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!

Kirby and Thermopolis, Wyoming

How many people get a town named after them?  And one that distills Bourbon at that?  We were visiting with friends Sharon and Jerry who live in Thermopolis, WY and they took us to Kirby.  Kirby really wanted to go to Kirby.

 Talk about a photo op!  We couldn't resist his one!

There is a famous bar/restaurant in Kirby as well as Wyoming Whiskey.  We had a great lunch at Butch's Place.  If you are ever near Kirby, you have to go to Butch's for a brew and a burger.  What a fun place.  Character, charm, good food and good service.  And now we have made some good memories there.

This is Sharon and Jerry along with Kirby.  Sharon and Kirby grew up together in Taft, CA a few years back and reconnected on Facebook.  (I love FB for just that type of thing!)  Since we were in their part of Wyoming, of of course we had to get together and share some good times.  They took us all around their charming community, the small town of Kirby, Wyoming Distillery and Hot Springs State Park.

Is this gorgeous or what?  And we wouldn't even have known about it if Sharon and Jerry hadn't taken us there.

And of course, following with tradition, we visited Wyoming Whiskey, had a great tour and did a bit of tasting.  It was so interesting to find a distillery in Kirby, Wyoming of all places.  The owners are actually cattle ranchers who had more property than they knew what to do with so decided to hire an experienced distiller from Kentucky and make their own whiskey.  Now they use the leftover mash (corn, barley and wheat) to feed their cattle.  Makes sense to me!

Custer State Park - Wildlife Loop

Our last day at the park.  We will move north just a little bit today and I am trying to figure out why we are going north when it is mid July and 47 degrees outside.  We are experiencing a cold spell!!  I guess so!  Way too cold for summer!  We need to go south!

Anyway our day on the Wildlife Loop was also incredible and I took too many pictures again.  So, I use little collages to try to give you some of everything,  Now come along with us -

Wildlife Loop - we didn't see that much but we did get up close and personal with this Bison.  Shot from the car window!

Pronghorn Sheep

Prairie Dog

The Pronghorn Sheep photo was out the windshield and the Prairie Dogs just kept popping back into their holes as I got closer so the photos aren't very good.

This is what a lot of our trip looked like.  I loved it!  But I sure wouldn't want to be there in the cold!

A roadside stop

Then we saw the sign for the Lookout and both agreed that we wanted to go.  How stupid could I have been.  I can NOT handle heights!  By the time we wound our way up the cliffhanger narrow road I was almost in tears with my eyes shut.  I was on the outside the whole way up which was one mile and the longest mile in my life!  Thankfully we didn't meet a car coming the other direction or I know we would have gone off the cliff and died.

This is the lookout tower that I did not climb.

After our picnic lunch we followed a little trail that we thought might take us to the Badger Clark Home.  It wound around this little lake and did indeed take us where we wanted to go.

Badger Clark was the Poet Laureate for the state South Dakota in 1937.  He is the author of the famous "Cowboy's Prayer".  His home in the mountains is still there just the way he left it.  I thought it was beautiful!  I could live there.  No indoor plumbing, no running water, no electricity.  It would so peaceful - for a bit of time and then I would want all my modern conveniences again! After touring the house we took his trail around the property and enjoyed the same mountain views that he enjoyed for over 20 years of his life.

This is my normal view when we take walks!

Needles Highway - Custer State Park, SD

After all the activity with the Bison and the Sheep we headed for the Needles Highway. I had been told not to miss this and had seen a couple of pictures but I still was not prepared for the incredible awesomeness of it.  I will let my pictures talk for me - come with us on our tour!

And we finished with the smallest tunnel ever! We even had to fold in the mirrors on the truck as the tunnel was so narrow.  But so fun!

A friend of mine used up all her space on her blog with her photos.  I am afraid I might do that too.  I guess if that happens, I will just go find another place to blog!  Enjoy the photos!

Kentucky Update

We haven’t been doing anything to write home about but I do need to update everyone.  I don’t even have a fresh photo.  I was out with Jake this evening and was going to go back for my camera to get some pictures of the sky but got carried away talking to my Ohio neighbors and totally forgot once I got home. 

So this is how our week has gone.  On Friday Kirby visited his new Dermatologist here in Lexington, KY.  They did not put him out but gave him some local anesthesia in his leg and then proceeded to remove the large squamous cell carcinoma cancer that was growing there.  Seventeen staples later they sent him home.  He has done a lot of reading since then.  He is a good sport about all the sun damage that was done while he was a small child growing up in the San Joaquin Valley in California where the summers were sweltering.

I don’t know where the days have gone.  I have made a couple of trips to Walmart and I too have done a lot of reading.

Break – I just looked out the window and decided to try to capture the nasty weather we are having so here is a current photo!

I am reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.  It is a Pulizter Prize winner and I am really enjoying it even if the main character is a thirteen year old boy.  Last time I read a book with a young boy as the main character was Catcher in the Rye.  This is much better!  Kirby just finished a book about Flying Cloud, an 1850’s clipper ship.  He loved it!

Today we visited the University of Kentucky’s Dental Clinic.  I am having some dental problems and they were able to get me in for a consultation.  I was so impressed by the whole staff and the doctor.  Again – I think I am falling in love with Kentucky!

Hopefully we will be out exploring the area again soon.  (and sampling some bourbon!) We are so fortunate to have such a great place to be sitting out all this “stuff”.  We just need to get the weather to dry up a bit and Kirby’s leg to heal!

Life in the Desert

We have been in Yuma, Arizona for three months now and are almost feeling like locals.  When you move around as often as we did last year three months staying put is a long time.  We have found our favorite grocery stores; we frequent Sam’s Club and we know what stores are at the mall.  We have made friends, been to parties, taken lots and lots of bike rides (there are no hills in Yuma!) and are getting to know the desert.

Our day to day life here is very easy and fun.  I really do love our bike rides.  We go for an hour or so and just wander all around the residential streets.  At first there was very little traffic but now we have noticed that at the height of the winter season, the streets are busy all the time.  I read that Yuma’s population doubles in the winter.  Many visitors come just for a couple of months or so.  January and February are probably the busiest.

Kirby and I enjoy each others company and often will sit around the fire and enjoy the evening together.

We have visited the Flea Markets a few times.  Some places would call them Swap Meets.  Whatever they are called, they are mostly stuff we don’t need but it is fun to go and look.  Last week we found a wonderful produce stand.  Yuma calls itself the winter agricultural center of the US with acres and acres of produce growing in the winter.  So we were pleased to find some reasonably price high quality fresh veggies.  And as a bonus, on the weekends they sell fresh local made tamales!  We picked up half a dozen last weekend and they were great!

And speaking of tamales, a few weeks ago I was able to go to the Somerton Tamale Festival.  Kirby had a cold and didn’t feel up to going so I went with my sister and her husband (who live just down the street).  It was awesome!  If you like tamales, you would be in heaven at this place. There were 40 tamale vender booths.  So – that means to try them all you would have to eat at least 40 tamales!  I tried two or three, found a winner and bought some to bring home.  It is really an event not to be missed if you are in the Yuma area in December.

Remember back when we were in Utah and had that blow-out?  We finally had our repair work completed and don’t have to feel embarrassed by the way we look.  CJ’s in Yuma did a great, efficient job in not much time at all.  We were there about eight in the morning and dropped off our “home”.  Then we spent the day having a great breakfast a Mimi’s Café, visiting some Yuma parks, walking along the Colorado River and doing some shopping.  Around three we picked up our “home” and went home!  It didn’t even hurt too much.

The Colorado River

Winter seems to be the best season of all for sunrises and sunsets.  I am still in awe the desert sky.  Most days we have pure sunshine but sometimes at sunrise or sunset there are just enough clouds to give a gift of color.  And the stars at night!  Ah!  This has to be the best place of all to spend the winter!

Park City, UT

 Fall is coming to the mountains.  It is time for us to go south!  We are near Park City ski resort in Utah at a state park called Jordanelle and the days are sort of cold.  I think yesterday it was maybe 67.  That is not terribly cold but it does remind us of what is coming so today we will head a little bit souther.We have enjoyed our quiet stay here.  Most of the campsites are empty and it is very quiet.  The area is lovely and we got to explore Park City.  I still can't believe what we did!

In order to entertain the summer people, make some money and provide a few jobs, Park City has installed some fun rides - and we did one!  We chose the Alpine Slide because I could control the speed.  I am a scardy cat for sure!

This picture was taken from the chair lift - which turned out to be the worst part of the whole thing.  I have a fear of heights and it seems to be getting worse as I get older.  If we are driving along a cliff on my side of the truck, I can't look down and sometimes I have to just close my eyes.  Ridiculous but it is the way it is.  So taking the chair lift was a huge challenge for myself.  I made it alive.  I did not fall out - but I did have sweaty palms and white knuckles! 

When we got up there we realized that we were expected to claim a glider and drag it to the starting gate.

And this is what a normal person looks like at the starting gate - excited!  (Excuse me - but Kirby is NOT normal!)

I am glad there is no picture of me - you would then have to see what terror looks like!  Well, Kirby went full bore the whole way and I drug on my brake so that the people who followed me in the track next to us (there are 4 tracks) were down and gone by the time I reached the finish line. Oh, well, I had fun my way!

I took this picture from the car later as we were driving around.  You can see the four tracks coming down the hill.  And, yes, I would do it again!  If I could just find another way to get to the top!

These are some photos from Jordanelle State Park.  Jake and I took a long walk one morning and enjoyed the quiet and the beauty. We were even treated to a rainbow!

This is a picture of our 5th wheel at our campsite.