Montana

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So much has happened since we left Oregon and I have been so negligent on this blog.  We have made quite a few stops and enjoyed lots of different places.

First out of Oregon was Hood Park near Pasco, Washington. This was just an overnight stop but a wonderful one.  Tiny campground and hard to maneuver but the site we had was beautiful and right on the river.

This was our lovely campsite at Hood Park in Washington.  It was a nice large site with a river view!

 Then we moved on to Thompson Falls, MT where we visited with our friends Rod and Shelle whom we had met in Mexico years ago when we were there on our boats.  They now have a wonderful home in Thompson Falls and if not for Shelle’s directions, we would have missed one of the most beautiful drives in Montana.  She told us which roads to follow get to there – we would never have chosen that route – local knowledge. We had a fun evening with them catching up and found a great little RV park, Birdland Bay – that so far is one of our favorites.

On our way to Thompson Falls, Montana - the views were incredible!

This river was just a short walk from our campground in Thompson Falls.  What an early morning view!

Kirby, Shelle and Rod - so much fun reconnecting with them!

Shelle's friend - right in her front yard.

Then we made a quick stop near Missoula where Kirby got himself a brand new Montana driver’s license.  I didn’t want to give up my South Carolina one yet so maybe next summer when we are back here.

Next stop was Livingston, MT where we got new plates for the RV and the truck and visited with Kirby’s cousin and her husband – Melani and Jim.  We were in a horrible RV park so left quickly the next day and are currently in Three Forks at a lovely park.  We need more of Livingston so will return there at the end of this week.  It is such a cute little town that I need to explore a little more.

Melani (Kirby's cousin), Kirby and Me

 Since we have been here at Three Forks we have visited Helena, the state capitol, Missouri Headwaters State Park, Lewis and Clark Caverns, and Virginia City.

Lewis and Clark Caverns

One of my all-time favorite views!

State Capitol in Helena, Montana

Helena, MT

Headwaters of the Missouri River

This is just one of the re-enactments that we saw in Virginia City.  What an awesome job they have done of making it come back to life from the late 1800's.

The main boardwalk in Virginia City, Montana

Armitage Park, Eugene, Oregon

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I am sure we will have even better places to visit in the future, but Armitage Park in Eugene, Oregon is now my most favorite.  Just by chance we had the best site there (No. 30), the most interesting neighbors and the best views.  We spent almost all of our time either walking, biking or sitting under the Big Leaf Maple tree playing cards, reading or eating.

You can just see the Big Leaf Maple we were sitting under and then the blackberry bushes behind us.

The McKensie River flowed by the day use part of the park and had two trails running along beside it, one just above the river and one right along the bank.  We walked and biked both quite a few times.  There were almost no other people as it was weekday and the holiday had just ended.   Besides the freeway that passed nearby, there was also an old railroad trestle that had been converted to a walking/biking trail.  We took it to the other side of the river and taught Jake to drink river water.  (he is NOT a water dog at all!)

This is the old railroad trestle built in 1887.  Loved it!

We watched him paddle upstream and then glide back down with the current.  And he did it more than once!

Pretty sad to see the freeway cross the river and not even have a pretty bridge.  You don't think of it when you are on the freeway - just when you are viewing it.  Plain, ordinary, not interesting at all.  But what a gorgeous river! (You can see the paddleboarder down there, too)

Kirby and Jake taking a break on the railroad trestle while I took pictures and found us each a ripe berry.

The trees were what got me.  Big beautiful maples and cedar.  Awesome trees that defied getting their picture taken.  They were just too big.  We had one Big Leaf Maple (Oregon Maple) at our site that stopped my heart with its beauty.  And there are the wild blackberries everywhere.  Too early for us, darn!  By the time they ripen up, we will be long gone.  But – I did find two that were ripe so both Kirby and I got to try one.  Can you imagine just picking those berries at your leisure?  They grow wild everywhere!

This is my favorite tree, the Big Leaf Maple, and I just couldn't get a good picture of it.  But I loved it!

I ate that one ripe berry.  It was wonderful!

We had barely gotten set up and were out enjoying the quiet serenity of the park when a bus load of teenagers showed up and started setting camp up right across from us.  We moaned and groaned – how could this happen to us?  But they turned out to be the nicest young people ever.  They were part of the Northwest Youth Corp.  They spend 5-6 weeks away from home working in the forests and parks.  We enjoyed visiting with them and Jake gave them lots of pets.  They were great neighbors!

I did not get a picture of our interesting neighbors but they made our visit more fun.

Soon we will be in Montana where we will spend a few weeks.  Can’t wait to see that big sky and huge mountains!

Eugene, OR

After our wonderful visit in Roseburg with Mark and Lydia, we drove the short distance up to the Eugene area and parked for 5 days at Richardson County Park.  What an incredible park this is!  I knew we needed to find a good place for the 4^th of July holiday as everything would fill up so I had made these reservations a couple of weeks ahead and pretty much just took the space that was available.  We lucked out.  Our space (#77) was perfect for us except for being a little dark because of all of the pine trees.  Our area was huge and looked out onto a large clearing where we watched people playing horseshoes, riding bikes, hitting golf balls, playing frizbee and just moving around.  For Jake it was absolutely perfection because there were dogs everywhere and people all around to entertain him.  He sat for hours just watching the activity.

Kirby and I took a bike ride each morning along the lake shore and through the woods of the campground.  We sat and played cards – Spite and Malice and Gin Rummy.  We pretty much take turns winning!  We ate most all of our meals outdoors too with Kirby grilling yum stuff.  There were families there who were ruffing it in tents with a Coleman stove and the public bathrooms and we used to do that too (remember that we spent our honeymoon camping in a tent) but now we get to camp in luxury with our wonderful rig; hot showers in privacy, our own potty and a kitchen for cooking.  Not to mention our own bed.  I think I like this new way of camping!

We only went into Eugene one day and that was to have lunch with my sister’s son, John.  It had been over 15 years since we had seen him and it was a great visit!  What a nice young man!

The park was packed for the holiday and we were one of the last ones to leave on Sunday.  We made the big 25 minute trip to another Lane County Park – Armitage, where we are now.  This place is also incredible and I will post some photos of it soon.