July 17-19

Headed over the boarder to North Dakota to check out the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

The park in western North Dakota preserves rugged badlands and honors the 26^th U.S. President. The park is broken into 2 sections, the North Unit and the South Unit.  We arrived early enough to drive through the North Unit.  The North Unit has a 14-mile scenic drive with a few scenic view pull offs and trail heads.  Views were amazing not to mention some of the wildlife. It was a great first day in North Dakota.

When we were reading about the park, we found out that the town of Medora, located in between the two park Units just had the grand opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Library.  Who knew, certainly not us.  We headed to the library about 10 am thinking we would get there early.  Wow, to our surprise there was a line to enter going around the building.  So, we waited patiently to get in, and boy, it was worth it.  We have no words to describe our experience except that we will be telling everyone that it is a ‘Bucket List” must.  Maybe it was the way they told the life story of Theodore Roosevelt, maybe the high-tech interaction exhibits, who knows.  Whatever it was, we spent 5 hours there soaking it all in. 

A key interaction that was throughout the library were kiosks that you would swipe a badge you were issued when you initially entered the library that would imprint your face into a historic times or themed photo of Roosevelts life. TR’s life in N Y, ranching in the badlands, working on the NYCPD, serving in the Navy, being a rough rider, leading as president and journeying into the amazon.   These interactive exhibits really drew you into his life’s story from childhood to death.

Last day in North Dakota was spent driving 36 miles of the South Unit of the park.  The road winds across the rolling, jumbled badlands with fantastic scenery in all directions.  This drive was another great opportunity to watch wildlife.  We saw more Bison, wild horses, turkeys, prairie dogs, more prairie dogs and a coyote eating a prairie dog (yum)

 

Special Note: Theodore Rooswvelt first came to Dakota Territory in 1883 to hunt bison.  A year later, devastated by personal tragedy, he returned to grieve and lose himself in its vastness.  He became a cattle rancher and in this broken land, found adventure, purpose, and wholeness.  Though his ranch ultimately failed, his love for rugged beauty of the land brought him back time and time again for the rest of his life.

Roosevelt credited his Dakota experiences as the basis for his groundbreaking preservation efforts and the shaping of his own character.  As president he translated his love of nature into law.  He established the US Forest Service and signed the 1906 Antiquities Act, under which he proclaimed 18 national monuments.  He worked with Congress to create five national parks, 150 national forests and dozens of federal reserves – over 230 million acres of protected land.  Thank you Teddy!!

July 11

As we were making our way to Yellowstone National Park, we had a one-night stay in a town called Deer Lodge, MT.  With the one night stay we normally just need a place to sleep but to our surprise we found another hidden treasure to investigate called Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic site.  This ranch preserves the history of the American open-range cattle era, showcasing a 1500 acre working ranch with original buildings, livestock and artifacts from the 1860’s and onward. Its 1866-1920 owner Conrad Kohrs is known to be the first cattle baron in Montana with 10 million acres for cattle grazing (this acreage covered parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming).  Not only do you get to tour the original house, but you also get a history and decline of cattle in the open range.  

Never a dull moment for us when on the road.

July 12-15

Wahoo, we made it to Yellowstone National Park with 2 full days to explore.  We visited Yellowstone last year but with it spanning 3472 square miles across Wyoming, Montana and Idaho there was section we did not get to visit.  That is the North Entrance from Gardiner, MT.  

This entrance is closest to the Lamar Valley, which is supposed to have the premier wildlife viewing areas, often called “Americas Serengeti,” known for its vast grasslands, bison herds and predators like wolves, bears and coyotes.  Lamar Valley was our target.  Day one we took advantage of a slightly cooler morning and did a 5-mile hike, armed with our bear spray to fend off any attack.  Thank goodness we only saw a small snake, a few ground squirrels and a grouse (no bears) and returned with all our limbs intact.

Day two was full of wildlife.  We saw Elk, bears, pronghorns, coyote, deer, chipmunks and of course bison.  Herds of bison.  We spent the day driving through the valley, stopping to eat a picnic lunch on the roadside sitting on the tail gate while watching a bison herd.  Note: never to close to being in danger, we have seen far too many YouTube.  You could clearly see that it was “rut” season (bison mating season) as the bull males were very frisky.  In the herds there were also a vast number of calves just born this spring.  Lamar Valley, awesome!

July 15-16

Hardin, MT, a small town about 50 miles east of Billings, MT was a good place to find a RV Park so we could visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield located 15 miles outside of town.   They call the battlefield a place of honor and reflect on the sacrifices made there on June 25, 1876, when the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors fought against a deliberate attack by the U.S.  Army’s 7^th Calvary led by Lt. Col. George Custer, who sought to enforce policies that threatened their traditional way of life.  Parts of the grounds have walking paths that take you up to the “Last Stand Hill” where Custer and his 210 soldiers met their fate.  A granite memorial now stands there honoring those soldiers that lost their lives.  

Just down from the monument stands a memorial to those Indians that also lost their lives that day.  

With the battlefield covering 765 acres, there is a driving route that takes you on a 4.5-mile drive from the Custer Battlefield to the Reno-Benteen Battlefield.  Along this route there are scattered white headstones marking the original spot calvary soldiers died as their remains had been moved to a mass grave under the granite memorial.

There are also brown headstones marking the location of fallen Indians.  The Indians were able to recover their dead and buried them according to customs. 

The progression of the battle is explained with storyboards along this route as well, which really helps put things into perspective when you are literally looking over the battlefield. Historians and archeologists today are still debating how the battle truly unfolded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 3

Leavenworth, WA.  This place was a must see since we had just done a trip to Germany last year.  Leavenworth is a German themed town nestled in the Cascade Mountains that was transformed from a dying timber town into world famous Bavarian village in the 1960’s to avoid becoming a ghost town.  Facing economic collapse after it primary industry left, civic leaders made a radical, coordinated decision to completely reinvent the town’s visual and cultural identity.  The entire downtown area is designed to look like a German village, with shops, restaurants and breweries.  Where they also host numerous themed events to include Oktoberfest and large Christmas celebrations. 

We stayed at A KOA campground that was just down the street from the downtown area.  When we made these reservations, we did not realize that it was 4^th of July weekend, the campground was super packed.  We noticed during the 2 days at the KOA we were the only campsite without children or 2-3 dogs (will rethink a KOA in the future on a holiday.) 

Back to the town, we felt as if were back in Bavaria for sure.  The first thing we did was look for some German food, which was everywhere but we were hoping for more than wurst.  Score we found a place that had authentic rouladen with sides of roasted potatoes sauerkraut and red cabbage.  There were so many stores and restaurants but not enough time to see them all.  We were able to squeeze in a visit to a nutcracker museum.  Apparently, it is the world’s largest collection with over 9000 items ranging from ancient nutting stones to modern, pop culture themed figures.

July 6

We had a one-night stay in Kellogg , Idaho before we arrived at Glacier Nation Park for 4 days.  Always on the hunt for unique places our overnight was at the site of a gold mine.  Yep, we were ready to get out our pick and ax but they kind of frowned on it.  Instead we took their mine tour.

Around 1905 the hillside where the mine was had been blasted closed to hide the mine entrance. This left tracks, a mine car and tools inside, a sure sign that someone intended to come back.  However, they never did and the mine stayed hidden and lost for over a hundred years.  In the 1960’s the mine entrance was exposed during the building of Interstate 90.  In 1991 the owner saw water seeping out of the hillside.  Hoping it was a spring, he dug into the entrance and discovered more of the mine.  Soon after, the owner put a piece of plywood over the entrance and kept it closed for years.  In 1996 the property was sold again to retired miner who uncovered the rest of the mine turning it into a attraction and RV park.  There could still be gold and silver in the mine but for the time being it will stay a attraction.

July 7-10

Glacier National Park (West) can you believe it, this make our 7^th National Park this year.  With Glacier being so far north in Montana we decided now or never.  Our timing was perfect as all the passes and roads were completely open (they had snow and flooding just a few weeks ago) The layout of this park is far different then most it basically has one road in and one road out the “Going To The Sun Road”, needless to say you need to take your patience pill while trying to get to your destination.  Our first stop was to Logan Pass.  Logan Pass is the highest point on the Going To The Sun Road, with a visitor center, stunning views and access to the popular hiking trail, the Hidden Lakes Trail.   This trail was awesome, we saw a little bit of everything during our hike, wildflowers, deer, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, chipmunks, ground squirrels and of course we walked on a glacier

There are so many hiking trails, but we know our limits and stick to the 3-6 mile hikes, like the popular trail, Avalanche.  This one was so busy that we were up at 5am to be able to find parking at the trail head by 6:30am.  This hike was about 5 miles (we did 13,800 steps) long.  We followed raging rivers and old growth forested paths that brought us to Avalanche Lake.  This lake is fed by 5 waterfalls from the Sperry Glacier.

There are so many places to stop in the park to just soak in the views.  That I just have to bore you with more photos.