July 2010

This morning after finding a dump station to empty our tanks and get more water we found a nice little rest area on the edge of Stanley.  We have our generator turned on making electricity and we are both on our computers checking mail and doing a blog post before we head out.  A relatively short drive today.

We are driving on to southwest Montana today and will find another woodsy campsite for 2 or 3 days then on Livingston Mt. to full hook ups at a campground about an hour out of Yellowstone for 3 days.  We will get caught up on laundry again and enjoy long showers with running water and not being conservative before heading on to Yellowstone. We will have no cell service for the next three days again most likely. 

Some photos from the drive out today – going towards Stanley:

As you can see it was foggy – not real bad though:

The mountains:

The river:

Don’t know how much you can read off of this sign – it looks kind of small print to me.  It tells about historic things in this area:

Pulled over at the rest area – pretty scene itsn’t it:

(I am writing this on the 29th in the morning and will schedule it to post tonight) (might not hear from me again for several days unless there is a signal after all that will be strong enough for the connection to the internet)

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Today (Wednesday the 28th) we decided to take a short drive north to some old mining areas of Idaho.  Idaho has a lot of ghost towns.  Some still have buildings – others just markers of what had been there.

We stopped at Stanley first so I could connect up to the internet and collect my e mail and send off a post about Stanley and the campground.  We knew there was a 40% chance of rain today and the sky looked gray. We took a picnic lunch with us anyhow as we knew there would be little along the way to find in the way of food and we were right – nada – except snack food and very little of it.  We did get our lunch while the weather was dry but it did rain for a short while as we were walking through Custer City Ghost Town (which is really a well kept walking tour museum).

On the drive up out of Stanley we were driving along side the Salmon River.  Here is a pretty little waterfall that seems to appear from underneath a tree:

The mountains and sky on this dark morning:

Some of the photos are from Mike and some like this following one are from my phone – I forgot my camera behind at the camper this morning.  This cemetery is from Bonanza City. There is not much left there besides the gravesites.

I thought the wire fence around this site was interesting:

This long flight of steps went to the Salmon river from the above rest area – Mike caught me from the back on the long trudge back up!  Got my exercise in early today no wonder I am so sleepy tonight!

Pretty “Sego Lilies” that grown around here – I will check out the spelling of this later as I have no photos in the flower book for it.  I’m pretty sure that is their name:

One of the few remaining buildings in Bonanza City:

The following photos of this old town are from Custer City – up the road from Bonanza City a short way.  This is very much a walking tour through on old town.  Lot’s of antiques.

This is the sign in front of the above building:

Old bottles lining the window:

Me – wandering into one of the little museum buildings – notice the roof?

Talk about recycling early in history – the roof shingles are made out of flatten tin cans! That is a lot of cans flattened – I wonder who had that job?

I got done with one more star block for the Star Crazy BOM – 4 down 3 more to go.  I think I just might get done with the July assignment on the road – that will leave August and September to get done with after we get home so I can be caught up.  I will press all the star blocks next chance I get and I will square them all up after we get home.

We are heading to Southwest Montana in the morning – destination to be decided in the morning.  We are driving though Salmon but decided not to camp there.  We will be stopping to get groceries though so I will most likely post this post from there.

(written on the evening of the 28th – Wednesday)

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This campground I say is near Stanley that is because it is not near anything!  Stanley is about 28 miles north of here and that is where you go for gas, grocery’s and cell signal!  LOL  We are passing through Stanley tomorrow when we are on our way to see several ghost towns (former mining towns) and I told Mike he needs to pull over in a parking lot so I can post this and check e mail.

We are camped next to a little lake called Martin’s Lake.  It is small, there is a trail that goes around the whole lake and I really think it was under a mile.  Here are photos from the campground and the hike around the lake.

We didn’t have the shade awning out today until this afternoon.  First place we have been where it wasn’t too windy to have it out most of the day.

Last nights entertainment – the scrabble game.  There are not a lot of people camped here and it is a very quite campground – peaceful, you can hear the wind in the trees and the noises of the little critters in the area (ground squirrels, birds and chipmunks).

Mike won’t play scrabble without the dictionary – he says I make up words!! me ?

Martin’s Lake:

A view from the short distance to the lake from the campsite:

This is how close we are to the lake – I am at the lake and turned around to take this picture of the campsite, see our camper there among the trees:

A plant growing near a marshy area by the lake – the leaves on this plant looked a lot like a hosta.  It even had flower buds at the top like they do.  I wonder what it is?  It was the only one I saw in the entire area:

A bridge to cross the marshy area:

The lake! beautiful.

This campground has no facilities other than several water pumps and several outhouses (clean outhouses).  So we are roughing it   thank heavens for the propane that works the heat for early morning, the refrigerator, stove, hot water heater LOL really roughing it aren’t I?  We filled the water tank right before we left the last campground as we knew what this was like.  If we start to run low on water I can get nice clean cold water from the pump.

We will leave here on Thursday morning. I’m not sure where next – someplace around Salmon to the northeast of here.

Oh and I managed to complete one more star block for the Star Crazy BOM – we didn’t do much today but sit outside and enjoy the peace and quite

Also we took a short drive this evening to see if we could spot any animals – we saw some elk and some sandhill cranes.  Mike got photos and I will get them from him later.

Here is a photo of the Sawtooth Mountain Range of which we are camped near:

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We are on to the national forest today (Monday the 26th) we will be someplace between Stanley and Boise – but closer to Stanley

We will be in that area for 3 days then move a little northeast to the Salmon Idaho area for another couple days.  Then we will be touching into southwest Montana, then move to Yellowstone by the 4th of August.  After Yellowstone we will be heading home which will take us about 2 weeks or so from Yellowstone – a slow trip as you can tell.

(I scheduled this to post Monday evening the 26th)

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This is the type of scenery and road that we traveled on Sunday for our picnic up in the mountains outside of Arco to the north:

The highest peak in Idaho – Mount Borah 12,662 feet in elevation the peak is next to that white cloud in the sky:

Another view of the Mount Borah:

Three years after we left this area an earthquake happened.  Up the valley from Arco – about 40 miles north in 1983.  We had heard about the earthquake and when we visited the area in 1987 we learned more about it and found out that the high school in Arco had structure damage from it and had to be torn down and a new school built.  It was lucky it happened in a remote area or it would have been worse than it was.  The map on this sign might give you more of a general idea of where in Idaho we are if you do not have your map of Idaho handy!  LOL

Another sign – by this fenced in area you can see the fault line where the ground shifted still to this day.

Do you see the lighter color soil that runs along the top of the sage brush where the mountains start to form? That is the fault line where the ground shifted out of place.

Another sign about it.  It was interesting in that when we first saw the sign we hadn’t noticed the fault line, but after reading the sign we could look up and down the valley and see the fault line for miles.  It says that it goes for 21 miles. For 21 miles you see that lighter shade of soil along the bottom of the mountain.  Kind of a wavy line.

This last campground in Arco we were at was nothing special.  We are camped in the sun with little shade.  The sky looked like it was going to storm and it got quite windy Sunday evening for awhile, but it passed us on by.:

Our little shade tree with our wind chimes hanging up:

We bought this wind chime last year when we were in Virginia at Virginia Beach – a cute turtle – his head goes in and out of the “shell” when the wind moves it:

This map indicates our trip up to Idaho Falls.  Mike will do another updated map soon and I will include that next chance I get.

(this post written Sunday night the 25th, and scheduled to post Monday afternoon)

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Today we got a late start to our day out.  Our neighbors in the camper next to us started a conversation when we were getting our picnic items in the car and we spent about 30 minutes talking.  Nice couple from Minnesota.  They were packing up ready to leave the area and we were all outside at the same time.

We decided to take a drive up the mountain valley were we use to spend time.  A very dusty day it was!!  When we got back Mike found a car wash and gave the car a much needed wash!

Here is the start of the road up into the sagebrush mountains (little forested in this area) the road started out paved but changed quickly to a nice flat dirt road with a little gravel:

Some of the scenery along the way.  Mike was sure he knew where he was going.  As we went along I remembered some of it but not all.  I think I was confusing several different drives we used to take and wasn’t remembering it all!

The road got dustier and dustier!

And higher and higher!

Finally around 1 this afternoon we ended up at the area he was looking for.  It was a place that we use to picnic at when we lived here.  As you can see we finally got to some of the forested mountains.  We got out out fold up table (one of the wisest buys we have gotten for our travels – folds up to the size of a flat suitcase), our chairs, our picnic lunch and enjoyed the shade for awhile and the mountain stream we were next to.

The river!  isn’t it pretty and so clear. (and cold)

Another view of the same area:

After our lunch we headed on down the mountain taking a loop type of drive so we wouldn’t be looking at the same scenery.  I will post those photos tomorrow.  I will schedule it for sometime tomorrow.

We leave in the morning for our next destination.  If you look at your map of Idaho – if you have one that is    – we leave Arco and head northwest going through the small towns of Hailey (where actress Demi Moore lives) through Ketchum and Sun Valley on to the mountains near Stanley.  We will be in the National Forest and in the mountains with no close by towns.  I do not know if we will have our signals to work our computers to the internet.  If we have no connection what I do is put my computer in the car for when we are driving around and looking at things and if I have a signal I can check mail and schedule one of my post that I can write up in advance with no internet connection – computer addicted that I am LOL  But if you do not hear from me for a couple days that is why.

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I got some photos from Mike for views that he took at the park yesterday seeing as my camera battery had died.  I thought I would get a post done this morning before we get busy doing things.  We woke up to 41 degrees once again!  I will enjoy it while I can.

This is a hillside view of lava rock with the plants that have been growing over time:

This is a view at the top of the volcano cone that we hiked up.  All the black that you see is lava rock.

One lone big tree growing at the top of the cone:

At the top of the cone – all the black lava rock over time from people walking on it is crushed, you hear a crunch, crunch when you walk on it.  It is almost as fine as sand in some places:

Another twisted tree trunk – I always love the way these things look:

A tiny plant with purple flower growing – Mike placed a coin by it so you could compare the size:

A spatter cone – this one is called “Snow Cone” it the area insulates the area and the snow stays there all year.  As you can see people, being people have to throw things in these kinds of areas just to hear it plop? I don’t know.  But all these rocks and that stick like thing should not be in there:

Another “spatter cone”, the trail going up was short but very steep as you can see:

I started to quilt the quilt last night – finally, I somehow doubt I will make a lot of progress.  I think it might be a little too large to work on in the camper. I will continue to work on it for a couple days to see if it will work out easier, if not I will put it away and get the star blocks back out or the last appliqué block.  I still have the box of bow tie blocks to work on too.  I still have plenty to work on if the quilting doesn’t work out well in the small space.  It might prove better next time to only bring a wall hanging size project for quilting not crib size.

Today we are off for a drive up the mountain valley and bringing lunch with us.

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By staying in this afternoon while Mike went through the nuclear museum I managed to finish the Cotton Boll block! That leaves me one more applique block to work on, about 6 star block for the BOM (wonder if I will get around to those?) I have the box of bow tie blocks to work on which I haven’t touched and I have the quilt to quilt.  I decided to get the quilt out and drape it over my table and get started on it this evening.

The Cotton Boll block – needs to be pressed and squared up but that will wait until we get home (little clear dots on the corner is reflection from window):

Twisted dead tree at the park – I loved the way this looked!

Lava Rock:

I love the look of these rock formations! The sky was so crystal blue clear today.  A perfect backdrop for these dark rocks.

Another twisty tree – except this one is alive.  One reason for the twisted trees is the wind.  It gets very windy out here.  In fact this campground that we are at is the first one that has included a “awning alert” in their rules. It warns you that you can have a quite windless day and it can change in a matter of minutes to gale force winds.  They tell you to put your awning away for the day when you are not here (for those of you who do not know camping, most campers have a shade awning above the door side so you can have some shade if there are no trees around).

A volcano cone.  You can walk to the top of this 2/10ths of a mile trail – all up hill – it felt like a mile to me at least!!  Wonderful view when you get to the top.

A pretty plant of some time.  Pretty reddish color flowers on it.

My camera battery had died when we got to the top of the volcano cone so I could not take a photo of the view.  Mike is going through his photos and editing some –(he puts in a program to make panorama shots) he will have some ready later this evening and I will put together a post tomorrow of some of his shots.

Tomorrow we are off exploring up the valley where we use to spend time on long day drives and picnics. We will be driving along the “Lost River Mountain Range” up to a town called Challis.  Pretty scenes – I have my battery charged!

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I know a lot of people have never heard of this park and probably have never or rarely gone to a national park.  When we lived here this park “Craters of the Moon” National Park was only 18 miles from our house.  We would drive out several times a year to look at the changing seasons in the park.  It is a very unusual park.

But before I show photos from this morning’s trip here is what we woke up to:

I liked this weather gauge at home so I got one for the camper too!  We woke up to 44 degrees this morning, but there is a button you can push on the side to see what the low was and it was 41 degrees!!  I had the bedroom area windows open during the night and I remember waking up at about 4:30 AM and shutting the windows but I had forgotten that the vents on the ceiling were open a little also – good thing I have one blanket and a quilt on the bed and in this country I have been wearing leggings and long sleeve pj shirt to bed – plus it is a smaller bed than we have at home and Mike puts off a lot of body heat so most of the time I am ok.

Beautiful flower at the park – this is called a “blazing star”.  This must be a local name for the flower as I tried to look it up and all I was finding was a purple stalk flower that looks nothing like this!  The information on it says it mainly blooms at night and early morning.  It is found in rocky areas:

This sign before you get to the park states it all in one sign:

Some of the lava formations with the growth of plant life even so small and has been around for a lot of years:

I always thought this land was beautiful in the winter when it looked like this!  This is a photo from the visitor center:

We are back to portions of the Oregon Trail again also as this sign states:

More plant life:

A short trail going through the lava rocks – you have to stay on the trail as some of the lava rock can be unstable and crunch under the pressure of people walking on it.

I am going to do several post on this park as I took so many pictures.  I didn’t take as many as I wanted to though as my battery died!!  I forgot to charge it.  Right now I am back at the camper this afternoon at the computer and soon to be sewing while Mike is 20 miles down the road looking at a museum on nuclear power – I’m afraid I knew I would be bored and told him to go look at it himself as it did not interest me.  I have never understood the technical stuff of his job and only understood the paycheck LOL

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