Billings, Montana

We drove today from Livingston to Billings, Montana, and the route took us along the Yellowstone River.

At nearly 700 miles long, it rises in northwestern Wyoming in the Absaroka Range, on the Continental Divide. It is the longest undammed river in the contiguous United States.

Sophie and I went for a bike ride and a hike on the Norm Schoenthal Island that is bordered by the Yellowstone River.

Here’s some of what we saw…

Beautiful scenery of a wide yet calm point in the river.

The smallest frog I have ever seen. He was no bigger than a dime.

Dozens of bat houses. (You’ll see why they need dozens more later…)

A plethora of dried bugs along the shore.

Speaking of bugs, the cicadas are out in force. The sound was very loud and surreal, especially because I couldn’t see them in the trees.

Interesting rocks including some shale along with the river rock that busts with minimal trauma.

A kind soul left Maggie’s lost collar for her next visit.

On the information board, someone posted a warning about the mosquitoes on island. Not only are they ‘OUT’ they are ‘MEAN’!

The Yellowstone River is now Sophie’s favorite river. Why? She’s gotten to play in it three times…

The mighty Yellowstone River…

Livingston, Montana

We drove Highway 89 to the south end of the Paradise Valley.

Our goal was to view the portion of the Yellowstone River where Richie, our son, spent one glorious summer rafting with his friends after summer school. Here’s a picture of the rapids today.

Class got out at noon, and Richie and his friends drove about 60 miles to Yankee Jim Canyon just above Gardiner, Montana.

They ‘floated’ the river in inner tubes focusing on ‘the legendary wave rapids of Yankee Jim Canyon.’

I’m not sure one ‘floats’ on Class III rapids. I think it’s more of a wild ride especially in an inner tube…

They didn’t start floating the Yellowstone until after July 4th because it was ‘too dangerous.’

So here’s a picture from a rafting company advertising a guided rafting trip on the Yellowstone…

I am so glad I didn’t know how wild and untamed the Yellowstone can be in Yankee Jim Canyon while Richie and his friends were rafting it twice a day most of the summer.

Ignorance was bliss.

Livingston, Montana

We went for a hike yesterday in Paradise Valley which lies between Livingston and Yellowstone National Park.

Paradise Valley is high in elevation at 5,000 feet, and it is flanked on one side by the Absaroka Mountains with peaks up to nearly 1 1,000 feet. The Yellowstone River winds through the valley and is famous for its fly fishing.

Our hike was stunning as we passed through waist high wild rose and native grasses.

Sophie went for a bit of a swim in the Suce Creek after we crossed the bridge.

We were caught in a quick thunder storm and waited the rain out.

We hiked far enough to go into the Absaroka Bluetooth Wilderness Area.

All in all, a great hike!

PS I learned how to take a selfie!

Remember the Peanuts Halloween special  “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” from long, long ago?

As Charlie Brown trick or treated with his friends, they all checked their bags after each house, commenting on what they got. Lucy got a Snickers bar, Linus got M and M’s, and Charlie Brown said, “I got a rock.”

That’s what we felt like today driving through Yellowstone Park. We only drive one leg of the park, but we felt gypped by the wildlife.

We only saw four elk, two cows with their calves, and a small group of antelope. That’s it!

No buffalo (my personal favorite), no deer, no bull elk, no sheep. Nothing except for 10,500 homo sapiens.

The last time we visited the park it was with our friends Dean and Lil during the spring of 2013. We saw five bears, hundreds of bison with their calves, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, dozens of elk, etc…

We plan on coming back to the park in late September and we will plan our visit around several drives through the north east portion of the park in the Lamar Valley–the best place to view wildlife.

Livingston, MT

Went to the local farmer’s market tonight. Very nice and a good time.

We can’t figure out of it was really that nice or if it just seemed nicer because we had to lock Sophie in the Jeep. (See picture below.  🙂 )

We bought some corn out of the bed of a pickup. 

Most ingenious booth design was this tractor and wagon complete with shade and display racks for all their veggies.

A pizza from a wood fired stove on an old pickup looked really good.

But we decided to split a cheese steak sandwich instead.

There were many artists painting in the park.

A policewoman road through the park on horseback.

The band played lots of tunes.

Kids jumped higher and higher on bungee cords.

Hard to decide what to have for dessert. Cupcakes maybe?

Nope.  The cherry pies looked even better.

There were lots of unique crafts like these ‘flowers’  made of China plates.

And the view from the park of the mountains was amazing!

Lowell, ID

Tons of wild berries grow in the Idaho mountains.

And we were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time.

We were even more fortunate to have our friends and experienced berry pickers with us.

During two separate drives into the mountains, we came across some huckleberry bushes and some blackberry bushes that were loaded with  ripe and delicious fruit.

I had never had huckleberries before this summer. Rich and I bought some in Polson, Montana, a week before. They were almost  priced like they were gold: $7.50 per half pound and $12.00 per pound. We splurged and bought a half pound, freezing half and cooking half with our sourdough pancakes the next morning.

They were divine. To me they taste like a cross between a blueberry and a raspberry that’s been placed over a campfire for a few minutes for just the right amount of smoking.

Dean and Lil have picked lots of huckleberries and showed us what to look for. Luckily for us, the bushes we found had lots of berries at waist height. Normally the berries grow in bushes low to the ground so that they are hard to pick.

Now we know why they are so pricey. 🙂

Sophie LOVED them and picked them off one by one, eating them right from the bush. The funny thing was that she could tell the difference between ripe and unripe ones; must have been that unique smell.

Rich, Dean, Lil, Sophie and I all had sourdough pancakes with huckleberries for breakfast the following morning. Yummy~!

On another drive, we ran into some huge blackberry bushes. While these bushes have lots of thorns, the berries are huge compared to the huckleberries. It didn’t take long to fill two bags.

Alas, the only bags we had in the car were Sophie’s poop bags.  🙂 Thankfully, she hadn’t needed them yet…

Lowell, ID

We are camping near Selway Falls for a few days and won’t have any cell or Internet…

No posts until Saturday.

Lolo, MT

there’s flora. We are staying at a beautiful park outside of Missoula, Montana. Jim and Mary’s RV Park boasts about its many flower gardens throughout the park. And they should!  We’ve been talking with people who winter in Arizona, and we need to start preparing ourselves for the ambiance of the parks down there. While they have their own beauty, there is not much lawn or flowers or trees other than Palm trees. So we best better stop and smell the flowers now!

And there’s also a bit of fauna! There are at least three domestic bunnies roaming the park. Here are two of them out for a morning snack…

Update: Make that at least four bunnies…

Missoula, MT

We drove from Polson to Missoula today and took a tiny detour.

We stopped at the St. Ignatius Mission in St. Ignatius,  Montana.

For me it was a bit of deja vu for two reasons. First, I went to a Roman Catholic school called St. Ignatius for first and second grades. Second, my parents took us to multiple missions on vacations throughout our childhood.

All missions are beautiful for their own unique reasons, and St. Ignatius was no exception. The subtle colors of the mural paintings convey a peacefulness and sense of welcome.

It was completed in 1891. The Salish Indians had invited the Jesuits to their area and helped in building the church. They hand made the over 1,000,000 bricks used in building the church with local clay and straw.

The murals on the ceilings and walls were painted by an Italian Jesuit brother who had had no formal training. The Salish Indians believed that he was inspired by the Holy Spirit.

The church is still used for Sunday Mass at 9:30 a.m.

As a kid, I always loved sitting in the choir loft during Mass because I didn’t have to sit as still as if we were in a pew and it was easier to look at all the people. 
The ever-feared confessional. Those curtains didn’t muffle much of the sound, so we spoke as low as possible. Not a problem unless the priest was hard of hearing. Then we had to raise our voices so that nearly everyone in the church could hear our sins. 

This is part of the old grinding stone and mill that was used to grind the wheat for the missionaries. 

These are headstones from some of the earliest priests, brothers, and sisters. It was interesting to read the various ages at death. Sister Mary Columba was 79 while Sister Blanche Lea was only 26.

This is the original house for the priests and brothers.

The pulpit had an interesting sea-shell shaped dome over it with a picture of a dove. I have never seen anything like that in a church before.

This was the original house for the sisters.

The mission was very beautiful and peaceful, and I’m glad we stopped for a visit.