Early morning in North Cascades National Park

This is the first summer in quite some time that we have traveled west. We were invited by our friends Gary and Nonnie to meet them in Rocky Mountain National Park for a week in early August. That invitation sparked a discussion that led to us planning a 4 and 1/2 week spin around the west. This time, with no working involved.

We decided to make a little(?) loop through one past favorite park and three parks new to us. Glacier NP(old favorite), North Cascades NP, Mount Rainier NP, and finishing up with our friends in Rocky Mountain NP.

After packing up, planning the route, and setting things up with family to keep the home front running, we pulled out of the driveway on July 17.

This trip we finally got the chance to try out a membership we have had in a program called Harvest Hosts. Businesses and homeowners willing to let RV travelers spend the night for free can sign up. Then, RV travelers sign up. The kick is, that you are supposed to buy something from the establishment that you overnight at. Much cheaper, potentially, than a traditional campground and brings in business to a place that just has to have parking large enough for an rv.

The first place we stopped was a horse farm in New York. They didn’t sell anything, so we gifted them with a bottle of pure Maine maple syrup. Here was our site for the night on a little creek.

Next stop, a winery in Champaign, IL. We picked up a red and a white to add to the camper.

We also stayed at Mac’s Creek Winery and Brewery in Lexington, Nebraska, and Canyon Creek Brewing in Billings, Montana. Good food and drinks were enjoyed after travel days. Believe it or not, Glen was not the originator of the winery/brewery themed campsites. 🤷‍♀️

We did have a bit of car trouble on the way out. That irksome wrench symbol popped up on the dashboard. Some sort of defective inverter, but thanks to Bison Ford in Great Falls we got that all fixed up under warranty and don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the trip.

The first park stop on this excursion was Glacier NP. Our favorite park, and one we have visited many times. We think this was visit #7🧐😯

Because the park has had to deal with overcrowding, many new reservations systems have been implemented. We were lucky enough to snag a campsite inside the park, giving us tickets to travel the Going to the Sun Road for the days we were there. We also got some days reserved to enter the Many Glacier area, and some for the Two Medicine area. So we had options. Here is the view from our campsite.

We hiked part of the Swiftcurrent trail, hiked to Iceberg Lake, kayaked on the lake in Two Medicine, drove the Going to the Sun Road, and reminisced. We visited favorite restaurants as well, and as you can see from the next photo, Glen was really happy to have carrot cake at Johnson’s. They don’t always have this item on the menu, and since it’s the best carrot cake in the world, Glen figured that it was a great payoff for the 3000 miles spent traveling to the restaurant.

Now, we are embarking on three parks new to us. First up, North Cascades NP in Washington. This park has more glaciers than Glacier NP! It is pretty wild, remote, has part of the Pacific Crest hiking trail, and many people who think this is where you can find Bigfoot.

Because of the location, and the beautiful but challenging to drive highway, we opted to drop the RV in a little town called Brewster, load up the car with our tent and gear to spend the night in a bit more primitive fashion, and head for Colonial Creek South Campground in the park. Here are some camping photos.

Glen near the big tree we hope doesn’t fall on the tent

We almost had a hungry night, but quick thinking saved the day. We had planned to make things “simple”. (I know, right?!)

We brought some premade backpacking dinner and breakfast that we only had to add boiling water to. Packed everything up along with a couple of apples, bananas, and pretzels. Put it all in the bearproof container. Pack up a few big jugs of water. Bring a simple stove and propane, some paper plates, bowls, utensils…all good, right? Anyone figure out what is missing?

Boiling water is pretty simple. But not if you don’t bring anything to boil it in. Oops. Luckily we realized our mistake and were able to find a small general store that had an old fashioned percolator coffee pot for sale. Problem solved. No hungry campers.

The scenery in the north part of the park is spectacular. We loved our drive in the car, and were sure happy not to have tried it with the rv. Here are a few more shots from that park.

After our night sleeping in a tent and roughing it, we headed back to grab the camper from Brewster and take it to Chelan for our southern foray into North Cascades. The campground in Chelan is beautiful, but there is no way to adequately describe the two mile stretch of road leading to it. You’ll just have to get Glen to describe it for you, but be ready for a description full of adjectives and probably a few interjections.

There is a small town called Stehekin at the far end of a 50+ mile long lake called Lake Chelan. We had reservations to take a ferry to Stehekin and spend the day there.

There is a bakery, a historic schoolhouse, an old orchard, a magnificent waterfall, and many hiking trails. We chose to rent bikes when we got there and spent our day exploring. And sampling baked goods. We can recommend the danish and the raspberry twist.

As I write this, we are preparing to pack up and move to another new park. We head to Mount Rainier NP tomorrow and are excited for more adventures.

It may be awhile before we have good wifi and time to update you on the next two parks….but we will do our best. Hopefully everyone at home is happy and healthy. See you in a couple of weeks!

Finding Greatness

Glen has a t-shirt that says, “Find Your Greatness”. This seems to be an appropriate theme to end our summer with. We have been fortunate enough to find many examples of greatness this summer. Sometimes it was the greatness of nature. Often it was the greatness of the actions of people both close to us and far away. It is easy to forget how we can be great. We do not have to be THE best. Just our best for the moment. Here are some reminders of ways to search for greatness in our world.

Look for the beauty in the little things.

Rejoice in the grandeur of nature. The photo below was taken near the top of Swiftcurrent pass. We were so happy to have Cait Bourgault join us this week for some great hikes. She took some amazing photos and has shared some of them on Facebook. We all found some inner greatness as we tackled thirty miles in three days. We hiked to Hidden Lake Overlook, Iceberg Lake, and the Highline Trail to Granite Park Chalet and then up and over Swiftcurrent Pass, finishing at Many Glacier. If you start at the bottom of the photo and count up, the finish of the hike is after the fifth lake. While this might come as a disappointment to those of you who are dedicated followers of our adventures, there are no pictures of anyone braving the icy waters of Iceberg Lake. Cait and Terry were too smart, and Glen wimped out. Maybe next time.

We found a whale at Iceberg Lake!
Cait and Terry enjoying the view of Iceberg Lake.

More iceberg shots.

Remember that we are not the only creatures depending on the Earth. This marmot was entertaining us on our Highline trail hike.

This bighorn was one of five hanging out trailside. You can see one of his buddies chillin’ in the background. Cait’s eyes got pretty wide as he walked towards us, but he just scratched a seat into the slope and sat down.

On the way to the trail we did see a bear just for Cait. Here are a couple of shots of that one. We saw a cub on the trails, but a ranger was there as Momma bear and a second cub were also in the neighborhood. So we looked, and walked.

We have enjoyed a splendid summer. While here, our family at home has shown greatness in supporting one another through happy events like birthdays, and unexpected events like bats in the house and broken refrigerators. We are looking forward to getting back home and seeing you all.

When we are faced with challenges in our lives, it is sometimes easy to feel sorry for ourselves. Facing those challenges takes courage, strength, and many other qualities to do well. Patience, grace, and gratitude are qualities that can help us through challenges if we remember to call upon them when we need to. This summer, we have watched our country face some important challenges. We have watched athletes all over the world face competition they have been working towards for a very long time. We have watched a colleague face a health issue head on. We have seen our work family pull together with compassion and support. Good things can happen when we are truly tested. Let us hope that we can continue to find the greatness in ourselves and our world rather than letting the challenges defeat us. Find YOUR Greatness.
Until next time,

Terry and Glen

Glacier Odds Without Ends

We know you have heard of odds and ends. Those strange little pieces of things that accumulate from seemingly nowhere. This blog post will be about the kinds of odd experiences we have accumulated on this Montana trip. They may be jumbled and out of order. They are definitely random. And some of them have no good end. We hope you enjoy them anyway.

First up: Let’s talk about food. We might be a bit obsessed with it. In this rural place, food is sometimes elusive if you are particular about what you want. So cravings for things take on a life of their own. And sometimes it leads to cooking. Or a three hour drive to find jalapeño peppers; a required ingredient to make “Texas Caviar”. It may also lead to a certain someone needing to have his eyes rinsed out with contact lens solution because he rubbed them after cutting up said jalapeños. Other times it may lead to surprising the entire KOA crew with warm homemade doughnuts from Terry’s Nana’s recipe.

When you do not have a doughnut cutter with you, you end up making doughnut balls. Still yummy. We have been asked for an encore.

We have tried several new things while here. Our new friends from Texas have given us elk sausage, and made a yummy chili with venison. We are enjoying a favorite from past years as the flathead cherries are now ripe. Soooo sweet. However, one of the biggest cravings that hit us was for carrot cake made by Johnson’s Restaurant. When we were here before, Glen and our friend Kim both loved it and would each surprise the other with a piece quite often. This summer we kept checking in with the Johnsons, and they never had carrot cake on the menu. Finally we asked them to make us a whole cake. They said it takes seventy-two hours to make. The final result weighed about eight pounds and was worth the wait. We kept a chunk of it for Glen to ration out over a week or so, and shared the rest with friends.

With all that good food, we have to keep moving. We have done several hikes since the last post, but they fit the theme of not having ends. We have wanted to try some new trails, but were working our fitness levels up gradually. So we chose some trails knowing we would not be going all the way to the attraction at the end of the trails. We enjoyed them anyway and want to share some of them with you.

The Rose Creek Trail goes to Otokomi Lake, about five miles up the trail. We climbed about three miles up before turning back. It was the steepest trail we had played on to that point, and our hips were letting us know it had been a while since they were worked in that way. But the hike was great, even without reaching the lake at the end.

A beautiful triple falls on Rose Creek.

The wildflowers were out in full force. When contrasted with last year’s burn area, they seemed even more colorful.

After a work break of a few days, we tackled part of the Grinnel Glacier/ Grinnel Lake trail. Again, we did not go to the glacier, but we did go to the lake. As we often tell people that are looking for hike suggestions, you really cannot go too wrong even if you choose to do a smaller piece of a trail.

The view from the lake is spectacular. Above the lake, waterfalls are cascading down from Grinnel Glacier above.

Glen in the photo for scale…

And a final view from further away on Lake Josephine as we hiked back to the trailhead. The snowfield above the glacier is known as the salamander. Can you see it?

Now for a real test of the recuperating bodies. We decide to up the distance and hike part of the Gunsight Pass trail. While our competitive natures try to convince us that we could do the whole hike across the pass, over the continental divide and down the other side, we stay strong and decide to pass on that almost twenty mile adventure. We have to leave something to look forward to, right?

We decide to do an out and back hike instead, going up to Gunsight Lake, enjoying a picnic lunch, and hiking back out the way we came. We saw some fresh moose tracks, some geese and ducks, but no other wildlife this trip. With a little bit of detouring along the way, and some exploring at the lake to find a good picnic spot, it ended up being 13.9 miles. Enough to test the bodies, and also let us know that it was wise to wait on the longer distances. It was hot, but worth every step. Well, Terry could have done without the final mile which climbs about 1000 feet. She tried to tell Glen that usually when she reached 13.1 there would be a medal, a cold drink, and some food. Glen said this finish chute was just extra long, all uphill, and sometimes you can’t get the blingy medal. That parking lot finish line was a welcome sight. You can enjoy our hike without suffering the climb.

Looking at Blackfoot Mountain.

Refreshing Deadwood Falls along the way. We like streams. They are great for wetting hats and giving off cool breezes.

Proof that we were not alone on the trail. The moose is at least a size ten.

Pretty sure this is Jackson Glacier.

The trail.

The view looking toward Gunsight Lake.

One of the suspension bridges we crossed. Bouncy, so thankfully not being chased by bad guys like in the movies. We do not cross them with much grace.

Our picnic spot. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches become food fit for royalty in this setting.

We walked through fields of butterflies. Celia would not have known where to turn to catch one there were so many. The black and white ones are speedy and do not like to pose. But this beauty did not mind having a picture taken.

We truly do appreciate the chance to explore this amazing park.

The rest of our time when we are not working or hiking, we are helping others to find great things to do here, or watching or hearing about the crazy things that occur in a campground. So far we have had a fire in the campground dump that required the fire department to come. As Glen was assisting in keeping the fire from spreading while waiting for the fire department, the owner’s Dad backed into our car. We had a man capsize one of the kayaks with his camper keys and need to have the door to his camper drilled open, had a motorhome parked off to the side of the driveway with seized up brakes for a few days waiting to figure out how to remove it, had a lady leave her purse behind and then call the police saying we would not return it, had another camper with water pouring out of it with no way to get inside and stop it….and much, much, more. There is never a dull moment, but it is always “A GREAT day at the KOA!”

Until next time,

Glen and Terry

“Hide and Seek”

Childhood games of hide and seek were full of adrenaline, planning, suspense, and giggles. We had our share of hiding and seeking this week, in a variety of situations. Sometimes we were the hiders, but mostly we were seeking this week. What were we seeking? That very much depended on the day.

We succumbed to the evils of television withdrawal, and decided to add a portable satellite dish to our tiny house on wheels. We already have a Directv account at home, so as long as we don’t want local channels or nbc, abc, cbs, and don’t mind programming for eastern time while we are on mountain time, it only adds a small fee to our monthly bill. Sounds easy, right? Well…not so much. We headed over the mountains to an rv dealer in Kalispell to pick up the dish. But they were out of receivers that would work with the dish. “No problem,” we say. We try Best Buy. Nope. How about AT&T since they are now partners with Directv? Nope. Where else can we pick up a receiver? We ask Directv and they take forever before suggesting the very place we just left, or Cabela’s. Really. Well, it is Montana. We try Cabela’s. Nope. They suggest another rv dealer. We try them. Tons of Dish network receivers, no Directv. They suggest the name of a man named Chris who installs them. We call. He suggests a satellite company in another town. We call. Yes, he says. We drive there. Not the correct model. I can order one, he says. Okay. We leave name and number. Head back to then campground after an entire day of seeking only half successful.

At this point, we decide to ask the campground if they have any extra receivers around since the big cabins have Directv dishes. They do. Yay! Wrong model. Boo! We decide to order one directly and have it shipped with two day shipping so we do not have to wait as long as we would with the Satellite company. After ordering on Thursday, we discover two day shipping means it will arrive on Tuesday by 4:30. What? I guess that is shipping company time. We settle in to wait.

After many hours on the phone, having our homeservice “upgraded” for our trouble (which actually caused them to accidentally shut off the receiver in the den at home), we are finally able to watch tv in the camper and everything is fixed at home as well. Seeking round one done.

While we were heading into the park to hike the next day, we found some hiding animals. We shared a couple of these on Facebook, but want to share them here as well.

These two bears were hidden in the underbrush or wildflowers on the road into Many Glacier. We decided to take photos and not tag them or race them to the goal. 🙂 That way we all win the game.

Our second turn at seeking something came when Glen decided to find another disc golf course. This one was listed as being at Whitefish Mountain Resort, and was partially on ski slopes, and partially in the woods. We drive up a beautiful winding mountain road into a ski resort and try to find someone to ask about where the course is. First stop, the baselodge where there is a shop for people wanting to use a zipline. A young man with a large mustache tells us he does not know about any course on the mountain, but there is one north of town on the lake. He gives us some sketchy directions about going five miles toward the lake and there will be a random parking lot on the left. Uh huh.

We decide to strike out further up the ski mountain in hopes of finding someone who knows of the first course. Next stop…a clothing store in the ski village. Older lady. She does know of the first course but says it no longer exists because it was too difficult to keep the underbrush in check. But she refers us to the mountain bike rental store to chat with some of the young guys there. Here we get confirmation of the second course near the lake and some slightly better directions that appear to confirm mustache man’s ideas.

Off we go into the unknown. Small, winding lakeside road with mansions and camps interspersed along the shore. Eventually we find a parking lot that is the only possibility that fits with the directions. No signs, no cars, no people. Glen decides to head into the woods adjacent to the parking lot to look for signs of a course, while Terry chooses to wait in the car with the doors locked.

After a few minutes of bushwhacking, Glen actually finds signs of a course. Well, sort of. As you can see by the pictures, Montana disc golf isn’t for the faint of heart. Tucked into the woods was a course that some local disc golf fanatics cobbled together. The baskets were made from fence posts that were about 8 inches in diameter, propped up by circular piles of rocks, and made visible by the painted coffe cans that were stacked around the posts. The boxes had logs pointing out the direction of the hole while rocks on the ground had the hole number painted or scratched on them.

Glen went back to the car to tell Terry the happy news: there was a course, and they could play some golf! The undergrowth was a bit thick, but well-worn paths showed that the course actually got quite a lot of play. Play continued until Glen thought that a GPS might be required to continue, then we bushwhacked back to the car. No lost discs and a personal best score on that course; the perfect recipe for disc golf success.

With that adventure behind us, we took on some hikes. We are still exploring some trails we have never been on in our attempt to build strength before tackling some tougher things. We tried a two trail day, with a short 2 mile round trip hike to Apikuni Falls and a 5 mile trip to Red Rock Falls on the Swiftcurrent Pass trail. It was a super day, as we got to test our climbing muscles on the way to Apikuni Falls, and we saw the two bear from above, and three moose.

Apikuni Falls

View into the Many Glacier section of the park from the Apikuni Falls trail.

Wildflower meadow on the Apikuni Falls trail.

When we finished the Apikuni Falls trail, we transitioned to the Swifturrent Pass Trail on our way to Red Rock Falls. We hiked past Fishercap Lake and heard there was a moose there, so we took the side trail to the lake to see if it might still be there. Not only was there a moose…there were three: two cows and a baby!

This is where we got to play another game of hide and seek. Except this time, we were hiding. One of the adult moose decided to exit the water and head toward the hiking trail. We (and several other hikers) left the trail and hid behind some trees waiting for the moose to decide where it wanted to go. We had no desire to be found! After a few minutes, we were able to backtrack to the lakeshore and then connect to another trail to rejoin our original hike. It was quite an adrenaline rush for a minute or two!

The trail to Red Rock Falls was gentle, and we enjoyed our hike there. We did encounter rain before we got done, and were glad to have packed our rain jackets. Some hikers were not so prepared, but they still seemed to be having a good time. Luckily it was not cold.

Later in the week, we hiked to Grinnell Lake. At seven and a half miles, it is our longest hike to date. We are still holding together well. Knees and achilles are cooperating. We had never hiked this trail either, so we were happy to give it a try. We are becoming much more valuable resources when people ask us about hikes to take!

Here are some views from the Grinnell Lake trail.

Another part of Montana life is a “bear jam”; a traffic jam caused by someone spotting a bear and everyone stopping to take photos, etc. This week we encountered something we had never seen before.

This is…..a wildflower jam! The meadows were so pretty, that tons of people were stopped and out in the field taking photos.

Lastly, we had a fireworks display in the campground. It was postponed from the fourth due to bad weather. Here is the view from our campsite. It echoed and boomed off the mountains creating a spectacular event. We are sure there were some dogs hiding out during this!

With all the world news lately, we may just hide out, too. Until we return to Maine, you can find us seeking out new fun.

Glen and Terry

“Wet” and “Wild”

We have had a fun week here in Glacier National Park. Our theme this week seems to be “wet” (waterfall hikes) and “wild” (wildlfe and wildflowers). The photo above is St. Mary falls.

We have been trying to get out and get some exercise each day, even when we are working. We figure maybe then we will be able to take these creaky bodies on some longer hikes by the end of the summer. So, one morning we decided to visit St. Mary falls and Virginia falls. It was only a little over three miles round trip, so we had time to hike, and then get ready for work later in the day. That beautiful double rainbow in the falls was one of our rewards.

We were having a grand hike enjoying our waterfall fun, met our two lady bosses on the trail, and were heading back when we had the experience of seeing a bear near the trail. While caution was in order, we were with several other people who had stopped to photograph the big guy, and he (or she) was calmly walking and foraging. We kept slowly walking away, but at the same time, Glen was snapping photos as we moved along the trail. We have a nice telephoto lens, so we are not as close as it looks.

We continued along our way, warned any hikers we saw that were going in that direction, and finished up a wonderful hike. This trail was through a section of the park that burned last summer. While it changes the complexion of the area, it had a different kind of beauty and opened up views that we otherwise would not have seen.

Next, we headed to the Two Medicine section of the park to hike a section of the Pitamaken Pass trail. We knew we were not up to the whole thing yet, but also knew the lower section should have some pretty wildflowers and we would also get some mountain views. We went out and back about five miles. As expected, we got some pretty things to look at.

One section of trail had a huge mass of fur all over it. Looked like bear fur to us. We wondered if maybe one was rubbing on the big trees beside the trail to shed a winter coat. We are not sure if you will be able to see it in the photo, but mixed into the pine needles is a great deal of fur.

We think we even found a ptarmigan on our way out! Although Glen insists on pronouncing it Pa-tarmigan….like an eighth grader.

Those five miles were followed by a gentle six mile hike the next day. In the spirit of trying something new, Glen took Terry on a trail she had never gone on before. He had run on it a few times the last time we were here. We also discovered (actually this is a common occurrence and pet-peeve about hiking trail signs) that the distance of one part of the trail (a loop) was listed as nine tenths of a mile shorter than it actually was. We hike with gps watches so we can tell how far we have gone and how much we can expect to have left before trail intersections, etc.

This trail was also through meadows and the wildflowers right now are out in force. We can’t pick a favorite. And we also can’t name most of them….although we are improving. There are currently blooming….beargrass, clover, thistle, lupine, buttercups, asters, Queen Anne’s lace, wood roses, primroses, some lilies…..and many more. Here are a few for you.

We hiked through some great meadows, and some pretty aspen groves.

Terry did her Julie Andrews impression in one of the meadows, but twirling around with hiking poles just does not make quite the same impression. Our current wildlife count is: three bear, five mountain goats, seven big-horned sheep, a ptarmigan (we think), a big woodpecker, many deer and various squirrels and chipmunks. Not bad for two weeks!

We made one family really happy yesterday. As Terry was watching the teenage boy and mom walk by our campsite, and chuckling to herself because the boy had his sweatshirt on backward and his hood completely covering his face as he walked, he decided to pull it down so as to really see where he was walking. All of a sudden he squeals with delight, points to our car, and tugs his Mom’s arm shouting, “Maine! Maine! I found one!” They proceed to high five one another and Mom then explains that they have been playing the license plate game and Maine was the final one they needed. She said she thought everyone from Maine must have stayed home this summer. We were happy to help them finish the game.

Our fireworks celebration has been postponed due to dry conditions and high winds. So we are having a pretty mellow Fourth of July. At least this time we did not have an older gentleman drive his huge rv down a narrow “road” to the lake through the tenting area. That happened six years ago and we had to have the owner of the campground stand on the roof of the rv and chainsaw branches of trees down so that someone else could back that rig out of the road. That was a once in a lifetime event! (We hope)

We wish everyone back home a safe and happy Fourth of July! We leave you with a Montana sunset until next time.

Glen and Terry

We have moved blogsites

Having trouble composing on the ipad, so moving the blog wanderingholyokes.wordpress.com

Full “Steam” Ahead

So…..since the last time we had our blog active, we no longer have a working pc. Discovering that Blogger does not cooperate nicely with ipads has been a frustrating experience this week. Needless to say, we are migrating the blog to WordPress. We are not sure what we will do with the old posts, but for now, here is a link to the prior blog. Please “bear” with us as we learn the ins and outs of this new site.
www.wanderingholyokes.blogspot.com
We promised ourselves that if we came to Glacier again this summer, that we must seek out new experiences and try for at least one new experience each week. Our first week back has been a nice mix of old and new.

The KOA has a mix of familiar faces and new friends to make. It has been awesome to catch up with old friends, and we are enjoying getting to know our new coworkers. Glen has plans for a group cookout soon and is excited to start that tradition with a new group of workampers. We still think of Dan’s cornbread, Dave and Kathy stocking our camper with chocolate chips for cobblers, Perry’s ribs, sharing homemade Sangria and the shrimp boil with Kim, Lisa, Zoe, and James…. fun times. Our mouths are watering wondering what good things will come this summer. Whatever it is we are sure it will be shared with laughter and good times.

Our first work week is complete, and we have not caused irreparable harm to the place yet. In the spirit of trying new things, both of us were forced to learn some new skills this week. One of the work assignments here is “coffee bar”. Terry had never done this before, and Glen had only done it a few times, but we were both asked to try it this week. This is a combination position of store clerk, ice-cream scooper, and coffee barista. This is a full espresso bar. So we have learned to make lattes, cappucino, americanos, cold brew iced coffee, mochas, blah, blah, blah. OMG. People are weirdly particular about coffee. And steaming milk is tricky. Be nice to your coffee makers. First we have to grind the beans, then tamp them into the scoop, place it on the machine with cups to collect the espresso shots. Make that, steam the milk, put in flavor shots, separately pour milk or foam, play with whipped cream and chocolate sauce….
Terry did try to explode the machine and ended up looking like a little kid that fell in a mud puddle. Coffee came shooting out of the espresso machine when there was a missing filter incident. It is a good thing she wore a tank top beneath the work shirt! Clothing needed to be removed and washed. Cupboards needed to be scrubbed. And the embarrassment was fun, too. Of course there was a line of people witnessing the fun. Good thing teachers know how to fake calmness and smile through most anything! The good news is two people came back later saying that she made great cappucino!
One small inconvenience that comes with living in paradise for the summer is the distance to a grocery store. We choose to turn that into a daylong excursion. We travel over the Going to the Sun Road to the west side of the park, and then a few more miles to get to a decent grocery. We usually add in a small hike, or a trip to some stores, or something to make it a play day, but we take the cooler and fill it with ice to transport our groceries back across the mountains. So, check out the scenery we get on a grocery trip.

Last time we were here, we discovered a cute organic grocery store in the ski town called Whitefish. We neglected to remember that it was closed on Sundays. Next time we will not plan our grocery trip for a Sunday. However, we did see online that there was supposed to be a disc golf course in Whitefish as well. Glen likes to play and just happened to leave his discs in the car for the journey to Montana. We decided to try to find this place.
Actually there are two disc golf courses in Whitefish, or at least there are supposed to be two. Terry tried to find driving directions from downtown Whitefish to the Smith Lake course, and the projected driving time fluctuated from 30 minutes to 5 hours. That’s Montana for you; we decided to leave that adventure for another day. The second place was called Buffalo Bob’s Disc Golf. Well, it showed up as a place to play disc golf online, but the driving directions gave the name as Buffalo Bob’s Pizza. It seemed like it was pretty close, so we decided to give it a try.
A few miles out of Whitefish, as we were dutifully obeying Montana’s 70 mile an hour speed limit Terry’s eyes were drawn to a KOA sign that flashed by. At the bottom of the sign was a welcome to Buffalo Bob’s Pizza — remember us mentioning that a few lines ago? We pulled a u turn and headed down the drive. It would take too long to completely explain how we eventually ended up on the course, but the 1 mile drive on the road included two free range llamas(or alpacas, we can never tell the difference), a little kid on a big wheel who had a death wish, a petting zoo with miniature ponies, a grumpy donkey, and a trail to the first tee that had the theme song from the movie Deliverance running through our minds Look at the pictures and tell us we’re lying.

The course was free to play, and it certainly was worth the price of admission. On the plus side, the baskets were absolutely beyond description, Terry got to throw a few discs, and we made it back alive and unharmed. In fact, the whole experience had a very “steampunk ” feel to it, from the disheveled nature of the course to the various repurposed items that made up the baskets, the benches, and the wayposts that were located around the course. It felt like a scene out of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower; we were in a place that had “moved on”.

The ride home included our first mountain goat sighting of the summer.

Today was a wildflower hike to test out our bodies before embarking on any crazy long hikes. We went 5.2 miles with a lunch at a gorgeous waterfall halfway. A beautiful deer decided to greet us on the trail. We did see one bear today, but while we were driving out; not while hiking (and we do not have photographic evidence). So our important wildlife count (we do not count squirrels and the like) is one mountain goat, one bear, one deer, one eagle.

We will keep exploring, and saving up the stories. Until next time…..

Terry and Glen

Beeep….beeep….beeep….

Beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep….beeep….beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…beeep…

Wait three minutes. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat. Every three minutes for 2000 miles. We wanted you to have just a taste of that fun. So imagine the microwave beep sound, twenty-six consecutive beeps, and then repeating every three minutes. You cannot turn it off. That was one of the crazy occurrences on our westward journey.

It turned out to be a problem with our leveling jack system. A pump sealing piece had a small plastic O-ring break, and then the pressurized fluid forced the seal to break…spraying hydraulic fluid all through the compartment the reservoir was in and then proceeding to leak and spray all over the outside of the camper as we drove. Can you say horrendous mess? Discovered in Pennsylvania. Not fixed until Montana. Beeep…..Beeep…. Beeep…. many thanks go to Pierce’s RV for fitting us into their busy schedule and getting us back on our way. We do not think it made us into total lunatics, but the verdict is still out. You can decide as you hear about the other fun things we experienced along the way.

We turned up the volume very loud on the audio books we listened to, and interspersed that with NPR at times. Radio stations are often sporadic and static-filled which always renews our desire to get satellite radio installed. Paying for a new roof at home had to be our priority over satellite radio, however.

Anyway, we heard some interesting news articles on NPR, and one of them was particularly interesting. It involves an app that was developed to help with navigation and deliveries in places like Mongolia where the people are nomadic and there is a lack of streets. It divides the entire earth up into three meter squares, and assigns each section a three word combination. Then, people can look up the three words you give them and locate you. We had some fun with this and looked up our home location. Since we have three and a half acres, we have many combinations to choose from. Some of our favorites were indulgence.siesta.stars. and helper.imbalances.kitten.

Cannot wait to hear where you all live! what3words.com

Another way to pass the time on the road is to read billboards and signs for businesses. Here are some favorites from this trip. One advertised “24 hour toe service”. Not sure if they would give us pedicures or what. We could go to the zoo to see “Very naughty, naughty monkeys”. We could have visited a metal sculpture garden to view the “World’s Largest Bull’s Head”. But there were some even more intriguing ones.

We thought about dressing in our biker spandex and going to visit a huge biker bar near Sturgis called “Full Throttle”, but better judgement prevailed. Probably because we missed the exit information for the winery that was advertising “Redass Rhubarb Wine” (Complete with a picture of a red ass…of the donkey variety). We did try some rhubarb wine in South Dakota and decided it was pretty ok.

Even without any wine, Terry thought she might be losing it when she saw cows that looked like skunks. We had seen belted Galloways plenty of times, “Oreo cows”, but this time the white stripe went in the direction of the spine. Being an information queen, she looked them up. Gloucester Cattle. We learn something new everyday, right?

Glen needs to work on his hearing a bit. Not sure if he was just trying to tune out the beeps or what. But when Terry jokingly asked if he wanted to visit the corn palace, he heard porn palace and was somewhat shocked at her suggestion! Maybe it was because we just finished listening to the audio book called “House of the Rising Sun”. For those that know not of what we speak, the corn palace….not the porn palace….Mitchell South Dakota has a famous building called the Corn Palace . We visited before with our boys when the theme was celebrating Lewis and Clark.

We rested that night at the Kennebec KOA. Interestingly enough, the owners there had tried to purchase the Panguitch KOA where we worked in Utah, before deciding that without a home on the campground it would not make sense for them. We had a nice discussion about that campground in Utah while they grilled us some burgers for dinner. Then we were on our way through Wyoming and into Montana. After stopping overnight in Billings to make our rv repair stop, and finding one of the best Italian restaurants we have ever experienced called Ciao Mambo we had one final push to get to St. Mary.

With a respite from the incessant beeping, we were enjoying the scenery and discussing living miles from anywhere when we started to pass these little roadside saloons. Our discussion turned to how that would be a rough way to make a living and who frequents such establishments in the middle of nowhere. We see a small, neat ranch for sale by owner. As we drive on, we then see a business we are unsure about. What nature of business is “Dirty Oscar’s Annex”? It is MILES from any town. We speculate for awhile. We decided we feel sorry for the people trying to sell a house next to that place!

And then we look it up. Turns out to be……a restaurant with a highly respected chef, menu, and unique cocktails. The original “Dirty Oscars” in Washington state has been featured on Guy Fiari’s show on Food network. Who knew? And now buying that little ranch in the middle of nowhere but next to a great restaurant makes a bit more sense.

We finally rolled into St. Mary and are eagerly awaiting getting all settled in for the summer. The campground is renovating some sites and building some new ones, so our final site is not quite ready for us. We are spending a night or two in a temporary spot before moving to a brand new site. Will post our view when we are all settled in. Today is windy, cool, and cloudy. A perfect day for laundry, resting, saying hello to old friends, and meeting new faces that we are sure will be friends before the summer is out.

Oh, Canada!

(Acadian Flag image from Wikipedia)

How to begin…..? How about some family history. As most of you know, my maiden name is Breau. A good French Acadian name that gives telemarketers fits. My dad and I have been playing with our family tree for a few years and had consistently run into a dead end at my great-grandfather, Germain (Jeremiah,). When Dad found out that there was this thing called the “World Acadian Congress” that is held every five years and that the next one was planned for 2014 in northern Maine, New Brunswick and Quebec, he instantly invited me to go with him and see if we could meet some cousins to try to resolve this family mystery. And a trip was born.

We planned it all out, signed up for the Breau family luncheon and packed the rvs for a four day adventure. Now, if you have ever crossed the Canadian border you probably know that it isn’t really complicated. You need a passport. There are items you can and cannot bring with you. There is a little quiz by the border guards about where you are going, how long you plan to stay, and maybe the really tricky ones like, “Where are you from?” If you have ever tried to cross in a camper, you might know that you have to be careful about what foods are in your cupboards and refrigerator and how much alcohol you have on board.

So, that is the setup for part one of our adventure. We are about 6 miles outside of Van Buren where we have decided to cross when I remembered that we hadn’t cleaned the camper out after our last trip and that I may have some wine leftover. So I unbuckle from the seat and wander back to check-“just in case”. I open the refrigerator and there is one bottle of wine. Well under the one gallon I can bring legally. I check under the dinette seat. No wine. Lots of Gatorade, some water, all is good. UNTIL…..I notice the 5 lb. bag of potatoes. Let us just say that potatoes are on the list of no nos. What to do? “Just put them back,” says Glen. “They will never check.” So I do. For about one minute. After Glen notices my stress levels, he suggests a sensible plan. “For heavens sake, if you are going to worry about it, throw them out.” Yes, you read that right. So after asking if there are any cars near us I proceed to throw them out the window of the camper. Not one at a time as Glen envisioned, but the whole 5 lbs at once. (I was afraid of the empty bag being found in the trash) Somewhere there were happy crows that evening.

Phew…crisis averted, right? Well, kind of. We dig out the passports, and pull calmly up to the gate in the lane beside my parents’ rv and proceed to begin the discussion with the Canadian border guard. After explaining that we were traveling with my parents to a family reunion in Edmundston and would be staying for four days to enjoy the Acadian Congress the guard explains that he has to take our passports inside but he had us park here to avoid a sharp corner. He will return shortly he says.

In the meantime, another guard has been doing this same process with my parents and their fifth wheel. They decide to do a random search. (Or else my dad looked fishy) Now, here you need to know that my dad owns a handgun. He knew that he could not bring it to Canada so he locked it in my brother-in-law’s gun safe all safe and sound. However, the holster was stored empty in the fifth wheel. Guess what the border guard found on his random search? Uh huh. And when questioned about where the gun was, my dad calmly told him that he had given it to his son-in-law for safe keeping.

Now, Dad has three son-in-laws, but the border guards are of course unaware of this nifty fact and suddenly kick into energized mode. More guards appear from nowhere and are now on a full out hunt for this handgun that they are convinced is hidden in Dad’s fifth wheel first……and then they take a new interest in the “son-in-law” that is driving the rv next to him. We are blissfully unaware of any problem, and when the guard brings the holster to Glen’s window and asks him what this is, Glen has no clue. When it comes out that it is a holster (Glen thought it was a cupholder) he steadfastly declares it isn’t his and that he does not own a gun. The guard is still wanting to know where the gun is that belongs in the holster, and assuming Glen is the culprit keeping the gun for safe-keeping.

Next, we are informed that we are now subject to an inspection and would we please leave the rv. We do so. And now the cavalry comes out–in the form of a dog. A very beautiful black lab is sent to both rvs to sniff everything and make sure we have no gun. (Thank goodness we have no potatoes!) Cabinets are opened, the suspicious bag chairs and cast iron pots are removed from their cases and inspected. A very serious young guard asks once again if we are sure that they will not find a gun in the rv. And the line behind us begins to build. Sorry if you wanted to cross the border in Van Buren last Saturday!

The good news is that we were confident they would not find anything. That at least gave us comfort as we stood there looking like suspicious characters. Another interesting part was trying not to respond as Mom was commenting (probably louder than she realized and not as loud as it sounded to me) that they “were not very smart if they didn’t know there were lots of hiding places in those slideouts they were not opening.” Ayuh.

After Fido and his crew gave us the all clear, we were allowed to return to the rvs and continue on our journey. Yay! And the funniest thing to me is how we were talking before the trip about how friendly and easy it is to cross into Canada and how we only have trouble trying to get back into the US.

The campground was a welcome sight. We stayed at a small campground on the Iroquois River in Edmundston, NB. It was very muddy when we arrived as it had been raining for quite a while. The campground was pretty full, and many of the campers were displaying the Acadian Flag. We set up, drove into town to check directions to the site of the reunion scheduled for Sunday, got some bread at a neighborhood store, and enjoyed some beef stew in the campground for dinner. Day one complete.

Day two: The Breau reunion. We entered the church basement and were given some Breaux cajun seasoning from Louisiana. Good start! There were about 100 Breaus there, and lots of French being spoken. I am insanely jealous of all my bilingual cousins. I got about 1/3 of what you said in French, and the voice in my head even formed some responses, but my mouth just can’t spit them out. I need someone bilingual and ready to laugh with (or maybe at) me to relearn that lost French conversation.

Somehow I lost some of the photos from the actual reunion. But here is some Breau history to give you some idea of what we learned.

This reunion was celebrating the Breau family lines that all originated with Vincent Breau. He was one of the earliest settlers in Nova Scotia in the 1650s. Vincent had 12 children. My branch of the family tree is descended from his son, Jean. This son and his family were the one branch that was not deported during the Acadian resettlement. They lived on the coast of New Brunswick near Neguac, and rumor says they hid with the Native peoples of the area. (Micmacs?) I want to find more information about that part of our history!

Our nametags were all color coded to match the son of Vincent that we were descended from. So, Dad had fun finding cousins with orange dots on the tags. He met five sisters that all still live near Neguac and exchanged contact information with them. Dad remembers visiting that area as a young boy and it was fun to see the family resemblances in many faces.

We ate lunch, visited a bit with one of the organizers of the reunion who was from Louisiana, and heard two presentations about the history of the family and Acadians in general. We gathered in groups to show all the spellings of Breau that now exist since records were kept in many ways and were written by people that many times did not know French, and the people they were writing about were often illiterate. So we now have Breau, Bro, Brot, Braud, Breault, Breaux, Brow and Brough. But we are all descended from Vincent.The picture below is one group. I took more, but I think they ended up in cyberspace somewhere. Our spelling had the most representatives there.

I even won a door prize! I got this book about the history of Acadians. When I am done with it, I think I will donate it to our school library. It is really nice.

I purchased copies of the Breau genealogy books (so cousins, you can borrow) and learned that I am a member of the 11th generation. We found a few errors in our branch and will send those corrections to the author for future editions. He also plans to launch a website with all the information there. That should help in answering questions about family trees!

It was fun, and we are already thinking of attending the one in 2019. It will be held again in conjunction with the Acadian Congress, somewhere near Moncton or PEI. I would encourage anyone with Acadian roots to see if your family name is one of the 120 groups that planned reunions during the Congress.

We went out to dinner and Glen remembered that poutine is a great Acadian dish. French fries, gravy and cheese. What more could a guy want?

Day three is known as “Louisiana Day” in the brochure describing all the events of the Congress. We had been encouraged to attend by Dan Breaux the day before, and since we like Cajun music and food were really looking forward to it.

These events were not happening in Edmundston, but in Grand Sault (Grand Falls) about 25 miles away. We hopped in the car and headed out after eating breakfast in a small cafe that has only been open two weeks. Good food, slow service.

After arriving at the event site and waiting in a long line to pay admission, we realized we had missed the opening ceremony and the live music performance. So, we wandered about the expo to see what else we could find. Not much. It was a disappointment. If I had traveled from Louisiana to find my Acadian roots I would be really upset. The booths were more like information booths for tourists of the various areas. Maine, New Brunswick, Louisiana, Quebec, Nova Scotia…..trying to get you information on the area. One food vendor making jambalaya but selling it for $10 a bowl. You could take a helicopter ride, slide on a tiny zip line or play on an inflatable slide. We walked around a bit and then headed back to Edmundston for a livelier event.

On the way back we decided to find the waterfall and see if it was really grand. It was, but would have been even better without the dam just above it.

Next up….the most entertaining event of the weekend (other than the customs stop). Ployes!!!!!

Ployes are a thin, buckwheat pancake. They are usually eaten with creton (pork spread), or butter and brown sugar, or with stew. One of the events of the festival was to create the world’s largest ploye. We entered the park, enjoyed a ploye with brown sugar, and waited for the fun to begin. While the griddle was heating up over the coals, there were singers, stilt walkers, and a beer tent.

Glen tried the local brew.

Mom and Dad in line for ployes.

And now for the grand event……the giant ploye. The griddle was a piece of art in itself. It could move on rails over a huge bed of coals. It could be raised and lowered, and the workers were even measuring the heat coming off it with a heat gun. Add in five-gallon buckets of ploye mix, giant spatulas on poles, squeegees, fireproof pants, and a radio dj speaking rapid-fire French, and you have a fun party.

Here are a couple of views of a giant spatula and the griddle.

And the grand finale….a video of the world’s largest ploye being created.

After this event we were wiped out. We picked up pork chops to grill in the campground and walked out of this beautiful park to relax on our final evening in Canada.

If you have camped with us before , you may have been treated to a cobbler from the Dutch Oven. You may even know that they are huge, and we need help to eat them. This is how we make friends. After creating a chocolate raspberry cobbler, we invited a couple in the campground to join us. (First we invited a man tenting out alone, but he was diabetic and didn’t come over) This couple was returning from Ontario to visit relatives in New Brunswick and in a funny coincidence, the man’s sister married a women who was a Breau!! As we were chatting with them, another couple comes in to set up a small teardrop camper in the site across from us so we add them to the mix. They are returning to Ontario after a camping trip to PEI and the man had one of the coolest jobs we had ever heard of. He makes and repairs mining equipment for the big salt and diamond mines in Canada. They actually build trucks, take them apart, send the parts down an elevator, and rebuild them underground. He said they have tunnels for miles under the ground that can have two large trucks pass side by side. It was a relaxing evening, and we had no leftovers!

Day four was our travel day home. It was rather uneventful, and we were let back in to the USA with no troubles. (Dad threw the holster in the Canadian trash!)

All in all, a wonderful trip. Four nice days with my parents, some great food, learned some family history, and explored new places. Now if I can turn off the French phrases that keep going through my head, and keep Glen from using his pretend French accent I will be all set for school to begin next week.

Here’s to unexpected adventures! 🙂

Terry

Two years of travels in one post….and a teaser

I guess we flunk in keeping up to date. So, here is the short version of what we have been up to. Because I really want to share our latest adventure with you.

We have traveled to a few road races in the last two years, including races in Maine, Virginia, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Quebec. We will leave those out of the blog details but mention them here to let you know that the Wanderlust is still alive and well. Circumstances just haven’t worked out to allow for those big “all-summer” trips.

In 2013 we traveled to Virginia with our buddies Gary and Nonnie to tour some wineries, camp, and visit their family during our April school vacation. We ate great food, met a few shady characters in campgrounds, and learned a lot about wines. We also did several camping trips in Maine and New Hampshire during the summer of 2013 with the Gonyars, the Erbs, and the Carters.

In 2014 we took Gary and Nonnie for a whirlwind tour of Utah during our April school break. We visited Moab, Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Zion National Park, and Bryce Canyon National Park. We climbed Angel’s Landing as well as several other fun hikes that week. Our summer has once again been filled with camping trips and we even were able to have the Gonyars meet the Carters at the Burlington Marathon.

Now for the main reason for the post. I want to tell you about our trip to Canada this past week with my parents. It was an adventure for a few reasons. I will work on that post in the next few days. I need to get the photos uploaded and find just the right words. For now, I will leave you with a teaser…..”The Holyokes and Breaus meet 7 Canadian customs agents and a trained dog”
Details soon,
Terry

Wandering Holyokes

Two teachers with a travel bug, sharing our rv trip adventures.

We have moved blogsites

Beeep….beeep….beeep….

Oh, Canada!

Two years of travels in one post….and a teaser

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