Day 53- Medora, North Dakota

Our drive today was an easy one (Miles City to Medora). This morning we slept in and enjoyed the clear, blue skies. We also took the time to get a few groceries before we left Miles City. I can tell that my shopping has been very limited the past few weeks. It took me forever to get the few items on my list-too large of a store!
As we drove toward North Dakota we started to see the landscape change. It is amazing how different the land formations have been and the Badlands are as equally beautiful. It is very green here which is unusual for this time of the year. We read that part of the park is closed due to mud slides. The campground has many wet spots from a recent rain.
This evening we attended the Pitchfork Fondue which was excellent. I am amazed at how fast and efficient they feed 500 people with much waiting. The steak was excellent and a wonderful aged cut of beef. After dinner we walked the cemetery and drove around town getting our bearings. Also we checked in with the kids. We will be here until Tuesday morning.
Day 53

Day 52-Martindale to Miles City

After a good night sleep we had cinnamon rolls and coffee with our host. We got off around 9 Am and started our way to Billings and then Little Big Horn Battlefield. The day started out to be sunny and crisp. The temp was 40 degrees. This part of Montana is in high hills with mountains on all sides. So they have a short growing cycle (less than 90 days). So if they are to have a garden it would have to be in a hot house. But in Billings the climate is warmer and the growing cycle is longer- they can grow tomatoes and corn! We visited the Bighorn Battlefield and enjoyed it. We listened to a park ranger about the battle and took a tour. Mike really enjoyed he place (he understands military tactics more than I do). WE did learn that Ft. Carson troops come to this site and study the battle before they go to battle. It was very busy place this afternoon. After our visit we drove to Miles City for the night. Tomorrow we will head to Medora to spent the weekend.

Day 51 - Martindale,MT

We arrived at the Inderland’s after lunch today. It was very good to see Dick and Mary Jane. Dick was Mike’s boss in Coscom at Fort Bragg, NC from 1980 to 1982 when Dick retired and moved back to Montana and the family ranch. It was very good to see Dick and Mary Jane. We got a VIP tour of the ranch and all the streams running though the land. The berries were just getting ripe so we had a few snacks. In the past, they had beef cattle but now they only have 3 horses. Dick is trying to retire at the age of mid-70’s. He is in great shape and still ski in the winter months with his ski club. Mary Jane made us a wonderful halibut supper which was from their son’s cannery in Alaska. Greg buys fish from the fishing boats and process the fishing within 6 hours, flash freezes it and gets it on the airplane the next morning for Seattle and the fish market. We were joined by their daughter, Shannon, and her two boys for dessert. They have a camping day with Grandpa this weekend. Shannon babysat our kids at Bragg. Then we had to go 4-wheeling to see if we can find any animals. We saw couple of deer and rabbits but in our afternoon travels we saw elk and deer.

Day 50- Glacier to Great Falls

Day 50- Glacier to Great Falls, MT
We traveled from Glacier to Great Falls this morning. It was very narrow roads like the one on “Top of the World’ highway but was not as bumpy and full of holes. It was driving in the prairie with the mountains on the west side. It was semi-arid with lots of pasture, prairie grass, beef cattle and horses. As we got to interstate 15 large farms came into the picture. The barley was being combined as well. On the way to Great Falls, we hit the mark of 8,000 miles traveled in 50 days so far!
Once we got set up at the campgrounds, we went to the Lewis and Clark National and Historical Trail Interpretive Center which is located on the Missouri River. We spend over 3 ½ hours visiting the center and seeing all the exhibits. When we entered, our memory of the event was very poor but we walked out with a wow and understand the event in history. The center ran by the USDA Forest Service and has done a superior job telling their story. We saw to DVD’s and listened to a ranger talking about the people who were on the expedition. It was quite a feat in 1804-6. We are hoping to stop in Mandan, North Dakota to visit Fort Mandan where they spend the winter prior to coming to Montana.
The weather has been warm today which is a change for us! We have not had much summer weather on our trip. Once we got back to the camper, a storm is trying to brew. Hopefully we are done with the furnace coming on at night. The furnace has been coming on nightly since June 22. Just a different summer for us.
Tomorrow we are off to visit our military friends in Martindale. We are looking forward to seeing them. We have not seen them since 1984.

Day 49- Glacier National Park

We took a Red Bus tour of the park called “Crown of the Continent” today. It was wonderful and we enjoyed it very much. Our bus was a 1933 red bus made by the White Company and has a retractable roof. It holds 17 people plus the driver who is driver and tour guide. Our driver/guide was Eric and he was superior at his job. The tour was 7 hours long and never a dull moment. Eric’s background is interesting- this is his summer job and in the winter he drives for the scientists in Antarctica. He talked none stop all the 7 hours! Eric was full of information and facts about Glacier.
In our travels today we experiences the three seasons in the areas we visited. We saw the east side as semi-arid area that was very much like the Yukon Territory and the Denali area of Alaska. It great small amounts of rain and the plants are the same. Once you pass the Logan Pass, one travels to the Pacific Rainforest which is very green, lush and beautiful with colors. Logan Pass is the highest point that one can travel by car in the park and it is the permafrost area which means the trees are few and very short and the flowers were just starting to bloom. In this area there was still snow on the ground all over. We learned that the road, “Going over the Sun” was just opened on 13th of July this year because they got 200” of snow this year. We saw many waterfalls in our drive that is because of the all snow this year.
The weather was sunny until we started up to Logan Pass after lunch at the McDonald lodge. We had rain for 15 minutes and then it stopped. We really enjoyed our tour and were surprised at the beauty of Glacier and wondered why we never visited it before. So we have put it on our repeat to visit list. Today was a wonderful enjoying God’s creation!

Day 47 and 48 Calgary and Arrival to US

We started out our Sunday going to church in SW Calgary. Our new camping friends, Martin and Anne, suggested First Alliance Church and it was a great suggestion. We had a wonderful, spirit filled worship with an excellent message about unity with in Christian community. It was a message that we needed to hear and it comforted our souls. After church we visited the sights of Calgary. We walked around the Olympic Park and saw the bobsled and luge tracks. It was a beautiful day to be outdoors. After this we visited the Lougheed mansion and it was setting in the downtown area and very pretty. The residents were involved in the early 1900 development of Calgary. Lastly we visited the Calgary Tower which was the highest building. It was interesting to see the city from heights. We had a great tour guide who included the history of the town. Calgary has an interesting history with the cattle, oil and mineral business.
After our touring we went back to the campground and visited with our neighbors and had supper. It was a very relaxing time and a beautiful night.
This morning we said our farewells to Martin and Anne and drove south toward the US. We stopped at a gem- a carriage museum and it was extremely interesting with tons of carriages of all kinds in excellent shape. We enjoyed it and came out on overload with history of the uses of carriages. We arrived in the US around 2 PM this afternoon. We got our camp site and get anchor! Afterwards we went to the Visitor Center and watched couple of movies about the park. We came back to the campground to wash clothes. It is amazing how dirty one gets doing nothing! Now we are kicking back and relaxing!
Tomorrow we will be doing an all day tour of Glacier!

Day 46- Travel from Lake Louise to Calgary

Our drive today was a short 100 miles and we saw changes in the scenery. We went from the mountains to the hills with lots of cattle, grain and industry. The traffic was heavy especially leaving Calgary. We ended up south of town before we got a campground. It is about 20 miles south on the high river. We have a river lot so it is very nice and relaxing. We meet our neighbors, a darling couple from Calgary. We had coffee with them and learned about them. He is a retired missionary with the alliance church. They even gave us a church for tomorrow.
We have had no internet since coming into Alberta so we will go into McDonalds tonight to post our blog. Tomorrow we will go to Calgary to sightsee.