We made it to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park(That’s the official name, folks). I supervised the setting up of the tent (spare bedroom?) at Avalanche Creek Campground at Lake MacDonald and then the humans headed out to see the incredible terrain of Glacier National Park, ‘where the mountains meet the plains’. Boy is that a truth. There are no foothills, those peaks rise straight up into the sky! I grew up with the Sierra foothills as my sniffin’ ground and it is awesome to see these mountains just jump up – bam! Kae got into this whole thing about the geology and formation of the mountains and the billions and millions of years it had taken to create this landscape. I know some folks have this ‘need to know’ thing, but I say all you really have to do is stop, sit down in the sunlight, lift your nose just a few inches, close your eyes, clear your mind and b r e a t h e ! Everything you ever needed to know about a place is right there, in the air. Try it sometime, might open up all kinds of visions.
They were all out to find as much wildlife and scenery as they could photograph, so off they went in the rental car to ‘hunt’. Unfortunately, the car was too small for four full sized folks and little old me, but I got to do my thing in the Pod and really the gals are pretty good about getting back and taking me for a whiz and a walk at just the right time.Greg and Connie are sweet people and they are enthusiastic about everything. They were on the go all the time to see and photograph all they could find so C & K were on the go too. The week went by far too quickly, even though we went up to the Canadian side of Glacier, known as Waterton and they all got more great pictures and saw even more spectacular scenery and wildlife. The whole thing about these kinds of mountains is that they just jump straight up from the valleys and plains; anything at their feet is what has dropped off of the cliffs above or been left by the glaciers. Awesome.
Then Greg and Connie had to head back to Spokane and catch their plane home to Nevada City, so C & K decided we should head down into Montana again. We turned west out of Waterton, went across part of Alberta and then south into the Flathead country of western Montana. We took off on a country road to try to find the National Bison Refuge and got really lost. So we decided to pull off the road and stay the night right by the Flathead River on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Problem was we didn’t ask permission from anyone, you know like the Elders or Tribal Council or anyone. I was sorta ‘on alert’ all night long afraid we were going to ‘get busted’. We didn’t and I got a couple of really good fetch and swim sessions in the river. It was heavenly!
We found the Bison Refuge next day after asking directions. (Go figure!) That was something unbelievable. We actually drove the Pod right through a large herd of bison. I mean like bulls and cows and calves on both sides and in the middle of the road! I could have leaned out the Pod window and licked one of those guys right on the nose, but they were busy licking their own noses. I don’t get up close and personal with anything that is that much bigger than I am! The refuge is really something to see and is the largest herd, outside of Yellowstone, in the U.S.
After that we headed for Missoula. We had to hang around there for a few days to have the brakes checked out on the Pod, so we took a couple of side trips over to Lincoln and Helena. Kae was born in Helena, but her folks were living in Lincoln and managed the 7UP Dude Ranch at the time. They only lived there about 5 years, but she said it was sorta neat to go back as an adult and see what old buildings and things might still be standing. We found several things like the great old log Lincoln Hotel, Lambkins Restaurant and at least one of the guest cabins out at the old 7UP ranch site.We went over to Helena to the old Capital building which is a magnificent example of ‘capitalistic’ architecture and houses a couple of Charles Russell murals that are beautiful. (Of course they don’t allow discriminating art dogs into state capitals; an oversight if you ask me. But Kae told me about this stuff.) They also have the only stuffed White Buffalo in existence in the capitol. He was very sacred to everyone, was well cared for and lived a very long time.
Kae thought she might find a few shirt-tail relatives at the Grimes Cadillac, Chrysler, Jeep Dealership, but they had sold out years ago and retired. She said her Grandfather, Ben, had started the car business back in 1948 after he started the Texaco stations in town. There hasn’t been much contact with that side of the family, so there wasn’t any easy way to track down any of the cousins or whatever. She said she didn’t really mind after all these years and besides it was an even better memory just to see the beauty of the Big Sky Country.
Then back to Missoula and we spent the night at the Chevy Dealership so we could be bright eyed and bushy tailed the next morning for the Pod work. Everything got done in a few hours and we took off for Lolo, MT. to visit Bobbie, a friend of Cokie’s who had invited us to ‘stop by’ if we ever came her way and so there we were! I tell you this was heaven. She lives in a really unique converted barn about 11 miles from Lolo and it was great to stop for a few days. I could smell the cougar and bear and moose in the area. Bobbie had put a salt lick out in her front meadow and said that a cow moose and her calf were coming quite often in the mornings to the lick. If we got up really early we could probably get some pictures. Bobbie woke us at dawn the next morning and sure enough there they were but it was too dark to snap a picture without using the flash. Personally I thought they were pretty homely and decided not to even try to talk to them, plus the kid seemed pretty skittish and I didn’t want my deep baritone to spook it, so I went back to bed. They left soon but came back at least two more times and C & K got some sweet pictures of them. Now I want you to know that I have a healthy respect for these very large wild animal types and I understand that they can be unpredictable and dangerous and I also love my Pod doghouse, so I know not to try to engage them in any type of conversation or to try to frighten them off with my rich vocabulary. ‘Mums’ the word, I say. I look, I listen, I shake and quiver, but not a woof! The ladies sure do love me for that; I always get treats and ‘atta boys’ when I’m quiet. Smart old fart, aren’t I?
Off we went next toward Livingston and Wilsall. Kae spent many summers and holiday visits in this area because her Mother’s people lived all around this part of Montana. We stopped just outside of Three Forks to go through the Lewis and Clark Caverns. The ladies said that was very interesting and the formations were strange and awesome. I was glad I couldn’t go inside with them ‘cause even tunnels make me nervous, so caverns would probably have spooked me something awful! I do daylight really well!
We stayed in Livingston down by the Yellowstone River on the backside of Sacajawea Park. It was a fishing access area, but none of us saw any ‘no camping’ signs; besides we don’t camp, we RV. It is only camping if the microwave isn’t working! I found the Yellowstone River to be a very pleasant swim and was happy to be there. Next we went over to Wilsall, where Kae’s Mom was born in 1916, found the remains of the old homestead owned by Kae’s Grandparents, the Lenneman Ranch where Kae and her brother Mick had worked a few summers and a couple of cousins: Ken and Doris Bailey. Quick visit to a dying little town filled with live memories for Kae.
Yellowstone Park was our next goal as Cokie had never seen it and Kae was quite small when she last saw it. Funny thing about Yellowstone, I mean I know it is renown the world over, Old Faithful is the most photographed geyser in the world, the whole park is beautiful in its own strange, wild and colorful way, but I was so uncomfortable there! It was that same feeling I had in Mt. St. Helens National Park – so much going on under the surface. I simply could not ever relax. I was aware all of the time that good old Mother Nature was constantly up to something and I couldn’t figure out when or where the next something was going to be; I could feel stuff going on all the time. Us four-leggeds are really sensitive to seismic stuff and both these parks are full of it. I thought the water smelled and tasted funny, minerals I guess, but Yellowstone Lake was way okay for a chase and a rinse.
The Firehole River was the best, though. There were terrific numbers of people around everywhere, which is okay, but maybe just a few too many even for my friendly attitude. We traveled all over and looked for wildlife, found some elk and moose and photographed them. Of course Cokie took hundreds of pictures of the pools, geysers, algae, colors, animals and more colors. (She thinks she may need counseling for this overdoing on the picture thing, but I say, ‘What the heck? This maybe the only time we will ever be here so make as many memories as you can for the future when our minds might be gone. The pictures will definitely help.)
Okay we made it through Yellowstone and headed due south for the Tetons. I’ll mumble at you in the next journal as we make our way into and through Wyoming. Until then take a moment every day to remember a favorite something. Exercise those memory muscles, folks; you never know when remembering where those bones are buried might be really important!!
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