Montana to Idaho and Back To Henry's Lake State Park

We are beginning to wonder if we have over-stayed our welcome up here in God's Country.  We think maybe the God's are trying to tell us something!  Just look at that snow on the mountain viewed from our RV park in Ennis, MT.  We have had a couple of warmer days that have melted the snow but we might get more this weekend.  Burrrr.

We really enjoyed our short stay in Ennis.  Ennis RV Village was one of my all-time favorites and the town is very special.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from that stop.

Are we lucky or what?  Right there is town we spotted a Distillery open to the public with free samples.  I expected Bourbon but no, it was Moonshine!  When we lived in Mexico there was a company that flavored Tequila with everything.  This was very similar.  They had all different flavors of Moonshine.  We sampled a couple and then decided to have one of the cocktails that they prepare.  (too bad the cute copper mug wasn't included! They sell for $35 so I didn't take it home with me!)  We had fun visiting with other customers and with the serving lady who also guided fishing tours.

Hot Springs right there in the middle of no where!  Can you see the steam?

The Madison River

Ennis has statues of cool fish all around town.

They also have wild animals in town!

After a few days in Ennis we packed up and moved about 60 miles south back to Henry's Lake State Park.  This really is one of our most favorite places ever!  And this time we knew where we wanted to be located and were able to reserve it.

Just look how alone we are?  And I don't mind not having trees because I get the great big view.  The lake is right behind us and the views are incredible!

This is Henry's Lake viewed from right behind where we sit.

This is honest to God the way it looked when the sun set during the rain.  I did nothing to this picture!

We took a drive-about yesterday and just wandered around the area.

Bridge over the Madison River

I think this may have been a wonderful little settlement in it's day.  The house on the left has a sweet little stream running right behind it.

And just look what we found!

We will be staying here through the Labor Day weekend and then head to Idaho Falls for a shopping fix.  Hopefully we will have a bit of good weather over the weekend.  I want to get in more hiking as the trails here are so nice.

I know, too many pictures but what can I say?  I like taking them!

Missouri Headwaters State Park

The Missouri River runs right behind this ridge of mountains that were formed over 75 million years ago by a volcano eruption.

We are further south in Montana now and heading back toward Arizona – but it will take us a while – at least 4 weeks, maybe more.  We don’t want to get there when it is still terribly hot or my body will go into shock.  This morning it is 50 degrees out, we ran the heater and I have on sweats!

We left Fort Benton for a quick trip to Great Falls and some shopping.  We hadn’t seen a Sam’s Club in quite a while and we needed some staples.  Of course I always look for microbreweries wherever we are and we were in luck.  We found Bowser Brewing not too far from where we were staying.  We settled in with our brews (which were excellent!) and a tin of dominos to play some Mexican Train.  Didn’t work!  We should have counted the doms before we began.  Doubles of some of them and others were just plain missing.  You can’t play a real game that way!  Should have brought along our own but we didn’t know what to expect.  At least the ales were really good and we did have fun!

We are going to miss this nice spot at Missouri Headwaters State Park.

We are now at the Missouri Headwaters State Park not too far from Three Forks, MT.  It is a very quiet little park with not too many people and we have a fantastic site with a yard for Jake.  He is going to be pretty upset later today when we move on.  (if the weather will allow – heavy skies and it rained all night)

There is a great paved trail that runs right by the park and goes into Three Forks.  We got our bikes down and headed out.  Through bribery Kirby was able to get me to ride all the way into Three Forks – lunch was the reward.  We ate on the patio at Three Forks Café.  Can’t say it was the greatest meal ever but it sure was fun.  And I can now say that I can ride 10 miles.  Of course there were NO hills and very little wind so it was an easy ride.

 There are a few trails around the park and we have enjoyed those.  We also had a fire in the firepit yesterday morning.  It was cool and crisp out and the fire was perfect.  Sure wouldn’t work today as everything is soaked with rain. 

The Madison River flowing north to meet up with the Gallatin and the Jefferson.  These three rivers become the Missouri River.  I think it should be called the Montana River since it originates here but of course there was no Montana when the Missouri was discovered.

If we can get the rain to stop we will hitch up and got to Three Forks Campground for a few days.  We stayed there last year and know that we like it. (We will have full hook-ups and laundry there.)  Then we don’t know where we are going but it will be south!

Montana!

We have been having way too much fun here in Montana and I have been lazy with updating the blog.  We are currently in Fort Benton which is in central Montana and pretty darned close to Canada.  In my next life I want to be born in Montana!  I love it here.  Actually, getting to spend part of my summer here is almost perfect.  When we left Henry's Lake in Idaho we went to Livingston and spent a week there visiting with Kirby's cousin, Melani.  She has lived there for over 10 years...a California escapee!  While in Livingston Kirby got outfitted for some trout fishing and we have been searching for that big boy ever since!

We have seen some beautiful country on our travels and Montana is probably one of the very best!  From Livingston we went a whole 75 miles north to White Sulfur Springs which sits just south of Lewis and Clark National Forest.  It is a tiny town that is quiet, quiet, quiet!  The RV park was our favorite this year.  We walked to town and back many times, drove all over dirt roads searching for that perfect fish, picniced and played tourist at a home that has been converted to a museum.

I loved the simplicity of this old abandoned farmhouse.  I found it interesting that the white paint was still so white.  I have to wonder what brand of paint they used to last so long! There was no vinyl siding when this house was built.

Kirby found us this canyon to check out.  It was all rock and gorgeous. 

We were just driving down the dirt road minding our business when I spotted these two deer sitting under a tree.  Kirby slammed on the brakes and backed up.  I started taking pictures and walking closer to them very slowly.  They let me get quite close before the bolted off.  I felt so fortunate to get so close to them.  Their antlers were gorgeous!

This was one of our many picnics.  Convenient tree stump to use wouldn't you say?

Why do I take pictures of cows?  I have always done it and I am not too sure why.  Maybe because they are there.  This young one didn't know yet that you DON'T sleep in the middle of the road!

One day there were lots and lots of butterflies and they each had a thistle.

Driving a big truck and pulling a 38 foot trailer can be a bit of a challenge.  We had no idea this was waiting just up the road for us.  The picture is no where near as awful as the real thing was.  Lumpy, bumpy and very narrow.  I was so proud of Kirby!

This is the house museum that we visited - Bair Family Museum in Martinsdale, MT.  There really is no more Martinsdale - only a handful of people still living in the old houses but it used to be a nice little town full of people  that the sheep rancher, Charles Bair, employed.  The house was furnished by his two daughters throughout their lives with travels to Europe to purchase antiques.  It was pretty gaudy with all the big picture frames and gold gilt on everything but I fell in love with the kitchen.  It was remodeled in the 1960's and stayed the same thereafter.  Isn't the color incredible.  That would wake you up pretty fast each morning!