Author: marionvermazen

We have driven 1897 miles since we left home in Reno and are now in International Falls, Minnesota on the Canadian border.

On Monday we drove from Billings to Bismarck and made a couple of very interesting stops along the way. Pompeys Pillar is a sandstone formation overlooking the Yellowstone River east of Billings. When William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition stopped here he carved his name and the date (July 25, 1806) in the rock. We saw the signature and climbed the boardwalk to the top of the rock. This is the only physical evidence still in place of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Walking up to the rock we saw a marmot. You can see him hiding in this tree. The top 2 pieces of grass point to his face

The second place we stopped was the Prairie County Museum and the Cameron Gallery in Terry, Montana. The museum was an old bank building stuffed full of memorabilia, everything from old medical equipment to an old knitting machine to old clothes. It was fascinating to explore. The Cameron Gallery  is a collection of pictures taken by Evelyn Cameron who moved to the area from England in 1889. She took lots of pictures which really give you a feel for Montana prairie life in the late 1800s.

In Bismarck we had a great dinner at Peacock Alley in the Patterson Hotel. Tuesday when we left it was pouring rain. We drove by the house I lived in in Bismarck before heading out of town. We drove for about 3 hours in the rain. Finally the sun came out as we headed north in Minnesota.

Now we are in International Falls. Our hotel looks out over the Rainy River which is the border between the U.S. and Canada. This morning we took a really cool tour of the paper plant here. They run night and day and ship tons of paper every day. They have a machine that creates a 30 foot wide roll of paper. The machine rollers run at 41 miles per hour. Each roll of paper from this machine is made into 8 million sheets of computer paper!

Tomorrow we fly in a float plane to a remote lake 175 miles north of here for a week of fishing. There will be no electricity, internet, cell phone or outside contact of any kind. We will have a cabin, beds, propane, and hot and cold running water. It should be fun!

If you would like to see my pictures from this trip they are on Flickr here.

Duke and I are on a road trip / fishing trip. We are driving to Fort Francis, Ontario and then flying to  a remote lake for a week of fishing with some of Duke's family.

We left on July 4 and drove 660 miles from Reno to Rigby Idaho. We stayed in a wonderful Bed and Breakfast that we stayed in on our road trip last year. The Blue Heron Bed and Breakfast is right on the Snake River. We sat outside on the balcony and had wine and cheese and crackers for dinner.

On our drive on the fourth we stopped in Elko and caught the last of the Independence day parade.

Nevada, Montana and Idaho have had a lot of rain this year and everything is green.

On the 5th, Sunday, we drove from Rigby, Idaho to Billings, Montana. North of Rigby we saw the Tetons in the east and drove through the far western edge of Yellowstone National Park.

Today, July 6 we are driving from Billings to Bismarck, North Dakota.

I am uploading my trip pictures to Flickr here.