Month: August 2008

Day 5 – Thursday August 28 -  Canyon, Yellowstone National Park to Hardin, Montana – Today 246 miles – total 1266 miles

Thursday we left Yellowstone. We stopped for breakfast at the lodge at Tower – Roosevelt. Our view out he front window included the mountains and the meadows. It was one of my favorite places we ate in Yellowstone. From Yellowstone we drove from Cooke City, Montana to Red Lodge Montana over the Bear Tooth, Highway which climbs to 10,900 feet from the exit of Yellowstone at 7365 feet. It is a stunning highway that switchbacks up and up and then down and down.

We spent Thursday night in a Bed and Breakfast in Hardin , Montana

Day 6 – Friday, August 29 -  Hardin, Montana  to Bismarck, North Dakota- Today 477 miles – total 1743 miles

Friday morning before leaving Hardin we visited the Big Horn County Historical Museum. It included twenty historic structures including a one room school house, an old barn, an old log cabin and an old church. All of the building were furnished and fascinating to explore.

Next stop was the Little Bighorn Battlefield which is only 15 miles from Hardin. I visited the battlefield once when I was a kid and I had always wanted to go back. It was a fascinating and moving as I remembered it. The ranger who told us the story of the battle and the Indians and soldiers who were there was wonderful.

From Little Bighorn we drove into North Dakota and stopped in Dickinson where my great grandparents Erb are buried. We also went north in to Dunn County to try to find the remains of their homestead. My Erb Great grandparents moved form Iowa to Dunn county north east of Manning in 1910. My Robinson Great grandparents moved form Wisconsin to north west of manning in 1912. We didn't find the exact location of either homestead but we got a real feel for the country where they homesteaded. I can't even imagine trying to build a farm from scratch there. It is remote, very cold in winter, very hot in summer and rain is unpredictable and undependable.

From Dunn County we headed to Bismarck. I lived in Bismarck from when I was a baby until we moved to Australia when I was 13. I haven't been back since 1986 just before my Grandparents died.

Day 7 – Saturday, August 30 -  Bismarck, North Dakota- Today 0 miles – total 1743 miles

This morning Duke and I attended the memorial service for my childhood best friend's Father. It is just a coincidence that we are here for the service. He was a very special man. I am so glad we were able to attend.

This afternoon I gave Duke the Marion Robinson tour of Bismarck. We saw everything from my childhood home to my Grandfather's plaque in the North Dakota  Department of Transportation Hall of Honor to  the state capital.

It has been so much fun to see how Bismarck has changed and to see my old friends and to remember what it was like when I lived here. Tomorrow we are heading north to Canada.

Duke and I are on great circle road trip. We haven't had Internet access the last few places we have stayed. But now I am sitting in our B&B in Hardin, Montana waiting for breakfast so I can do an update. The Internet here is very slow so I'll have to finish this and  add more pictures later. Update: Now I am in Bismarck, North Dakota. I've added my pictures to Flickr here.

Day 2 – Monday Aug 25 -  Boise, Idaho to Rigby, Idaho – today 391 miles – total 804 miles

From Boise we headed northeast around the Sawtooth Mountains and through the ski resort town of Sun Valley. The country is gorgeous with lots of mountain homes and ranches. We followed the Salmon River for a long ways and saw fly fisherman along the river and Orvis fishing outfitters in every town. As we left Sun Valley the terrain changed very quickly to high desert much like what we have around Reno.

Our next stop was Craters of The Moon National Monument. A whole line of old volcanoes created the terrain from Yellowstone, through southern Idaho to northeastern Nevada. The most recent volcanic activity in southeastern Idaho left vast expanses of black jagged black rocks and cinder cones. It is beautiful landscape but very forbidding. We climbed a cinder cone and explored a lava
tube cave.

The Oregon Trail passed right along the edges of the mountains where the lava beds ended.  It was easy to see where sometimes it was very tight for the wagons to squeeze between the impassable lava formations and the steep mountains.

East of Craters of the Moon we stopped at EBR-1. As we approached it we had a guessing contest going to see what EBR stands for. It turns out that the Idaho National Labs in this location have built more nuclear reactors than an anywhere else in the world. EBR stands for Experimental Breeder Reactor. By the time we got there it was after 5 so unfortunately it was closed but it turns out EBR-1 was the world first nuclear power plant.

Monday night we stayed at the Blue Heron Bed and Breakfast in Rigby Idaho. The house was right on the Snake River. It was one of the nicest B&Bs I have ever stayed in. What a setting!

Day 3 – Tuesday Aug 26 – Rigby, Idaho to Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
       Today 145 miles – total 949 miles

Going north out of Rigby towards Yellowstone we decided to take a scenic byway that detours off to the east of highway 20.  We passed fields of golden wheat, lush green potato fields and then forests and rushing rivers. We stopped at Mesa Falls. I am amazed that I have never heard of them before. Both Upper and Lower Mesa Falls were stunning. A giant river full of water just dropping of the
edge of a cliff. The view point is right by the drop off.

In Yellowstone we stayed at the Old Faithful Inn. What a stunning building. We took a tour. The hotel  is over 100 years old. The lobby is 7 stories high and all made out lodge pole pine with a giant working fireplace in the center. The weather has really cooled off so we sat by the fire for a while and people watched.

Before dinner we went for a walk on the trail through the geysers. Wow! Every one if different. Giant Geyser only erupts twice a day but we happened to be there when it erupted. You get much closer to it than you do to Old Faithful. It erupts for about 5 minutes and shots well over 100 feet into the air. It is very close to two other geysers that go off at the same time. the whole show seemed like
a fantastic water fireworks show. When it finished the crowd applauded!

As we were coming into the park we saw several moose right along the river. We've  seen one deer and one coyote. By far the most prevalent animal so has been the buffalo. I bet we have seen at least 1000 lt different times. They walk down the middle of the road and stop traffic. There seem to be herds of them in every open  meadow. Every rock that moves as I look for bears turns out to be a loan bull.

Day 4 – Wednesday August 27 – Old Faithful to Canyon, Yellowstone National Park. – Today 71 miles – total 1020 miles

 We moved from the Old Faithful Inn to a cabin at the Canyon village in Yellowstone. I never realized that the grand canyon of the Yellowstone was so stupendous or that it contained two amazing waterfalls. We did several hikes to the overlooks.

Reno, Nevada to Boise, Idaho – 413 miles

We just completed the first day of our road trip. We are in Boise, Idaho. There is a whole lot of wide open spaces between Reno and Boise but I love the wildness of it.

In south eastern Oregon we happened to see a road side historical site and decided to stop. Do you know who Jean Baptiste Charbonneau was? I should have known when I saw this sign but it didn't click.

The sign below explains. It begins……

"This site marks the final resting place of the youngest member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Born to Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau at Fort Mandan (North Dakota) on February 11 1805."

 

Here are a couple of other pictures of the site.

 
 

We stopped at one other interesting roadside site. Who would think an area in eastern Oregon would be named for an outdated spelling of the word Hawaii!