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!

Country Roads in Indiana

While we were staying with Janice and Steve in Crawfordsville, Indiana, Janice gave us a tour of the countryside where she grew up and has lived all of her life.  We got to see places we never would even have known existed in the back country.  It was so kind of her to share her home with us.  It is incredibly beautiful!  Here are my photos -

 And then we were given this beautiful sunset!  A perfect day in Indiana!

Frankfort, Kentucky

Between Kirby’s surgery and my dental work, we have spent quite a bit of time at home in our RV and not out and about too much.  We are still in Georgetown, Kentucky – just north of Lexington.

We went out for a bit yesterday but the day really didn’t go as I had planned.  We drove over to Frankfort which is about 30 minutes away on narrow country roads with views to die for and no places to stop and take pictures.  I had some plans to visit a park with an old Civil War fort but we couldn’t find it.  It didn’t come up in the GPS and I could hardly see the maps on my phone because I had forgotten my glasses.  So, we passed on that and it was too early for the pub I had chosen to be open.  It would have worked out fine if we could have found out how to get to the park but even driving around didn’t work because there was too much road construction.

The Farmer's Market in Frankfort.

We are in love with Beer Cheese.  We put it on celery instead of crackers and pretend it is healthy!

This is the garlic that we bought.  Fresh!!

What we did do was visit a nice farmer’s market.  The fun find was the fresh garlic that almost fooled us into thinking it was green onions!  And farm fresh eggs with bright golden yokes.  There was some nice country music going on also.

The Kentucky River as it flows through Frankfort, Kentucky.

We stopped to walk out on the bridge over the Kentucky River and that is when we spotted the sign for the candy factory.  Of course we had to check that out!  Yum!

It is Bourbon everything here in Kentucky!

Such a pretty candy store....we couldn't help but buy a couple of pieces.

Kentucky State Capitol Building, Frankfort, Kentucky.

We still have another week here so maybe we will have a few more adventures.  Stay tuned!

Yuko-En On the Elkhorn

Japanese Gardens

Georgetown, Kentucky

Today we visited Yuko-En On The Elkhorn, which is a Japanese gardens in Georgetown, Kentucky.    There is a large Toyota factory in Georgetown and I am sure this garden would not be here if Toyota was not.  It was a nearby attraction so we decided to go check it out.

There were some really lovely spots and some views that I am glad I got to enjoy but it was not that wonderful.  I think they need money from Toyota!  There is no admission fee and in fact, there was no one there except Kirby and I and our dog, Jake.  We were so alone that we were able to let Jake off the leash as we walked the grounds.

Here are some of my photos.

Into Mississippi

Yesterday we departed Beaver Dam Campground at Caney Lakes in northern Louisiana.  We were there nine days and it wasn’t long enough!  We went back out the way we had come in, on the narrow road with two train tracks to cross and lots of wisteria growing on all the trees.  

There is Wisteria everywhere right now and it is so beautiful.

 It took about 15 or 20 minutes to get to Interstate 20 and head east.  It was a non-eventful trip except for crossing the Mississippi River.  (While listening to Paul Simon sing about the Mississippi Delta)  It is not like I had never done it before but I always get a thrill from it.  It is such a majestic river. We stopped just inside Mississippi at the visitor’ center and walked Jake and enjoyed the view of the river.  

Going over the Mississippi River.

The Muddy Mississippi

We left I-20 and headed south on HWY 49 to Hattiesburg.  We had been through Hattiesburg last year after leaving Meridian, MS.  As it turns out, our GPS did not like the address of Paul B. Johnson State Park so Kirby gave me on of a street near there that we could use.  Well, we took that road, scared me to death that it was wrong because it was very narrow with just some nice houses on it.  We came to an intersection and decided to turn left hoping it would work.  It did!!  It took us in the back gate to the park.  No one was minding the store so we just went on to our already booked site.  And what a beautiful site it is – and SMALL!  We barely fit but somehow Kirby got us in here in the first try.  He is an awesome driver!  We have a fantastic view of the lake and a large yard.  And – best of all – we have sewer!  It was a stretch to reach it because it is located way at the back of our site but Kirby got our stinky slinky to fit and I am going to go get a really long, hot shower now!

Here we are getting set up on this tiny site we have.  Our back end hangs out over the parking pad.

But the view makes it all worth it.

Jake is happy with some freshly mowed grass to lay on.