August has come and gone. It seems as though we just got here and it is almost time to leave. It was a good month. We had Holly's sister, Debbie, drive over from the Seattle area and spend some time with us. If you have been a regular, you might remember her from our time in Quincy, California. Debbie has never been to Glacier National Park and because it was so close to us, we took a few days and drove there. Here they are sitting at the McDonald Lake Lodge waiting for our boarding time for the lake cruise.
When we had stopped there on the way to Libby in June the stream above was a raging torrent. Now it was just a trickle. We had a nice cruise around the lake even though the day was a little cool and misty. The mountains were gorgeous as usual. There was a ranger on board that gave a nature talk that was interesting at times. After the tour we took the Going To The Sun road up to Logan's Pass.The road was blocked from the pass to the east side due to a wild fire in the area. It was very windy and cold up there and there was a dusting of snow on the higher peaks. We stopped and saw some waterfalls and streams on the way back to the campsite. We had a great time.
It was a nice get away and we had a great time. We had a couple of campfires and even made some s'mores. We finally had to pack up and head back to Libby as Holly and I had to go back to "work". The twins were glad to see us come back (I know it's hard to see but they are smiling). Holly and Deb were exhausted from they trip so they decided to rest and visit some more. It was great to see Debbie again but as usual, she got restless and headed back home. It was about an 8 hour drive so just a nice little trip for her.
There were quite a number of fires all over in the northwest states. We had one that was just over the river from us and they were using a Chinook helicopter to get water out of the lake to bring to the fire. It was about a 10 minute round trip so we got to see them for quite a few trips. It was really interesting to watch as they lowered the large bucket into the water and then maneuver to get it to tip on it's side to fill with water. At one point there were so many fires to the west of us and the smoke was so thick it was hard to see across the lake. This went on for a couple of weeks and started to cause problems with being outside. There were a couple of days where I spent most of my time inside because the smoke was making my throat hurt and was giving me a headache. We have nothing but praise for the firefighters who risked their lives keeping us safe from the fires.
These are the wonderful people we were able to work with. The first two are Susan and Alana, our supervisors. They helped guide us and kept me on the straight and narrow (we all know that's a full time job). The next three are Cody, Keeli and Makayla. The next ones are Megan, Tana and Alana. The young people are college students who work as seasonal rangers at the park in the summer. They help at the visitor center, give tours of the dam, do patrols of the project and are all just down right nice people. It was a pleasure getting to know them, except for the one that kept calling me nerd. Oh I guess she was alright too so I won't tell who it was (far right, picture to the right).
Holly and I had some extra time off so we packed up and drove down to Nevada City and Virgina City. They are considered to be ghost towns but there sure a lot of people walking around. The towns sprung up during the gold rush days and were pretty wild during that time. Holly found herself a prospector who said he had lots of gold but it turns out it was fools gold. We meandered around Nevada City for awhile and looked at the shops and talked to some of the volunteers there. Turns out some of the buildings were used in the Lonesome Dove movies.
We checked out the blacksmith shop and the saloon. The had stores and a barber shop along with a fancy fire department. We took a ride up to boot hill and saw there were 5 hangings on Jan. 14, 1864. They said it was common to have 2 or 3 hangings a day.
We drove into Butte and went to the Mining Museum at Montana Tech. We arrived too late for the mine tour but they do have a lot of nice exhibits and old equipment to look at. They have a replica of a mining town. They also have the original mine head. This is all part of the Orphan Girl Mine.
We arrived back at the park and woke up the next morning to a beautiful sunny day with no smoke and just a bit of mist on the lake. On our last night at Libby Dam we drove below the dam and took some great pictures of the dam at night. It's so peaceful and quiet there at night because it's so far from any towns.
Well, that was it; stopped at the local self service station to fill up the motor home and headed for home. Said all of our goodbyes, took one last look at the mountains and knew we would definitely put this down as one of our favorite places. We had wi-fi problems at the dam and bad wi-fi at the parks we stayed at so I had to wait until we arrived home to do this blog. That's why it is late (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). That's it... I'll see you all next month. That's right, I didn't say where our next adventure will be. Well I guess you will just have to check back next time to find out, Bye for now!
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