Branson, Mo

At this point in the trip we have decided to leave the camera behind as the remaining activities of the trip do not lend themselves to being photographed. Our Fantasy/Creative World RV tour of Branson, MO, which we won at Lazy Days in Tampa last winter, was a very interesting experience. The area is hilly and marked by large stacks of rocks which give Table Rock State Park in Branson its name. It reminded us of a combination Pigeon Forge, TN, and Myrtle Beach, SC – long strips of restaurants, shops, theaters, and LOTS of congestion, even though there was considerably less traffic now than during the summer. Our first day included dinner at the Dixie Stampede which began with bison running around the arena. The most outstanding feature of this show was the marvelous horsemanship. There was singing and comedy as well the “fingers only” dinner. A bit messy! Silver Dollar City was our destination on Sunday. George and Irene focused on the blue grass musical performances. Irene also enjoyed seeing the craftsmen’s demonstrations, especially the basket weaver and glassblower. Monday morning we attended the Buck Trent morning show, an energetic, fast-paced production. Buck, a banjo virtuoso, is an ex-Hee Haw cast member. In the evening we boarded the showboat Branson Belle for dinner and a show which rivaled any cruise ship’s evening entertainment. Two couples sang and danced, highlighting show tunes. A ventriloquist held a conversation with his Boston terrier which was hilarious. A Russian couple’s amazing dance/acrobatic performance was a highlight of the show. The Branson Belle was our favorite event in Branson.

Minuteman Missile NHS/Ellsworth AFB

On Saturday we drove north from Custer into Rapid City, SD where we could see the prairie as we descended the hill into the city. Our mission was to visit Ellsworth Air Force Base on behalf of George’s lifelong friend, Cliff Bagwell who was stationed there as a Minuteman nuclear ICBM missile launch control officer in an underground launch control center. Cliff and June were newly weds when Cliff began his career in the USAF at Ellsworth in 1969. We visited where they had lived in Rapid City before moving to the base two years later. We visited the Air Museum at Ellsworth which included a tour of the base as well as a missile silo training center. On July 24th we had a reservation to visit the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site where we were able to go down into one of the decommissioned missile control centers. This center, Delta – 1, was one that Cliff had served in as a member of the 66th Squadron of the 44th Missile Wing based at Ellsworth. We took many, many pictures to help Cliff and June relive their twenties in Rapid City, SD where their son David was born. George never imagined he would be able to go into the top secret missile control center, so he was very pleased to be able to see firsthand the facility he had head Cliff talk about his entire adult life.

Click HERE to see pictures of Ellsworth and the missile silo.

Click HERE to see pictures of the missile control capsule.

Cathedral Spires/Norbeck Scenic Hwy

Today’s drive partly retraced our previous day’s drive over Needles Highway as we headed to Cathedra Spires to hike the trail there, but we certainly didn’t mind seeing the sights along here again. Unlike the previous day which was warm by mid-morning, today was a bit chilly and quite windy though sunny. We set out on the three mile trail which began through woods and in sections was a bit of a climb over rocks and around boulders. As we hiked, we caught views of the spires from different angles – very impressive. The end of the trail was sort of an anti-climax. It just stopped amid trees at the top of the incline – no views from the top. In fact, there was a sign saying “End of Trail” – not something most trails need. In spite of this, it was a good hike and we enjoyed visiting with a couple from Minnesota at the “End of Trail” area. After lunch, we drove the Iron Mountain section of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway. Like the Needles Highway, this road has its share of hairpin turns and tunnels. Its three tunnels perfectly frame Mt. Rushmore in the distance. In addition it has 3 “pigtail-shaped” bridges which connect the tunnels to lift the traveler from one level to another without adding miles of road. (Interestingly, the designer of this technically tedious section of road quit school at age 13). We passed by Mt. Rushmore’s entrance and stopped at a pull out where we could see a profile view of George Washington gazing off into the distance. It was a spectacular drive.

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Needles Scenic Hwy/Rushmore

Returning to Custer State Park today, we drove the very scenic Needles Highway which is composed of 14 miles of hairpin turns, 3 narrow tunnels, and amazing views of granite formations reminiscent of needles, organ pipes, and spires. We were a little nervous driving through one of the tunnels in the truck because it was very close on the sides, but later we saw a tour bus on the highway – so it must have come through that tunnel, too. Unbelievable! We stopped at Cathedral Spires, really awesome rock formations, and watched 3 rock climbers on one of the spires. When we arrived at Sylvan Lake, we had lunch at the lodge which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Then we drove to Mount Rushmore to see the memorial of four presidents sculpted in the Black Hills under the guidance of Gutzon Borglum who, incidentally, began the Stone Mountain sculptures. Borglum selected the subjects for the memorial: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln representing the birth, growth, development, and preservation of the country. Despite having seen pictures of Mt. Rushmore for years, we found the memorial very powerful especially the profile view of George Washington which can be seen from a nearby highway. The visitors’ center was very informative, and we enjoyed the ranger walk along the Presidential Trail.

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Canyons Tr Wildlife Loop Custer

At Jewel Cave NM we hiked the 3 ½ mile loop trail. The trail descends via switchbacks into lithograph canyon then passes through open grassland into Hell Canyon where the original entrance to Jewel Cave is located. There were some very pretty sections with colorful rocks and canyon walls, though a fire in 2000 destroyed much of the forest land. We returned to the visitors center in time for Irene to take a cave tour which was led by a ranger from Nashville, TN – almost a neighbor to Rome! Then we drove Custer State Park’s Wildlife Loop which was a big success in that we saw bison and burros crossing the road and pronghorn antelopes along side the road as well as deer, prairie dogs, and turkeys. After stopping at Peter Norbeck Visitors Center, we enjoyed dinner at the State Game Lodge. George had pheasant while Irene had a spinach salad with salmon.

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Pompey's Pillar

En route from Red Lodge to Sheridan,WY we visited Pompey’s Pillar, a Louis and Clark national monument which is a 150 foot sandstone column located about 25 miles northeast of Billings, MT. On their return trip, Louis and Clark took separate routes for a month in order to cover more territory. Clark passed by this stone column on which Indians had carved petroglyphs. William Clark carved his name and the date and noted this in his journal. He named the column Pompey’s Pillar after the son of Sacagawea whom he had nicknamed Pomp. This carving is the only surviving physical evidence of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Earlier (9/12/07), in Great Falls, MT, we visited the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center, an excellent presentation of the expedition as they ported the Missouri’s falls in that area. Rather than the half day that Lewis and Clark had anticipated, it took a month for them to portage around the falls, a grueling task. We viewed two videos, one a Ken Burns production about the Lewis and Clark expedition and the other about the portage at Great Falls. The Interpretive Center and Pompey’s Pillar, plus Fort Clatsop at Astoria, OR, make three Lewis and Clark sites we’ve visited on this trip. Click HERE to see more pictures.

Beartooth Chief Joseph Scenic Bwys

What a drive we made today over two amazing scenic byways. We began the Beartooth All-American Road at Red Lodge, Montana, and drove west to the summit at 10,936 feet. To get there, we climbed around 5000 feet from Red Lodge over countless switchbacks, stopping at pull outs along the way for amazing panoramic views. Our first stop was at Rock Creek Vista Point with views of upper Rock Creek Canyon and Hell Roaring Plateau. Twin Lakes, tundra, Pilot Peak, icy slopes, and several other lakes appeared along the way. The road crosses into Wyoming and then back into Montana at Cooke City before continuing to Yellowstone National Park. Before reaching Cooke City, we turned off the Beartooth to drive Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, also an amazing road both for its structure and scenery. The road gets its name from Chief Joseph who led the Nez Perce Indians on this route as they fled from the U.S. Army. While not as high as the Beartooth, Chief Joseph has its share of switchbacks as it goes up and down the mountains. The road crosses Sunlight Creek on the highest bridge in Wyoming over a gorge between two mountains. The color of the rock changes unexpectedly along the route. Just as unexpectedly, a rainbow appeared as Irene was photographing the red rock – a real delight.

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The Highline Trail

Today we hiked the greatest trail of our lives. We drove the Going to the Sun Road to Logan Pass at the Continental Divide where the Highline Trail starts across the road from the Visitors Center. This amazing trail follows along the edge of the continental divide and has amazing panoramic views of the mountains and deep valleys of Glacier national park. It was around 40 degrees and quite chilly in the shade when we began our five mile hike, but by the time we returned, we had peeled out of our jackets. It’s hard to say anything exceeded the scenery, but the highlight of the hike was seeing big horn sheep- up close and personal. They were actually posing for us (or so it seemed) on the cliff above the trail. They kicked some rock loose and we were almost hit by a falling rock as one of the Rams jumped off a rock. A lady we met on the trail said one of the rams came down the trail earlier head down clearing the trail. Needless to say, we took too many photos of rams! And then, as if not to be outdone, two mountain goats appeared. It was an exhilarating hike that we will always remember, though we were mighty tired at the end of the day. Click HERE to see more pictures.

Glacier NP, USA

We awoke this morning to find that our rain on Friday afternoon and evening had turned to snow on the mountains – and quite a show it made. All along the way, we stopped to take photographs of the snow topped mountains. We crossed the border at Chief Mountain Border Crossing where our one remaining Alberta steaks was confiscated. “That’s ours,” said the officer. When the customs officer began to walk into the living area of the coach with his shoes on George said, “Excuse me, sir, could you put on these shoe covers as we do?” The officer complied and George assisted him in putting them on. Other than that, we were quickly on our way, arriving at St. Mary KOA around lunch time. We went to the visitor’s center and saw the video there about the park and looked at the exhibits. Then we drove to Many Glacier Hotel to hear the ranger talk about the history of the hotel which was very interesting. Its history is closely tied to the Great Northern Railroad which built the hotel to promote its passenger rail business. Afterwards, we ate dinner at the hotel and then checked out the campground there and looked for mountain goats, visible only thru the binoculars. We reminisced about our trip to the hotel in 1980 when we were in our early thirties just before George went on dialysis.

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Waterton Lakes NP, Canada

Leaving Calgary we stopped to buy diesel which is sold by the liter ($.85/liter) – considerably less than regular gasoline ($1.05/liter) – but that equates to $3.23 per gallon – not exactly cheap. En route we passed a very large farm of electric turbine generators that were quite close to the highway – the closest we’ve seen these giant windmills. We stopped in a small town to buy a few groceries and bough some great fresh corn from a local farmer. We arrived at Waterton, “Where the mountains meet the prairies,” and checked out Waterton Town Site, a charming small village of motels, restaurants, and shops, and collected info about the park. Though a small park, as national parks go, it offers much. We took the boat cruise to Goat Haunt Ranger Station in Glacier Park, Montana, and enjoyed learning about the area from the captain’s narration. We drove to Red Rock Canyon where we took a short loop trail showing the rock formations in the canyon. Our 800 ft climb up Bear Hump Trail took us to a fantastic view of the town and Waterton Lake and the surrounding mountains. We met a man from Scotland on the trail and continued the hike with him. We also talked to a couple from Blairsville, GA. Small world, huh? When we arrived at Waterton on Wednesday, it was a warm, sunny, breezy afternoon, but by Friday afternoon the weather was chilly and rainy. Fortunately, we only had occasional drizzles on the hike.

Waterton to Mary’s Lake – Glacier National Park 9/8/07 We awoke this morning to find that our rain on Friday afternoon and evening had turned to snow on the mountains – and quite a show it made. All along the way, we stopped to take photographs of the snow topped mountains. We crossed the border at Chief Mountain Border Crossing where our one remaining Alberta steaks was confiscated. “That’s ours,” said the officer. When the customs officer began to walk into the living area of the coach with his shoes on George said, “Excuse me, sir, could you put on these shoe covers as we do?” The officer complied and George assisted him in putting them on. Other than that, we were quickly on our way, arriving at St. Mary KOA around lunch time. We went to the visitor’s center and saw the video there about the park and looked at the exhibits. Then we drove to Many Glacier Hotel to hear the ranger talk about the history of the hotel which was very interesting. Its history is closely tied to the Great Northern Railroad which built the hotel to promote its passenger rail business. Afterwards, we ate dinner at the hotel and then checked out the campground there and looked for mountain goats, visible only thru the binoculars. We reminisced about our trip to the hotel in 1980 when we were in our early thirties just before George went on dialysis.

Click HERE to see more pictures.

Calgary - The big City

We drove to Calgary Monday (Labor Day in Canada as well as the US), arriving at our RV park shortly after lunch. We took a break from the camera so as to be more nimble walking around the city. The remainder of the day was, in fact, labor day as we bought groceries, did laundry, and washed the RV. Tuesday we took the light-rail, called the C-train, to downtown Calgary where we visited the indoor gardens on the 4th floor of a shopping building which was like a little mall. We ate lunch at Eau Claire Market and enjoyed walking in the adjacent Prince’s Island Park, a lovely urban park much enjoyed on the warm sunny day. The Heart and Stroke Assoc. was having an event in which different groups pedaled a long chassis frame thru the park with much fanfare. There were about 20+ bicycle seats and pedals, two abreast, down the length of the chassis with a steering wheel at the front. We stopped at a farmer’s market and Wal-Mart on the way home, and with construction and many new roads which the GPS maps didn’t know about, it was not an easy trip back to the RV park. Calgary is an oil boom town that is growing very fast and has a lot of highway construction.

Yoho NP, Canada

At Yoho we camped at Chancellor Peak Campground, a newly renovated national park campground with no hookups in a beautiful setting with a branch of the Kicking Horse River on either side. We were very close to the river and also had a view of the towering mountains. We really loved this spot – it was beautiful in all directions and very peaceful. We hiked the Hoodoo Trail in the afternoon – about a 2 mile trail plus another half mile on the road to reach the trail which was very steep climbing 1,100 ft. The views were great and the hoodoos were unbelievable – almost eerie! The capped pillars of glacial debris looked as though someone had placed the stones on top of them. It was an exhilarating hike – the amazing hoodoos, beautiful views, and gratifying that we could still do a hike like that. We enjoyed walking around the campground after dinner at the coach. 9/2/07 Sunday we drove through Yoho N.P. and went to the visitor’s center at Field and then ate lunch. We continued to be awed by the amazingly rugged and beautiful mountains. We went to Takkakaw Falls, the 2nd highest waterfall in Canada, to Natural Bridge, Emerald Lake and Emerald Lake Lodge, and also to the Spiral Loop Tunnels viewing area where we saw a long freight train going thru the tunnels which were built to make a gentler climb for trains over the kicking horse pass. The long train was still going in the first tunnel when the locomotives emerged from second tunnel.

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