Columbia River to Helena, Bismarck & Lake Elsie, ND.

Sat. July 31st - Mon.Aug. 9th

Wind turbines above Columbia River Gorge east of Portland, Oregon on our way home from our grandson's baseball tournament in Eugene.







John Day Dam on Columbia River.





Thanks Grandpa, for taking me to the tournamnent!








The Metra in Billings after the recent tornado went through, estimated $25 million to repair. We stopped to visit my cousin just a couple miles from here.



A couple of views from the truck stop where we spent the evening near Beach, North Dakota.






New Salem (between Beach and Mandan) is dairy country. There is a huge statue of a holstein on a hill that is easily seen from the interstate. We drove up there when the kids were very small. John held Dawn above his head, so she could reach up and touch one of the cow's teats.

We called my great aunt Clementine in Mandan who just celebrated her 90th birthday. She said, "Do you have time to stop for a beer?" We can always make time for a beer. My mom is named after her. She still calls my mom "Clemmie". This is her coming up the stairs, bringing in her laundry from the clothes line before the storm. You can see her garden in the background.

The storm hit a few minutes later. There was a tornado warning with a tornado sighted 9 miles north of Mandan. The wind blew 70 miles an hour and blew the hail onto the deck from all directions. We enjoyed our beers and visit as the storm blew through. We were lucky not to be in our camper.

We spent the night at the home of old friends north of Mandan. They live way up on a hill overlooking the Missouri River in the distance. What a view!

This is a view the other direction from their house.

The next day we visited the capitol across the river in Bismarck. It says NORTH DAKOTA in the red and white flowers in front of the building and the statue is supposed to be pioneers. It was built in the 30s and is one of the most modern looking capitol buildings. There is a Hall of Fame Walk on

the first floor with portraits of people from North Dakota such as Lawrence Welk, Roger Marris, Bobby Vee, Angie Dickinson, Louis L'Amour, and Teddy Roosevelt (who wasn't really from there, but just loved it and spent a lot of time there). There was also Mrs. Frank (Elizabeth) Bodine from Velva who was Mother of the Year with her 19 kids and enough boys to have their own baseball team. Also the actress, Dorothy Stickney, who played the mother in the play "Life with Father", also a great old movie. There were lots more who I had never heard of. It's very interesting.

The view above is from the top of the capitol building and the black and white picture is of when they broke the record for snow angels, over 8,000.

Looking out from the 18th story observation deck, you can see trees and walkways in every direction. There is a huge grounds. You could spend all day walking around. There are several different statues and the Veterans Memorial, plus a walkway through some of the trees where the different varieties of trees are labeled with stone markers. It is called Centennial Grove and was dedicated by the first President Bush. This is a petrified tree.

This is the ceiling in the house. It represents the moon and the stars surrounding it. The senate ceiling represents the sun and its rays. Kind of cool. They were the first ones to get electronic voting boards.

This is a windmill in the Heritage Museum. Quite a change from the ones we see everywhere now. There was a picture of a man named Ole Larson in the museum, who was the first business proprietor in my small hometown of DeLamere. They also have a replica of the USS North Dakota that was commissioned for World War I, but was never used. They have the silver service that was on the ship. It is beautiful.

This is a boxcar on the grounds from the Gratitude Train that France sent to the United States after WWII as a thank you. There was one for every state, except Hawaii and District of Columbia had to share one. They were filled with gifts from the people, such as dolls made by school children and other hand crafted items and mementos. Most states still have their boxcars, but North Dakota still has most of the stuff that came in it.

We stopped in Steele to visit my Uncle Ole who is 93 years old. There is a statue of the world's largest sandhill crane right by the exit at Steele.

This is the Buffalo statue at Jamestown that you can see from the interstate. There is also a herd here that you can see as you drive by with a white buffalo.

Back at my Mom's. She is surrounded by beauty. There are three fields of sunflowers straight across the road from her driveway where we park. Her neighbor across the street has so many flowers, it looks like a park. Just one house down from her, this same neighbor has created a community garden with vegetables and flowers. It's beautiful. She also lives just a block from the swimming pool, campground, playground, skateboard park, football field, softball field, track and bike path and just three blocks from downtown. Location, location, location!

Back at my brother's lake place, here is my Mom swimming with my grandkids. They couldn't get enough of the water.

Family time, 90 degrees, seeking the only shady place.

Granddaughter, daughter and my Mom having some fun with Gunner and Dash.

Grandpa, I only get 10% of the attention. My baby sister gets all the attention!

Just relaxing at the lake for the next few days, then heading to Brookings, Sioux Falls and Iowa.

Tarra

Trout Creek & Thompson Falls, Mt.

Fri - Fri, July 16th -23rd


Friday we left Idaho and headed back to Montana. We went to Trout Creek (30 miles north of Thompson Falls on the Clark Fork River) to spend a few days on a lot owned by my uncle Tony.



Here's a couple of pictures of our "traveling home" on Tony's land. Just a few hundred yards down the road is a Kootenai National Forest campground and a public access boat launch.








It was very peaceful here and we went for hikes everyday, sometimes twice a day.











If you are looking for a new idea for your mail box or something to dress up your driveway entrance,
here's a couple ideas for you.








I call it Montana Backwoods Retro.

John playing on the computer at the park by the river in Thompson Falls. We had no phone or computer reception where we were camped, so we had to drive into town to get a connection.

I saw these guys when I was out hiking by myself one day. There were deer everywhere. There were signs around warning that we were in grizzly country, so when we heard deer rustling around in the woods, we got a little nervous.

We saw them within 20 yards of our camper most mornings and evenings. We saw a doe with twins a couple of times and a couple of bucks together one time.

I saw a buck in the woods and then noticed this little fawn sitting in the grass not far from the road near our campsite. When I approached the camper the next night at dusk, I saw a skunk just ambling away from the camper and into the woods.

Have you ever seen toilets with two sizes of rings. This is how they were at the forest campground. I'm sure it's a good idea for small children, esp. for those vault toilets at campgrounds. Those toilets can be kind of scary, anyway. But it does give an interesting new twist to the age-old argument of putting the ring down. Which one?

They had a very nice boat ramp and dock at the campground. The river was quite calm most of the time that we were here. It was hot, 90+, most of the week. I went swimming here to cool off.

Here's a view of the train bridge from the swimming beach.

Views from the dock at sunset.

The campground was pretty full most of the time we were here. The only facilities were vault toilets and water spigots, but it was a nice campground for $10.00 a night. No reservations.

We also went hiking at nearby Ross Creek Cedars County Park. It was a beautiful place to hike, but I didn't take any pictures.

Last view at the boat access area.

It was usually very busy here, but I managed to get a few pictures between the boats loading and unloading.

I took this the last day we were here after a big wind storm the night before. We were pretty nervous during the storm watching the trees bending way over in the wind, after our recent experience with the falling tree. Winds whispering thru the pines has taken on a new meaning for us, but there was no place to go. We were totally surrounded by forest.

Friday we head back to Helena to pick up our grandson and his friend. We will be taking them to Eugene, Oregon to play in the Babe Ruth Regional Tournament with their team. We will be stopping in Portland to see John's Aunt Dorothy and her son and daughter-in-law on the way.

Tarra

Ceour D' Alene & Hayden Lake, Idaho

Tue - Fri, July 14th - 17th

Celtic concert at the downtown park in Ceour d' Alene. John could hardly keep from doing a jig. He should have worn his kilt. We were visiting friends at Hayden Lake just a few miles north. We met them in Egypt and also went to Peru with them.

This is a fancy resort and marina near downtown. Lake Ceour d 'Alene is 38 miles long and very beautiful.

Our friends took us hiking on the Tubb's Hill Trail near the resort.

Fantastic views!

This golf course on the lake has a floating movable green. They take you out by boat to play this hole. It costs about $200.00 to play 18 holes.

After our hike we had lunch and drinks on the sun deck at the resort and watched a parasailer.

This is a home on Hayden Lake owned by the president of Hadley Mining.

This is Bing Crosby's home on Hayden Lake.

This is our friend's home on Hayden Lake with one flight of stairs up to the deck and two more flights up to where the trail starts with five switchbacks and one more flight of steps up to the main floor deck on their home. It's quite a hike, but totally beautiful and rustic. I went for a swim after we hiked the English Point Trail near their home on a very warm day. It was great!

Here's a view down to their dock from above. We went for a boat ride around the lake.

Another view showing the trail down to the stairs.

One more view.

Here's a little lighted waterfall next to the deck on their house. What a beautiful home they have. Thank you so much J & C for all your hospitality. We enjoyed our visit very much.

To quote Arnold, "I'll be back."

Tarra