A Pleasant Day.

Just for fun — Montana, our black cat, had this rug all the way off the step, and then somehow put it back with himself under it!

We went for a hike in the foothills around Missoula, off the Blue Mountain Road. There are myriads of trails in the valley and over the hillsides. It may take us all summer to explore even a small portion of them. Here's something I'd never noticed before, the male strobili on a ponderosa pine. I'm guessing the pine cone forms on the end of the branch after the flowering part falls off. I couldn't find an exact description of the process when I 'googled' the tree.

I liked this old snag with a birdhouse attached.

Here is a shot of the Missoula Valley looking northeast, taken from the trail we were hiking. The water tower in the center is in old Fort Missoula, restored as an historical monument. You can barely see the 'M', a white speck on the hill slightly left of center, and the 'L' on the hill to the far left. Also, the Bitterroot River is showing as a light spot right below the water tower. It's truly a beautiful valley.

Stevensville & Hamilton Montana

St. Mary's Mission in Stevensville, Montana

I copied this from the sign outside the museum:
Established in 1841 by Pierre DeSmet, in response to requests for Black Robes by four separate delegations sent by Flathead and Nez Perce tribes to St. Louis. Fr. DeSmet and his party erected Montana's first church immediately west on the bank of the Bitter Root River. They planted the first gardens and harvested the first wheat and oats, practiced first irrigation, bred first livestock, taught first classes and organized the first musical band. St. Mary's was the site of the first flour and lumber mills. Fr. Ravalli, Montana's beloved priest-physician-artist-sculptor-architect, for whom this county is named, was assigned to St. Mary's during 1845-1850 and 1866 until his death in 1884. He rests in the cemetery west of the chapel. St. Mary's ceased to be an Indian mission in 1891, when the Flathead-Salish were forced to remove to a reservation. The chapel served as a church for settlers until 1954, when a new church was built and mission became a historic site.

We loved the teepees erected near the mission. Notice the Bitterroot Mountains in the background, the highest peaks still snowy.

This is a mansion we spotted in Stevensville. Strangely, it had a "For Rent" sign in front!

We visited the Daly Mansion in Hamilton last summer but didn't take the tour inside. This time we came armed with dollars to do it! It is hard to imagine the luxury with which the copper king and his family lived. All those rooms, and then we thought about returning to our 5th wheel, so much easier upkeep.

Last summer I was more intrigued with this enormous cottonwood tree, the largest I've ever seen, than I was with the mansion. We took more photos of it, too.

Here I am on the porch of the mansion, admiring the flower boxes.

Last, but not least, Keith is holding our tickets for the tour!

Is It Spring Yet?

There has been so much cold weather in Missoula, we're wondering when it will be Spring! Here's a photo pointing along the Clark Fork River towards the Higgins Street Bridge. There is a walking and biking path along here with several pedestrian bridges across the river.

I'm not a bird watcher as such, but occasionally I see a bird I want to identify. These little creatures had a curious yellow tip on the ends of their tail feathers. (Click to enlarge.) We saw these as we walked across the Higgins Street Bridge. My bird book says they are waxwings, exactly what kind I'm not sure — probably the cedar waxwing.

I love identifying wildflowers. These have the leaves of our Washington lupines, but the flowers are smaller and single, rather than clustered in a column.

The ever popular and beautiful arrowleaf balsam — blooming much later than the ones we saw in central Washington when we left there in April. I plan to get photos of many more flowers as we see them. As it gets warmer (I hope!) we'll be taking some day trips around the area and I will be blogging a little more often. Thanks for visiting!

Funny Weather!

Here we are, settled in at the Missoula KOA on April 10. We love our spot! It was a bright, sunny day.

Here we are again, on April 13, wondering what happened to the sun. What is this white stuff?

We took a drive up Rattlesnake Canyon, where there are lots of houses, and saw several deer. The one in this front yard looks almost like the family dog!

When we've settled in to a schedule, I'll look forward to taking some day trips with photos to post on my blog.

Starbuck/Lyons Ferry Marina KOA and Palouse Falls

On April 6th we bid farewell to the pretty orchard we'd been parked next to for 5 months. Our sadness at leaving family and friends was mixed with excitement for the next adventure. We drove down I-90 to Ritzville, where we headed south to the Starbuck/Lyons Ferry Marina and KOA. We wanted to see some different country, as we've been across Washington on I-90 many times.

This bridge is right above the marina. It's the oldest bridge in Washington and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is very narrow and only about a foot higher than our 5th wheel! A beautiful sight, though. That's the Snake River below.

This KOA has only about 20 spaces, but is well laid out for the room they have. It's in 3 levels; tents above, RVs in the middle, and the marina, store, office, etc on the lowest level. We thought we'd be here for 2 nights but it turned into 3 when we read the weather report. High winds and some snow through Spokane, Idaho, and into Missoula. Good thing we have days to spare!

This is the view from our RV spot. The railroad bridge in the picture looms just beyond the marina. It's the longest railroad bridge I'd ever seen, and quite amazing. What a feat it must have been to build such an edifice! We watched several trains crossing over it during our stay.

We were anxious to visit the town of Starbuck, 6 miles down the road, to see if they had a Starbucks coffee shop! They didn't, with a population of only 140! There was a great cafe´ there, though. Starbuck was a former railroad town. We found this intriguing building that looked like it was collapsing like an accordian! We didn't find out what it was, or had been.

Palouse Falls is a hidden treasure. It can't be seen anywhere from the highway looking out across the rolling hills and scab lands. In fact, you can't even see it from the State Park's parking lot! You have to stand right on the edge of the cliff (there is a fence) to see this gorgeous sight! It is truly a wonder! The falls are about 6 miles north of the Lyons Ferry Marina. (Click to enlarge.)

Above, another view of this gem of God's creation.

Across the Snake River from the Marina is another State Park. There is a long jetty going out from the park, I suppose to make a sheltered cove in the river, here widened by a dam (Lake Herbert G. Wells). It was a good, long walk, where we saw Canada geese, wildflowers, a few mysterious animal skeletons, and strangely shaped pieces of driftwood.

Keith is being silly with this piece of driftwood that we thought looked like either an ostrich head or a snake.

On our final, very windy day here, we took a long drive in a big circle to the east. We visited the town of Pomeroy, very quaint, and headed down the Tucannon River Road in search of another KOA we'd read about. We found it really way, way out in the middle of nowhere, but on the way there we passed literally miles and miles of these windmills on the hillsides. So the area once bustling because of the railroads is now turning to windmills to bolster their economy. The main sources of income still include the vast, beautiful wheat fields of the Palouse. We are so glad we got to see so much while here at the Lyons Ferry Marina!

Our Last Week in Wenatchee

Spring is finally here! Arrowleaf Balsam has sprouted all over the hills. We wanted to take a few last drives around the Wenatchee Valley area before we head off to Montana for the summer, and we have been rewarded with some lovely sights!

We drove up to Lake Wenatchee where it was beautiful but cold. Here is granddaughter Natalie hiking around on the big boulders near the water.

I think this is an exquisite picture of Lake Wenatchee.

Two cheerful cooks at the Lighthouse Christian Ministries, Joe and Roy. They can put out a great meal! We celebrated Easter here in the afternoon, following our regular church in the morning.

This shot almost looks like autumn, but is really spring, with the trees just beginning to leaf out. We took this picture at Lincoln Rock State Park.

Harbingers of Spring!

Last fall I posted pictures of this orchard in glorious golden and red color. Now it's glorious again with apricot blooms right outside our door! I'm glad I got to see this before we leave Wenatchee.

What could be prettier?

I love this photo of daughter Betsy outside kitbitzing with her chickens.

We took a drive up Swakane Canyon the other day and spotted many deer on the hillsides. This ground looks flat but it was actually a very steep rise. I wonder if these deer have short legs on one side?