Seattle, Washington

I have always wanted to see Seattle and during our too brief stay, I wasn’t disappointed.  Being our first time in this city, we just had to visit the popular tourist destinations.  Seattle Center is home to several different attractions including the famous Space Needle.  Since am not crazy about heights, we passed on taking the elevator to the top and just enjoyed it from ground level.  Then we took a little ride on the monorail for fun.  We toured the EMP Museum (Experience Music Project).  The building itself is quite unique, made of different colors of smooth sheet metal pieces which I think it supposed to represent a smashed guitar?  The museum is home to a large memorabilia collection of famous musicians, old and new.  Check out the guitar tornado photo below.

We took a Ducks tour which was great.  Ducks are amphibious landing vehicles developed during WWII to transport troops and supplies ship to shore and back.  The Duck drives around Seattle’s points of interest and then plunges into Lake Union where it cruises the lake for a bit.  It was a little freaky driving into the lake.  We sailed by the houseboat featured in Sleepless in Seattle.  Word on the street is that it’s currently for sale and could be yours for a few million if you are interested. 

We toured Pikes Market, had lunch on the waterfront, visited the Westlake Mall, and spent some time riding the ferry to Bainbridge Island.  I loved the ferry ride and on our next visit I intended to take it extensively to visit several of Washington’s Islands north of Seattle.

The highlight for me was the Chihuly Garden Exhibit.  The Garden features the work of Dale Chihuly, a local artist who sculpts in glass.  The Garden is relatively new to Seattle and I would highly recommend a visit here if you are in the area.  My photos don’t begin to capture how cool this exhibit was – you just have to see it for yourself.    

We stayed at Lake Pleasant RV Campground in Bothell, about 6 miles from Seattle.  It was a peaceful campground close to everything and I would recommend it if staying in the area.

There is so much to see and do in Washington, that I suspect we will be back in the not so distant future.  A week simply wasn’t enough time at this stop.       

 

Seattle Skyline

 

Space Needle

 

EMP Museum

 

Ducks Tour - Union Lake

 

Chihuly Exhibit

 

 

 

 

 

 

View From Our Front Window

 

West Glacier, Montana

On our way to West Glacier, we stopped off at the East Glacier National Park Entrance.  There was yet another amazing waterfall I wanted to see near Two Medicine, MT.  So we parked YOLO near the train station and off we went.  A 9 mile drive and a very short walk later, you find yourself at Eagle Falls.  Just lovely! 

Then it was off to West Glacier where we stayed at KOA for four days.  It was a lovely campground situated at the base of the mountains and we really enjoyed our stay there.  We went to West Glacier and walked around town a little then drove to Lake McDonald Lodge to check it out.  Lake McDonald is the largest lake in the park at almost 10 miles long and the road to the lodge hugs the lake so it’s a beautiful drive.  The lodge is very "Swiss Alp" like and would be an interesting place to spend a night.  We took lunch and had a picnic beside the river on our way back.

Glacier National Park has been our favorite park so far.  The scenery is just amazing, although I am starting to miss civilization and looking forward to our next destination – Seattle, Washington.  We will overnight at Polson, Montana and Coeur D’Alene, Idaho on our way to Seattle.  Hopefully, the fires that are burning in Montana will not be an issue for us as we travel I-90 westbound.

 Eagle Falls

 

 

 

 Lake McDonald

 

 

Lake McDonald Lodge

 

 

Red Bus Tours of the Park

 

Goodbye Montana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many Glacier, Glacier National Park

I’d heard that a great place for wildlife sightings is Many Glacier, located about 15 miles from our campground.  According to the locals, the best time to see wildlife is in the early morning or evening.  As many of you know, I am not a morning person so I dragged Mark and Winston to Many Glacier one evening in hopes of sighting a bear.  While in Grand Teton and Yellowstone we were fortunate to see some wildlife; but no bears, despite the numerous signs about bear safety and keeping your picnic baskets safely tucked away.  So needless to say, I felt cheated that I didn’t get to see bears romping about in their natural habitat. 

Glacier National Park encompasses more than a million acres so I figured this would be prime bear sighting country.  While hiking to St. Mary’s waterfall we came up bear scat (that’s ‘poop’ for those not as wildlife savvy as others), convincing me that this was surely the place that I would spy my bear in the wild.  But alas, on the drive out to Many Glacier, we didn’t see anything.  I was in full whine mode on the drive back when Mark spotted a bear.  Yes, there he (or she) was in a meadow beside the road snacking on berries before bedtime.  It was just as amazing as I knew it would be. Ahh, I felt complete.  

The relatively short drive to Many Glacier is very scenic although the road itself leaves something to be desired.  The road ends at Swiftcurrent Lake which is one massive lake let me tell you.  Sitting on its shore is the Many Glacier Lodge built in 1914-15 by the Great Northern Railroad.  This lodge is the largest in the park and looks like something you would see if you were in Switzerland.  If we weren’t traveling in YOLO, I would have stayed the night.  The lodge, the lake and the views were amazing and my photos simply don’t do it justice, especially the photo of the lodge.

 

Swiftcurrent Lake 

 

 Many Glacier Lodge

 

 Bear Sighting

 

 Frolicking Bear - Not a Sight you See Everyday

 

St. Mary at Glacier National Park

St. Mary is located on the east side of Glacier National Park.  It’s a very small town with a few places to stay and eat and that’s about it.  We “camped” at Johnson’s RV Park.  NiceRV  park for adults (not much to do for kids) located on a hillside overlooking St. Mary Lake, but the views are amazing.  There is a small café on the premises which has the best homemade bread.  Yum!

The entrance to the park is about 1 mile from town and the beginning of the Going to the Sun Road which winds across the Continental Divide at Logan Pass and the drops down into West Glacier.  The road is 52 miles between the east and west sides of the park and has some of the most spectacular scenery accessible by car in the U.S.

On our first foray into the park, we stopped at the St. Mary’s Fall trailhead and hiked in about 2.5 miles to see St. Mary’s Falls and Virginia Falls.  I just love waterfalls and I wasn’t disappointed.   The water at the foot of the falls is this eerie green color from the glacial melt.  Winston was a trooper – this was his second longest waterfall hike on this adventure.

On our second trip into the park, we actually did the whole drive over Going to the Sun Road. We passed Haystack Creek Falls which cascades down the mountainside right at the roadside, going under the road and continuing on.  Next stop was Logan Pass Visitor’s Center where you can see many of the glaciers in the distance and meadows of wild flowers.  We also saw our first marmot up close and personal and boy was he vocal!  I had no idea they “talked.”  We had a lovely picnic alongside the river and after lunch Winston went to dip his paws in the water. 

Because Glacier National Park is so large and the geography is so diverse, I’ll have another post on the beautiful destination.

Our Million Dollar View to the Right

Our Million Dollar View to the Left

 

             

Mark and Winston at the Falls                                             St. Mary Falls

 

 For those brave enough to jump - adjacent to the Falls

 

 



 River downstream from St. Mary's Falls

 

Virginia Falls



 

Beginning of the 2.5 mile hike to the Falls

 

 Going to the Sun Road

Haystack Creek Falls 

Great Falls, Montana

I got a little behind in my blogging so I’m using the next few days to play catch up.

We decided to implement a course correction and shave off 100 miles from our journey to Glacier National Park by heading north through Great Falls.  Due to reservations in the Glacier area which I necessarily made months and months ago, we ended up having a few days to just hang out and Great Falls turned out to be a good place to spend those few days.  The RV Park is located in town and so shopping was a hop, skip and jump from home.  I also took the time to have the oil changed and tires rotated on the Silver Fox (the Honda CRV) which was overdue. 

While hanging out in Great Falls, we took a few hours to tour the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center just down the road along the Missouri River.  It was very interesting and worth the stop.  It’s a good thing I didn’t live back then – life was hard.  No wonder so many died young.  Yikes.  We’re following a portion of the Lewis and Clark trail in our air conditioned motorhome.  Can you imagine not knowing exactly where you are going, traveling on foot and carrying everything you owned with you, braving the elements?   

We went to the Giant Springs Park which boasts the smallest river in the United States, a mere couple hundred feet long.   150 million gallons of pristine clear water flows up through cracks in the limestone every day and rushes down the little falls before dumping into the Missouri River.  The park was beautiful, green and cool.  There is also a fish hatchery on site along the bank of the river.  My nephew Connor, the fishing enthusiast of the family, would have been chomping at the bit to throw his line in the water of the Missouri I am sure.  It must have been a good spot since to fish since there were many people doing just that.  Heck, even the pelicans seemed to recommend this location.

 Lewis and Clark Mission Objective

 

 Boats they used to carry themselves and supplies

 

 Winston looks out over Giant Springs

 

Views of the Giant Springs Falls with the Missouri River in the background 

 

Billings, Montana

We stopped over for one night at the KOA in Billings.  It is the first KOA and flagship for the entire franchise.  My review: it was very nice.  The spaces were incredibly close together, but the amenities more than made up for it.  As with most KOA’s, it is very family oriented.  They have adorable little cabins to rent for those traveling without a home on wheels.  I have no idea what they get for a cabin, but if we didn’t have a motorhome, I would love to stay in one instead of a traditional hotel.  If you have children or pets, this would definitely be the way to go.  Although our stay was brief, it was enjoyable.  This was a pass through rather than a destination stop, so other than a quick Costco run and a trip through downtown on our way out, we didn’t see too much of Billings. Did I mention that the KOA rented recumbent bikes?  Guess who spent some time cruising around the campground?

 Next stop – Great Falls, MT

 

 

 

Sturgis, SD

We were here the week of the famous motorcycle rally.  Everything you’ve seen on TV is true.  People here definitely march to the beat of their own drums.  Sturgis is a small town of approximately  6,660 souls who host the biggest motorcycle rally in North America once a year.  Motorcycle enthusiasts come from all around (we saw Canadians, Texans, New Yorkers, Floridians, Californians and people from just about every state in between) to spend some quality time with one another cruising on their bikes through the hills of western South Dakota, party, drink, check out what’s new and exciting in the bike world, drink (did I mention that already?) enjoy concerts and basically have one heck of a good time.  There are literally thousands upon thousands motorcycles of every make, model and color.  From the extravagant to the ordinary, you’ll see them all here in Sturgis and the people that ride them are as individual as their bikes.  While never a fan of motorcycles, I admit after seeing all the bikes in Sturgis I am now wondering what it would be like to own a purple trike.  Hmmm.

We stayed at Shade Valley Camp Resort about 10 miles east of downtown Sturgis.  The campground was nice and would be a good place to stay if you want to distance yourself a little from the non-stop action going on in town, but still be close to the action.  The Eye Candy Saloon is located on site with free concerts every night and there is a restaurant offering outside dining for breakfast, lunch and dinner with a BBQ special offered every night.

The popular destination saloons in Sturgis include The Full Throttle Saloon which is billed as the largest biker saloon in the world, the Buffalo Chip, known for its nightly big name entertainment during the rally.  In town proper, you'll find the Easy Rider and Loud American Saloons among many others.

We were pleasantly surprised at the attitude of the crowd.  Everyone here is laid back, courteous and law-abiding from what we could tell.  I was a little worried about the chaos of driving to town with so many motorcycles on the road, but everyone takes it slow and is very respectful of one another.   The Sturgis police department does an excellent job and the locals are terrific.  A great time!

Rather than try to describe the rally to you further, I think I’ll let the pictures below tell the story…

 

 

 73rd Annual Motorcycle Rally

 

Main Street Sturgis

 

Bikes, bikes and more bikes

 

I think I need one of these

Apparently skin, paint and

electrical tape are the latest fashion.

 

  Partying at night

 



The Full Throttle rocks

 

Loved this metal sculpture