Author: Mark and Terri

Mark and I took time out for a leisurely breakfast at a local restaurant and noticed a Mountain Man Rendezvous. West Yellowstone is a fairly small town. It is literally 4 blocks by 8 blocks and totals 1 square mile. Since we had walked to breakfast, we decided to walk to the Rendezvous.

It had about 15ish vendors and it had old time demonstrations of crafts and practical skills. There was axe throwing contest and so much more. The day we went, it was a drizzly kind of day, but it was free and good fun.

The Rendezvous used to happen every year but it was cancelled last year due to Covid. We did not think it was going to happen this year. It was a pleasant surprise along our walk and I even got a couple of Christmas gifts bought.

Montana is proud of her western heritage. We felt it was a big part of the whole Montana experience so we dove right in. Not only did we stop by the Rendezvous, but we also went to a down-home private rodeo and a ranch cookout! YUM

and a horseback ride through the mountains with watchers in the woods.

Thanks for checking in on our adventures

Summer is finally here. (Okay, I’m a bit behind on posts. It’s almost winter here, but I hope you enjoy the photos anyway) We are “suffering” through 50 degree nights and “sweltering” 80+ degree days. Don’t hate on us now! The wild flowers are putting on an awesome show. They don’t last long. I guess the season is so short they only have a short time to bloom and drop their seeds for next year. It seems you can pass a field of white blossoms on your walk one day and just a couple days later that whole field is purple or yellow.

This is not my home territory so I don’t know the name of most. But I do recognize the Lupine and a few others.

Thanks for following our escape. I hope you take a moment to notice the beauty in your neck to the woods. Whether it’s a concrete jungle or country back roads, beauty is there, just take a breather, look for it, and then enjoy.

There are a lot of landmarks that are named for Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce in the Yellowstone area. Wyoming highway 296 is a 45 mile stretch of highway that follows the route that Chief Joseph took, as he fled the U.S. Cavalry with 1000 people of his tribe; in an attempt to escape into Canada to avoid being force onto Reservation lands.  It was an 1800 mile trek to freedom. The cavalry stopped them just 30 miles short of the Canadian border. This bit of highway is also known as the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway.

This was one of my favorite drives. While it did not have the awe inspiring heights of the Beartooth Highway, the vistas and the history plaques listed along the route, were both beautiful and humbling.

Thanks for check on our adventure. God Bless you and yours as you adventure too.

So we had begun to notice this soft spot in the floor before we left Pinehurst back in Texas. While we were still in town we carefully cut the floor in the “grout lines” of the linoleum to see what was happening there. We didn’t see any evidence of water damage so we sealed everything back up and continued on our way. Around about Kansas we noticed that the couch slide was starting to scratch the floor as it moved in or out. Not bad really, but still something had changed. The soft spot in the floor was not worse but not any better either and then Mark noticed a ridge in the floor, just in front of the couch sectional. This ridge ran the length of the couch section. Once we arrived in West Yellowstone, we now had the time to pull everything apart and get to the root of the problem.

It turns out the braces that where meant to hold up the outer wall and the couch slide were not very well made. Two were bent and several more were made of equally thin steel. Mark had to take our 3 ton jack and lifted the whole side back up to straighten the stabilizers, and then beefed them up the braces. That was done by sandwiching the weak brace, between two pieces of thicker angle iron.  We think the bending of the floor; as the side drooped caused the subfloor to start to fold over the floor joist and that annoying soft spot was a week area in the lamination of the subfloor. So we, (Mark) repaired that spot and then we, (Mark) replaced the flooring so we had a smooth unbroken, waterproof surface again. I did help actually, but Nala refused to take pictures for me. It was a lot of work but we fixed a potential major problem and I got a beautiful new floor, I think the lighter color makes the room look bigger too ; ).

Then there is the standard maintenance stuff that takes up some of our time. So it’s not all play but totally worth it.

This behemoth is really a huge delicate thing that requires a lot of babying. But it does allow us to see such awesome pages in God’s coloring book that is our world; that we persevere in its maintenance.

 Thanks for check on our adventures. Be well and God Bless.

We are back! Life has been crazy busy: our schedule at work has changed, we have been doing some standard and not so standard maintenance around the house; but we are still exploring the area, just in a different way.

We took some time out to drive the Beartooth Highway, also known as US Route 212. This is a scenic byway that goes from Red Lodge, Montana to the Northeast entrance of Yellowstone National Park. It is about 70 miles of ever increasing vistas that crosses over Beartooth Pass, at an altitude of 10,947 feet. (That’s the highest I’ve ever been, outside an airplane.)

The winding, twisting switchbacks gradually reveal a multitude of alpine lakes cascading down the mountains and the beautiful vistas in the Beartooth Mountains.

The high mountain plateaus were bursting with tiny flowers, above the tree line. We didn’t really notice them until Mark took Nala out for a quick run, (okay it was a walk, and the air was noticeably thinner up there.) Even though we have been at around 6700 feet above sea level in West Yellowstone City, for quite some time now; we could still tell the difference on this drive.

The region is still plagued by smoke and wild fires, and although we have been experiencing some smoky conditions; we are safe from the fires. We did pass a reminder on the way to Red Lodge of the amount of effort that is going on around us to control the fires.

Thanks for checking in. We miss all our friends and family. And pray that each of you are safe during the uncertainty of these times.

We are only using our actual photos, but I have to tell you we have some awesome photographers and hikers in the group of friend we have met here. So my being a purist with this journal means you’re really missing out on some amazing pics ;having said that we will bring you our travel and pictures from our experiences so far.

Idaho animal pictures

Montana animal pictures. In Montana, its not big brother you worry about watching its the ravens. If you set down anything, trash, food or whatever they will be on it in a heartbeat.

Wyoming picture. Baby buffalo are called “red dogs”. They are about the same size as Nala and have beautiful coppery red coat. I never thought about elk babies having spot like our baby deer at home but they do! And I finally got to see a bear in the wild. Yes in the higher altitudes there is still snow in July,

As I said last post we are in a unique location, we can reach 3 states with a 30 minute drive. This is an extra ordinary situation for this Texas girl to wrap her brain around. Back in Texas, a 30 minute drive usually won’t even get you across town.

Thanks for checking. We hope you enjoy our posts. Drop us a comment on what’s happening in your world. We love seeing y’alls summer pictures on Facebook. Miss our Texas family and friends too.

We are in a unique geographical area, if we travel 30 minutes west, we’re in Idaho, 30 minute south puts us in Wyoming and of course we are in Montana the rest of the time. With summer in full swing here, the national park is crazy busy. We only go into Yellowstone is we manage to get moving early now. So we are exploring other directions. Although I mentioned Yellowstone has over 214 waterfalls, the whole region is rich with them as well. We have had beautiful weather but we’ve had cold weather, beautiful in its own way, but cold too.

So far we have only managed a few hikes with waterfalls but I thought you might like to see what we have seen so far. We hiked Mesa Falls in Idaho.

We have done the Ousel Falls in Big Sky, Montana

And in Yellowstone, we have seen Upper Grand Canyon falls, Lower Grand Canyon falls, Crystal Falls, Gibbons Falls, Fairy Falls,

There many more to see. We’ll keep you posted as they happen. Next week I’ll share the animals we’ve been able to capture on pictures so far.

Thanks for check in. Our adventures continue in Montana. Hope to see you here.

Mark and I worked this past Memorial Day, but I’m glad that we did. One of our fellow work campers is a roving Piper and he gave a simple but very touching tribute to our veterans. He is also a veteran, and the camper that raised the flag is a veteran. I did not get the campers name. He was one of the guest at our campground. This was followed by a cookout hosted by the managers of the campground, where we work. One of the great things about this traveling life is meeting all kinds of awesome people, not only the guest we encounter; but also the shop owners and fellow work campers. I appreciation sharing their stories.

I hope you all had a safe and joyful holiday, filled with family, friends and fun. And in those moments of celebration, please always remember those who served and those who continue to serve, to give us the freedoms we enjoy. And finally; please be considerate of those working in their various jobs, as we move through our daily activities.

Special thanks to Sharron and Margaret. I stole these from them. My sincere apologies to any of our family Veterans if I missed your photo.

Thanks for checking in. See you next week

That sounds like a dream come true. One of the things I like about seasonal working is that we get to stay in one vacation spot for several months and truly get to know the area. Yellowstone is 3,472 square miles of park. That is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined. Within its boundaries is over 300 geysers, 290 waterfalls, 1800 archaeological sites, and nearly 1000 miles of hiking trails. It is home to 67 species of mammals, 285 species of birds and has two endangers animals living here; the Canadian lynx and the Grizzly bear. How could you ever hope to experience even a majority of this park; in a one week vacation, or even two weeks for that matter?  I see why people come back year after year. We will try to share the major highlights and perhaps some of the more random sights as we work our way through the park.

Our first trip into the park we focused on geysers and springs. Most of our first excursion was to Midway basin geysers area. This is home to Grand Prismatic Hot Spring, Excelsior geyser, Opal pool to name a few. Traveling toward Old Faithful there is also Biscuit Basin, and Black Sand Basin before you reach the Upper Geyser Basin, which is home to Old Faithful. We did not get as far as Old Faithful this trip but we get there another day

Before heading out to see Grand Prismatic, I read that the beautiful colors were caused by bacteria and algae that changes colors with temperature. Being a Texas gal, I assumed it was floating on the surface like duck week. It is not. The spring are crystal clear water and the algae grows on the rocks that make up the bottom and side of the hot springs.

And of course, geysers do their geyser thing!

Thanks for check in on our adventures. Even though we are stationary for a few months, we have plenty of exploring to share. Hope you enjoy following along with us here.

We left North Dakota and sipped our way across Montana.

Our first stop was in Miles City, Montana. We spent the night at Tongue River Winery, right on the Tongue River.  Nala enjoyed the freedom of running and playing along the river and we really enjoyed the wine tasting room. The owners shared wine and stories of how they got started and some of their travels. Their wines are unique and delightful. And though I’m normally a red wine gal; I fell in love with several of their whites. We made off with several bottles of wine and we are seriously considering stopping back by on our way out of Montana.

The next night found us in Billings, Montana at the Canyon Creek Brewery. The owner was awesome and stopped by our table. Y’all know I’m not a beer drinker but they allowed us to taste several until we hit on a brew I enjoyed. It was a great evening.  We weren’t the only visitor at the brewery. We left the next morning headed for our final destination and our home for this summer’s season.

We arrived in West Yellowstone, Montana. This is the gateway to the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park and where our summer jobs are.  I have never been to this area and we are so looking forward to our adventures in this area. While Yellowstone Park is not necessarily safe for Nala to roam around, there are many other places we can walk with her outside the Park. And yes that’s snow!! We keep ending up in snow?!

Thanks for checking in on our semi-retirement adventures. Check back on our Montana adventures.