July Adventures in Montana

We worked the first three days of July, Gary helped round up more cows and calves one day. We took July 4-6 off from work for a family visit.  Saturday morning we packed for our trip that day to the Black Hills to join my family celebrating my folks' 60th wedding anniversary.  My brother, two sisters and their families were all there for the weekend.  We stayed together at my folks' home which is just outside Rockerville, southwest of Rapid City. Our kids had other family commitments and were not able to join us this time.  We had a great time looking at family pictures, watching home movies and playing games.  Sunday we went to church together and then brunch at Minervas. Monday morning my brother and his family left to drive back home.  The rest of us drove over to see Mount Rushmore and enjoyed walking the trail and looking at all the displays again.  We had lunch at folks, then went into Rapid City to see the new Habitat for Humanity offices, where my sister Heidi works. Supper in town and a visit to Dinosaur Park that night completed our day.  (And a special visit to Armadillo's for one of their specialty ice cream dishes for dessert).

Round em' up, cowboys

Family pic

Visiting the boys

The girls on Dinosaur Hill

Tuesday morning, my sister and her family left to fly back to Tampa.  Gary and I packed an overnight bag and drove up to Spearfish to meet Gary's cousin Kela and her husband for lunch. We had a great lunch and conversation and then went with them to tour the D. C. Booth National Fish Hatchery.  One of those places we always thought we should visit and never had.  The historical home there was very interesting to tour. That afternoon we drove to Lead and bought tickets to the opening night of "Deadeye's Wild West" musical comedy taking place at the historic Homestake Opera House. We had a beverage at the Stamp Mill Restaurant Saloon and Hotel. They have two rooms above the restaurant they rent, but we decided to walk just a half block up the street and booked a room at the Town Hall Inn.  This was Lead's town hall building, built in 1912 and housed many of the town's civic offices.  The Homestake Mining Company housed their general offices there for nearly 50 years and the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They have twelve unique rooms available, ours was very comfortable and we had a nice continental breakfast the next morning.  After checking in and freshening up, we walked back to the Stamp Mill for supper and then went to the show.  We had time before the show to look around the opera house. It was built in 1914 with a theater that seated 1000 people, a heated indoor swimming pool, billard hall, library, bowling alley, and lounges for the men and women.  In 1984, the theater portion of the building was nearly destroyed by fire and then sat empty for 11 years.  Their nonprofit organization is now working very hard to restore the theater and have it in condition to have performances there again.  Our friend, Sarah Carlson, who had sang with us in the Cathedral Choir for many years, is the Executive Marketing Director for them.  Sarah was one of the star performers for the show that night. She did not know we were going to be there - toward the end of the show, she (Badlands Bessie) and Deadeye Dan had to run through the audience and it was fun to see her surprise when she saw us. We had time afterward to visit with her and her husband Richard afterward.

Stamp Mill Restaurant and Hotel

Fire damaged opera house

With our star, Sarah!

Wednesday we drove back to my folks home via Sturgis and Bear Butte.  Nearby, we stopped to see The Buffalo Chip Campground, the newly incorporated biker town.  Close by was the famous Full Throttle Saloon, the "biker bar".  We walked through the bar, saw the motorcycle racing ramp and all the stages being prepared for the Sturgis Rally, this year the 75th. (In September 2015, the Full Throttle burned down!)  Continuing on, we stopped and toured the Pactola Lake museum and had lunch in Hill City.  The Black Hills were very green for July, it was beautiful and all the lakes were filled up again.  That night, our daughter Katie and her family arrived to stay and visit for a couple days.  They were returning from a family reunion in Colorado, so Riley and Sam (twin grandsons) had many stories to tell about all they had seen there.

Buffalo Chip entrance

Sculpture at The Full Throttle Saloon

Pactola Reservoir

Thursday we all went to Mount Rushmore so the grandsons could see it.  Afterward, we went to Reptile Gardens to pet the tortoises and snakes and see all the other creepy crawlers.  We had lunch at the Prairie Berry Winery and then went back to the house for supper and games.  The boys enjoy playing Left, Right, Center. Friday morning it was time for us to head back to work in Montana.  We picked up coffee in Deadwood, groceries in Broadus and then we were home again.

Jordan, Riley, Sam and Katie

Family picture before leaving

Back to work on Saturday morning, the excitement that day was six RVs arrived all at the same time for check in.  On our off hours we concentrated on keeping the lawns at Bob's watered, it was still warm and windy, which dried up the ground fast.

The sun keeps shining!

The next week we got up on Tuesday to pack the car and explore.  We did not leave as early as expected, because when I opened my dish towel drawer that morning I saw that we had had visitors.  Mice again!  I took the time that morning to wash all the towels and clean out and disinfect all the kitchen drawers.  I sprayed peppermint oil outside around the perimeter of the motorhome and we set all the traps outside again. Yuck.  Finally on the road, we drove on Hwy 14 & 14A through the Big Horn mountains and arrived in Powell, WY.  We found out there was no room at the inns in Powell. Tourist season and the local fair that week.  One hotel there told us we would have to go to Cody or Red Lodge.  We stopped and had lunch in Powell, then headed north for Red Lodge.  I called ahead and got us a room there.  High season for tourists, the rate was much higher than the room was worth, but we had to stay somewhere. (I had not made reservations ahead of our trip because we were not sure what day we would be able to leave that week) We checked in and then went to the Sam's Tap Room/Red Lodge Ales brewery for a beverage.  We drove around town to see the sights and then had supper at Foster & Logan's Pub & Grill.

Early Wednesday morning, we left Red Lodge to drive the 68 mile Beartooth Highway, Hwy 212 between Red Lodge and the Wyoming state line, continuing to north Yellowstone.  Called "the most beautiful drive in America" by Charles Kuralt, the summit at Beartooth Pass is 10,847 feet above sea level. Our goal and the reason we were up driving early, was to see moose or bear as we drove.  We did see a young female moose lying high up on a mountain meadow and we had a female elk bound across the road in front of us at one point, but nothing closer and no bear. :(  We stopped at the Top of the World store and took a few pictures at Beartooth Lake.  We saw a marmot there.  It is a beautiful drive with many switchbacks and the vistas were incredible.  We drove up to the Clay Butte Ranger Tower and loved the incredible views and the wild mountain flowers covering the ground on the mountain hillsides.  Gary wanted me to run out in them and sing "Sound of Music".  We reached the end at Cooke City and stopped and had brunch.  Then we went on further into Yellowstone Park and drove the northern loop, still hoping to see bear. (Lots of bison, no bear!)  We did see elk lying in the lawns at Mammoth Hot Springs, we were told they like the grass grown there.  After completing the north loop, we drove out of the park, up to Gardiner, MT and north to I-90.  We were back home about supper time.

Switchbacks to the top

The high mountain plains at Beartooth Pass

Beautiful vistas

Mountain wild flowers

Beartooth Lake

Thursday, we took our kayak and drove southeast to the Tongue River Reservoir to go boating. Once there we realized it was too windy for our little paddle powered boat to be on the water. We could have traveled one way with the wind, but we wouldn't have had enough crew power to get back.  We drove on south on Hwy 314 to Decker, MT and then made the loop back to Dayton, WY where we had a picnic lunch in their city park. We played cards that night at the park.

Friday, it was time to mow again at Bob's and catch up on laundry and cleaning before working again. That week, Gary was on the horse again working the cattle.  We had the excitement of finding a nest of mice in the cabinet behind our living room TV, so we had to clean and disinfect all of that area. We found the big hole around the washer pipes where they came in, so we corrected that with fine mesh screen and Great Stuff foam. (No more mice inside for the rest of our stay)  It was windy and rainy this week, so we did not have to water lawns every day.

Thursday afternoon, we went to Sheridan with Miles and Deb.  First stop: Boot Barn. Miles found a pair of boots and Gary bought polish for his dress boots.  It was Crazy Days and the opening night of the weekly Farmers Market, so we browsed in stores and bought fresh cherries at the market.  We had a beverage at the historic Mint Bar and then supper at the Wyoming Cattle Company. 

Friday we were off, so Gary decided to change the oil in our car.  Working on that, he and Chip decided to find out why we had been leaking oil and ended up taking most of the front of the car apart!  They discovered a rock had put a hole in the transmission cooler.  They ordered the part and put it back together on Wednesday when the part came in.

I pulled out my sewing machine and finally sewed the cover for our extra couch cushion. Saturday night we cooked Peppers and Shells for everyone.  Sandy let us use her kitchen in the house and had the big pots we needed, everyone enjoyed the meal.

Looks like trouble!

Putting it back together