brewery, with a more-than-pleasing pilsner. Back in camp now, reading, and watching the sun set. Tomorrow, Saturday - our final day before driving home - will be spent hiking in the morning at Arches National Park, and, after lunch, a repeat of the Slickrock hike we so enjoyed with Molly the first afternoon we arrived here.....

Saturday Afternoon: nice hiking this AM in Arches, at Windows. Lunch at Devil's Garden, deep into the park. Siesta after lunch for Molly and me, while Amy went on a hike....will head back into Moab and go to Slickrock for a family hike before heading back to Horsethief for our last night on the road - four weeks, exactly......it's been fantastic! We've enjoyed it so much that we're thinking of coming down to southeast Utah and Lake Powell in November for a week....

Sunday: home safe and sound. Almost 5,000 miles covered and 140 hours of drivng over four weeks. And an incalculable amount of fun!!!!

Thursday, 10/20....Moab, UT

We spent a night at Jordanelle State Park out side of SLC, which sits aside a very pretty resevoir...

....then  drove onto Moab for the final leg of our trip...sunny and 65, it feels really good! As anyone who has been through this part of Utah can attest, this is a great spot. When we arrived, we went directly to Slickrock for a healthy hike with Molly - dogs can run free!

Had dinner in town at Desert Bistro, which was excellent. Halfway through our meal, who walks in but a couple who used to live in Mountain Star, Kim and Alison Knapp! Small world....they are doing fine and send regards to everyone back there.

We are camping for three nights at Horse Thief Campground, between the town of Moab and Canyonlands NP. Spent the morning at Canyonlands hiking, and had lunch outside overlooking the Green and Colorado Rivers.

For you river lovers, the Green empties into the Colorado nearby - the confluence is not able to be seen without some significant hiking....it was the Green River that John Wesley Powell put into north of here in the late nineteenth century, and then he travelled down the Colorado, mapping the Colorado River Basin for the first time. The pic directly below is of the gorge the Colorado runs within....the second pic is of the Green - the two rivers at this point are just a couple of miles from meeting....

Sunday, 10/16....Craters of the Moon

Awoke in Salmon, ID, not fifty yards from the swift-flowing Salmon River (in Lewis and Clark's day, were there salmon in this river???? Something to ask Siri later)....broke camp thinking we'd stop at the Saveway (yes, with a "v") grocery store on our way south, but it was closed (Sunday - some traditions die hard).....had lunch in a lovely little park in Arco where Molly could run herself ragged...sunny weather, so our plan to try to avoid the strong Pacific storm has succeeded, so far....

Pulled into Crater of the Moon National Monument - we'd driven past this desolate place in 1978 when we were out west for a winter visiting various ski resorts...but it is a wonderful spot to stop, and learn about volcanic activity here in the west (some as recent as two thousand years ago).....took a couple of nice but short interpretive hikes (Molly violating both the leash rule and and the one banning her hiking with us)....there is no grass here, only lava and eroded lava (cinder-like), but she eventually figured out it was ok to use that type of natural surface for her business....

Dinner was Osso Buco, potato gratin and green beans - really delicious! Dinner is a great time here on toutou, with jazz, candlelight (ok, electric candlelight for safety), good food and wine, and lively discussion about the day's events - both from here on the road, as well as events of more import like elections.....Amy does the clean-up while Molly and I relax, then we all go for a nightly walk, taking the garbage out along the way....before turning out the lights for the night (around 9:30 or 10), there is a little internet surfing (if we have service), or bedtime reading (which I did tonight, as we have no service here in the park)....reading a biography of John Wesley Powell. The 30 mph winds (associated with the storm, I guess) gently rocked our home, and us, to sleep....

Speaking of reading, since we drive a few hours each day, Amy has developed a liking, and a real skill, of reading a book out loud. The Big Sky is the book of the trip, and the action takes place in Wyoming, and, largely, Montana. It's a wonderful story of the days when trappers and explorers and mountain men and native Americans criss-crossed this great part of our country...it's always fun to come across a passage in the book that takes place where we are at the moment, or perhaps have been recently....

On to Salt Lake City in the morning - and civilization! Amy needs to replace her iPhone, we need provisions, and to do laundry...hope to visit the Temple and Tabernacle, as well, which I remember as being majestic....oh, and we have a rezzy at a nice Italian restaurant Monday night! After that, we plan to head to Canyonlands and Arches NPs, then, eventually, home next Sunday....

Saturday, 10/15......Bigfork MT to Salmon ID.....

Really a nice couple of days....Bigfork and Flathead Lake were a real treat....largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi....Bigfork's a cute little town....and the lake is stunningly beautiful.

Ate at ShowThyme, a restaurant owned and run by Blu, who, until 27 years ago(!), owned Blu's in Vail....a really nice man and good chef to boot! Had a wonderful dinner at his cute spot in Bigfork....

It's been cloudy but no rain to speak of, as we are trying to avoid it...four hour drive to Salmon, Idaho, where we are spending the night. Nice little town on the Salmon River - at a spot Lewis and Clarke explored in 1805.... the Bitterroot Mountains rise above the town, providing the border between Idaho and Montana, as well as representing the Continental Divide....

Tomorrow we will continue south to Crater of the Moon National Monument and Reserve, where we'll camp for the night. It will begin our fourth week on the road...other than starting to run low on food and wine, I think we could continue for another few weeks! We'll be in the vicinity of Salt Lake City on Monday and Tuesday, so maybe we can re-provision a bit....Amy's phone is dying, so we may stop at an Apple store in SLC to get her a new one....

Thursday, 10/13.....Glacier National Park, East Glacier

Wonderful campsite last night....nice restful sleep, and awoke to some clouds - an advance effect of an approaching  storm, I'm afraid....given the decent weather, we drove to the east side of the park, and what an incredible day we had! The storm that is approaching threw high winds, low cloud cover, and some intermittent showers at us, but we still had a wonderful day. Lunch was at Many Glacier, and Swiftcurrent Lake, where we had winds gusting to 50mph. Vid attached to email. Pic below.

After lunch we drove to St Mary's Lake, and had a lovely hike to St. Mary's Falls. Vid attached to email. Pics below. An illegal hike, to be sure, as Molly came with us, off leash - two violations! Beautiful vistas of peaks shrouded in clouds. Snow as well, on the ground from a prior storm. Temps were in the high 40s. Great hike.

Then back to camp here in Apgar, on the west side of the park. Meatloaf for dinner, yummy. Off to Whitefish in the morning, and to Bigfork on Flathead Lake that evening - having dinner at ShowThyme, whose owner owned Blu's in Vail. The restaurant has a reputation for great food and wine. Looking forward to it! Then we are going to re-evaluate the rest of our trip based on the storm. We were planning a visit with dear friends in Bozeman - they needed to cancel based on poor flying conditions for his plane on Sunday, which makes TOTAL sense. And we were planning a visit to the north part of Yellowstone NP after that, which we missed earlier in the trip, but the forecast is for snow and sub-freezing temps - we'll come back another time, thank you! Once again, it's great to be able to be flexible in the RV....

Wednesday, 10/12....onto Glacier National Park

We were lucky yesterday to find a great woman at her laundromat in Nelson, willing to do our laundry! Left us free to further explore the town, and still have all fresh clothes for the final leg of our trip. Travel day today from Nelson - which we really enjoyed and would love to get back to again - to Whitefish, MT and onto Glacier National Park around sundown

We drove through Whitefish, as it was getting late, as we wanted to be sure to get to the campsite at Glacier NP (Agpar Campground, at the West Entrance) before sundown. Arrived in plenty of time. Most of the park's services are closed down for the winter, but this campground is open, with "primitive"services. We don't really need any services, as we are independent when we want to be!!! There are a few people in tents, an RV or two, but basically it feels deserted - which is really a wonderfully feeling. Right on McDonald Lake, one of the park's treasures. I did take a short video burst that I'll send along with the email link....we parked at the closed McDonald Lodge, and saw the sunset there - glorious! Then back to the campground for the night.

The campground has cell service which is really wonderful to have. Love keeping up on all of the political dramas!

Life this time of night in toutou is great - Molly has had her dinner and is napping, and Amy and I are in different parts of the RV on our iPads. Jazz via Pandora is on, the wine is flowing, it's toasty in here despite it being around 40 degrees outside. Dinner is heating up. Having chicken tonight, and a great Turley Zin '08.

Before we began this month-long trip, I thought we'd need to get off toutou mid-way, rent a nice big condo and spread out a bit. But, I haven't felt that urge to at all. It's really a terrific feeling to be self-contained, and I haven't noticed a need for "more space" at all.

We have one more dry day before the next storm comes through....we'll get out and hike a hit tomorrow.....

Monday, 10/10....Nelson, British Columbia

Another cloudy, cool and drizzly morning, so it was good to get moving on our way to Canada. Have been looking to visit Nelson since the movie "Roxanne" was out decades ago (it was shot there)....passing over the border was a non-event....the setting for Nelson is truly remarkable: mountains on all sides, surrounding the gorgeous Lake Kootenay, as well as the town, which sits at the lake's edge. It will be a wonderful place to which to move if Trump gets elected.....

Thought you might like a look at one of this morning's  activities, as it is most days - taking on fresh water:

The campsite we had was terrific, and the Idaho state park named Farragut is really well-mantained and beautiful. Named after an admiral in the Civil War....the drive from there to Nelson was a couple of hours.

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving, and we are going out to Bibo, one of the town's renowned restaurants. I know they have some specials planned - not sure if turkey is one of them or not!

Weekend, 10/8-9....Walla Walla

Spent Saturday in Walla Walla - a beautiful little town, centered on wine these days, but with a city center complete with many historical, pretty buildings. Highlight of the day had to be the dog park, where - and I kid you not - we saw a dog climb a tree! This black lab pup (maybe two years old) chased a squirrel along with Molly, but when she came to the big evergreen tree in which the squirrel had taken cover, proceeded fifteen feet up the tree, climbing among the many branches!!! When we came to her along with her human, we really did not know what to do. She was stranded with no obvious way down out of the tree. I really feared she was going to fall, and probably hurt herself seriously. I didn't know whether we should try and catch her, or call the fire department - who, as we all know, rescue many a stupid cat from trees. But a stupid dog????? In the end, she worked her way down to about ten feet, where she was whining, probably beginning to understand her predicament! I tried to make my way under her, but couldn't because of all of the branches. They eventually saved her, as she jumped/fell out of the limb she was on, and landed on some lower branches near the ground and finally was free. No harm done. I hope Molly doesn't think about it too much and think about climbing a tree of her own!

Had a yummy dinner in Walla Walla at Brasserie Four, and a delightful Rhone style red from B. Leighton, a local vintner.

Woke up to showers, yet again, so decided to head north to Sandpoint, ID, where I am typing this, a little before dinner. Hoping to maintain some internet connectivity to listen to the debate tonight. Will have a ragu and pasta, salad and bread. Wonderful campsite at Farragut State Park, on Lake Coeur d'Alene. Tomorrow we cross into Canada, and onto our northernmost destination, Nelson, BC. Hopefully the forecast for sunshine for Tuesday and Wednesday will hold, as we've really been looking forward to our time there. Today marks the start of our third week on the road. It's been a fantastic trip....

Thursday, 10/6....Missoula....

Great town, beautiful setting....enjoyed the day here....looked at the weather forecast, and there is a big storm arriving to the north that will bring rain for four days where we had been planning to travel beginnng tomorrow (Sandpoint, ID and then Nelson, BC). So we've decided to put that off a few days and instead go southeast to Walla Walla, WA! Wine country. It's great to be able to be so flexible when you you travel on an RV!

Took no pics today, but thought I'd post another from our hike yesterday. Man and his dog.

Wednesday, 10/5.....Lost Creek SP, and Missoula

Last night when we took Molly for a walk before bed, it was snowing....I was hoping it wouldn't be a lot of snow overnight, and it wasn't - we woke up to an inch or two. We had breakfast and decided to hike here out of camp for a bit.....had to delay an hour or so because some heavy snow showers came in! But we eventually got out into partial sunshine and had a lovely hike up the canyon, alongside Lost Creek, with peaks towering above us.  Got back to camp, showered and headed out - next stop, Missoula. Amy and I both agree that we have never stayed in a better camp site. The pics below give you an idea of how spectacular of a setting the campsite is....

We arrived in Missoula late this afternoon and decided to opt for a commercial campground that is close to town. We normally prefer state parks, national forests, etc., but the ones around here seem a bit far out from the town, and we want to visit and walk around tomorrow. The place is nice, roomy for a commercial site, and we get to do a little laundry to boot. Full hookups, too. Not a bad trade-off.

Tonight is yankee pot roast (courtesy of Simply Good in Birmingham, MI) paired with a '06 Guigal St Joseph. Sipping  it now!

Tomorrow we'll explore Missoula a bit. And we're having dinner at The Depot, which is owned by a good friend of one of our good friends, Jim King (JK). JK teed it up for us, so I bet we have a great dinner!

Tuesday, 10/4.....Anaconda and Phillipsburg

Started out partly sunny this morning and walked through the ghost town of Bannack, as described in yesterday's blog entry. Then onto Big Hole National Battlefield, where the Nez Perce native Americans were attacked by the U S Army in 1877....a beautiful setting marred by this massacre. Drizzly and chilly while we were there....

Then north to Anaconda and Philipsburg....the huge smelter smokestack of the Anaconda Mining Co. is still here, and it is taller than the Washington Monument! Unfortunately, this area, including Butte, is the largest Super Fund site in the country. And what an incredibly beautiful setting. That makes TWO places today where a gorgeous Montana setting has been marred by our conduct. Saddening, really.

Philipsburg has a very well regarded BBQ house, and we stopped and bought some ribs and pulled pork to eat for dinner at our campground. It's killing me not to eat it as I sit here typing this, before dinner....hit snow on the pass between Pburg and Anaconda, yuck.

Lost Creek State Park is a few miles outside of Anaconda, and it is a spectacular setting. Huge granite walls on both sides of a canyon, with our campsite in the middle. Looks like we may be the only campers tonight...

Monday, 10/3.....Virginia City and Bannack, Montana....

The storm continued this morning, with a drizzle at our campground....it let up for a bit so Molly and I took a nice walk in the Gallatin National Forest which abuts the campground....today was moving day, and we had our last breakfast at Running Bear Pancake House before heading northwest into Montana...first stop was the old mining town of Virgina City - population 108 now, down from its peak of 10,000 in the 1860s when gold was discovered there....now it is a somewhat-preserved ghost town....named after the First Lady of the Confederacy, Virginia Davis, interestingly enough....

We had thought we might stay at Elkhorn Hot Springs, but when we arrived there, it was snowing, so we reconsidered....backtracked a bit to Bannack State Park - the town of Bannack was Montana's first territorial capital, and is now one of the West's most well-preserved ghost towns. Home to 3,000 people at one time during the gold rush, many eventually left for Virginia City, which had much greater gold deposits....there are two basic campgrounds at the park (i.e., no hookups), and we are the only campers in one of them...it's along Grasshopper Creek, and is very peaceful...pulled in around 5:30pm, and it's still raining a bit, so we'll tour the town tomorrow morning, when I hope to get a few nice pics...state officials do not renovate nor modernize the old buildings (which supposedly number almost 100 structures), but they do "stabilize" them. Should be interesting to see them! Update the next morning: Bannock IS and incredible town! Walked through it early this morning with Amy and Molly....

Dinner tonight is ragu bolognese, salad, and a nice crunchy baguette we bought in West Yellowstone this morning before we departed....it's 38 degrees outside here in Bannack, it's still raining a bit, but the three of us are nice and cozy inside toutou, which is a toasty 72 degrees.....music is on, we're watching a video (Amy), sleeping (Molly), and typing (me).....and now I'm going to open a bottle of wine and have a bite or two of the Comte cheese we brought with us before prepping dinner...

Sunday, 10/2.....West Yellowstone

Poor weather day, rainy and cool....a couple of sunny spots here and there - enough to get out and walk the dog a bit....also did a week's worth of laundry.....highlights? Buttermilk pancakes at Running Bear:

And, the Ryder Cup win - able to watch it on my iPad in toutou as it rained....Molly didn't think much about it, though:

The weather forecast for the next couple of days is not great, and we head off to the north and west into Montana on Monday morning....I'm sure we'll figure some fun things to do, though, rain or shine....

A pic from yesterday: Molly, with great interest, in the front seat, watching the bison on our road....

Saturday, 9/31.....Yellowstone NP.....

Awoke to some morning fog over Lewis Lake, and our campground....checking the weather forecast, snow is expected Monday through Wednesday here...thankfully, we'll be in the Missoula, Montana area by then, where temperatures will be in the 50s....

Dropped by Old Faithful for one last viewing before driving towards Madison and Firehole Lake, where we were fortunate to see a herd of bison up close - up VERY close! Like, in the middle of our road close!  Really a gorgeous scene, with the steam rising off of the lake behind the herd....a herd just like this was probably grazing in this very spot thousands of years ago....a wonderful, inspiring sight.....

Lots of cool geyser formations here.....

Since we were going to head out of the park to the  northwest on Sunday, and needed some laundry done after a week on the road - not to mention that I'd love to watch a little bit of the Ryder Cup on Sunday - we decided to leave the park and hookup in West Yellowstone, just into Montana. We're in a lovely commercial park for a couple of nights, adjacent to the Gallatin National Forest where dogs ARE allowed off leash! Just back from a nice walk there with Molly - she enjoyed the freedom after fairly strict rules of National Parks. Got to toutou just before a front of a thunderstorm rolled in....about 6pm, and Amy and I are going to eat out in town tonight....found a cute little restaurant with a chef-owner that looks good.....

Tomorrow morning we'll either drop off our dirty laundry to be washed and folded (if available), or we'll do it ourselves. Either way, we're having pancakes at Running Bear Pancake House - evidently quite well-regarded around here! We travel on our stomachs....

Friday, 9/30.....Yellowstone NP....

Another amazing day here in the caldera of Yellowstone NP....we saw boiling pools of mud and clay, more geysers - some of which empty into Yellowstone Lake - ate lunch along the Yellowstone River, hiked along the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and saw two awesome waterfalls along the way, saw some bison, and elk.....

Yellowstone is along the tourist route for the Chinese, as it seems about a third of the visitors here are from China at the moment....Molly is of great interest to many of them - a few because they seem afraid of dogs (are there many wild dogs in China, perhaps??)....and most just because she is so friendly and pretty!!!! These friendly people are taking many pictures of her back home with them, and it's funny to think about Molly being viewed by their friends halfway around the world! 

We have one more full day and night here in Yellowstone before we head northwest towards Montana on Sunday morning.....still plenty more to see....and then we'll need to take part of a day to do some laundry....perhaps in Anaconda, or Missoula....

I can't believe I waited until I was 65 to see this incredible national treasure...we ended the day as we did yesterday, with a sunset walk (off leash and highly illegal) along the shore of Lewis Lake, where we are again camping for the night....pasta bolognese tonight, with yet another Zinfandel....

This is a wonderful way to see the West - I'm not sure I'd ever have seen much of it if not for our RV...I have my lovely wife to thank for the idea! And, of course, it's a load of fun to have my pup along for the trip....interesting that the past two days/nights we went without hooking up for anything - no water, electricity, or dumping waste water! Powered our batteries via solar panels and watched our water usage carefully.....

I have a couple of short vid clips from yesterday that I'll include in the email to you, as I can't embed them I this blog, evidently....came across this pic on Amy's phone - me taking the symmetrical reflection video at Jenny Lake that we love.....all for now!