Pictures of Glacier Park - the last one is on our way to our campground.

Drive around Flathead Lake - Montana

South Dakota to Minnesota

We left Spearfish on Thursday and headed out to Little House - we spent the night in a town called Chamberlain/Ocama half way across South Dakota. The Missouri river runs through it and it was awesome to see. We took a ride and saw some deer in the evening and had dinner out. The next morning we headed for DeSmet, SD - it is the town that Laura's family moved to towards the end. The girls were grown and Laura even taught school here. They had a beautiful home of which we got to tour. No picture taking was allowed but it had actually items that belonged to each of the girls and Ma & Pa. The lady who took us on the guided tour loved her job so much - she had so much history about the family that I learned quite a bit(and I thought I knew alot). We spent the night at Lake Thompson and were able to take a walk on the shoreline. The next morning we left for Minnesota - we arrived in a town called PipeStone. Took a tour of the national monument - I don't know alot about indian history and this was totally interesting. It is a scared ground and you have to have permission to do any digging - and to get permission you have to prove that you are an Indian. We overheard a man trying to get permission - it is not easy from what we could tell. The stone that they are digging for in buried deep in the ground and takes a long time to get to (if they can even find any). The stone is very red and smooth. Sunday we got up and weren't quite sure what we would do -
got in the jeeps and headed for Walnut Grove - it was very excited to arrive in the town of Walnut Grove and the first thing that you come to is Plum Creek - Little House fans know that Laura's house was dug into the creekside along the banks of Plum Creek. Years ago a family named Gordon bought the property but didn't know the history of Little House - they have been so generous in allowing visitors to drive on their property and visit the banks where the house was dug - they have erected a sign so you can see where the dugout house was. Back in town they have a museum which displays the items used in that period of time - they have recreated the dugout house, church and schoolroom. They have a replica of a covered wagon (I actually surprised Dick and set on the seat for a picture). It was truly worth the trip. I really think I belonged in that era.
We were lucky to see a young family and the girls were dressed in apron and bonnets and having a great time. The father is reading them the books.

We left there and drove to another town - Sanborn - a farmer had wanted to recreate the houses of that era and re built two sod houses and an outhouse. He replanted his fields with prairie grass and corn. Dick actually walked among the prairie grass and we couldn't see him - he said it would have been very easy to get lost out on the prarie. We took lots of pictures as he even furnished the sod houses with what would have been in the houses - he even had clothing.

We left Sanborn and drove a little further down the road to an area of farm land that had actual petroglyphs carved in the exposed bedrock of Sioux Quartize. We had difficulty finding the petroglyphs but one of the rangers helped us.

We are in the southern part of Minnesota and will be working our way north in the next few days. I can't believe how beautiful each state is and how much we have been able to see. Minnesota is raising alot of corn and soybeans and a few of the farmers have added the big windmills - it looks a little strange on out on the prairie.

Spearfish, South Dakota

We stopped in Spearfish, Sd for a short visit and have been here 3 days. It is a beautiful spot and we have seen some awesome sights. We drove to Spearfish Canyon and saw two amazing waterfalls, beautiful flowers, rock formations, and trees that were just starting to turn to fall colors. We went to the Great Plains Heritage Museum which was done so well - it covered all of the history. It is surprising how much of our history has been recorded and precious treasures saved. We enjoyed the drive so much the first day that we decided to stay and continue on down the road and finish the loop - no more waterfalls but gorgeous scenery - the road led us to a gold mining town -Lead, SD - it has alot of old buildings from as far back as 1879. I believe there is still gold in the huge mine. One of the mines was over 1/2 mile wide and 1200 ' deep.
We had fried dill pickles - I can't wait to get home and make them for everyone - they are really really good - they even gave us peanut butter to dip them in - I know what you are thinking but it was really good - they are good even without any dip. I think we will have to try them with our salsa and sour cream dip.
We also were able to get a round of golf at Belle Fouche Country Club thanks to Lea's cousin It was a beautiful course with very green grass, fast greens, some very cute wood craved bears along the way. I am getting better with my woods and driver each time we play.
We are off to explore more of South Dakota tomorrow - it will take us a couple of days to drive across South Dakota.

Nichols Reunion South Dakota

We had our family reunion in South Dakota. It was fun to see relatives we hadn't seen for a while and meet new ones. We enjoyed good food, drinks and stories. We also had time to visit Mt. Rushmore, Crazyhorse (which was amazing), a drive to Deadwood for a little gambling (I needed to replenish my spending money). We visited with some nice people in the campground alot of them were from the San Diego area.

Greybull, Wyoming

We stopped to visit Floyd and Darlene yesterday at thier Ranch in Greybull. It's the most beautiful setting I have ever seen. It almost didn't look real. We had a great visit and we also got to see a couple that I use to work with when I was in college - who would have guessed.
We had a great bbq dinner and then took a drive to view the wildlife and a "dude ranch" and just the beautiful surroundings. Wyoming's terrian is different from Montana and Idaho but when the sun sets it is breathtaking. We are now on our way to South Dakota - it will be a long drive today - I can only hope that I have internet service and can work along the way. The view from my office changes hourly.

Deer Lodge, MT

We drove from Glacier Park to Deer Lodge via a very scenic highway. I have never seen so many lakes that are unused . We encountered a deer but thank goodness she decided not to run in front of the motorhome - it is one thing to stop the jeep in time but the motorhome???
We arrive in Deer Lodge and this time we were able to see the whole ranch. Last time it was pouring down rain (we stopped there out of desperation) this was at one the largest working ranch in Montana - the family gave it to the State and they have perserved it as it was. It was very interesting to see and hear how the ranch was ran in the 1800's. The house still has the furnishings from the families that lived there. The second owner Conrad Kohr actually lived in the town we toured earlier - Bannack. They had the blacksmith, a cowboy who would teach you how to lasso and the chuckwagon where they brewed a pot of coffee on the open fire.

We visited the first territorial prison in Montana - not a nice place to be.

We headed out the next morning toward Wyoming but the wind was so bad we had to stop in a small town. Then during the night it rained really hard and the wind blew - I thought we would be staying there today but no rain and no wind so we headed out towards Greybull, Wyoming to stop for a short visit with Floyd Doty at his ranch. We are following the Yellowstone River this morning and as with all the other water ways in Montana it is beautiful. Last time the water levels were much lower - well we just caught up with the rain but no wind.

Waterton Lake National Park -

We drove to Albeta Canada to see the sister park to Glacier. There are no Glacier's here but it is beautiful. We stopped at the hotel "Prince of Wales" it was spectular with an awesome view. Drove to Waterton Lake with its walking paths. Here we were able to see wildlife - as we entered the park there was a small herd of Elk, a little fox, a small deer, then we spotted a brown bear and of course had to pull over and take a million pictures. As we contined the drive a black bear crossed in front of us. We drove to the Bison Paddock and as we turned the corner a herd of Bison was in the road so we waited and took more pictures.

We took a few more side trips back into Glacier Park from other entrances - Two Medicine - to see a waterfall - the sun came out for a few mintues so we hiked back to the falls. East Glacier entrance - the hotel is very majestic - Dick got a couple of great shots of the inside and we have some pictures of the outside with their beautiful flowers. There were flowers everywhere.
On the road back to our campground we tried to spot the mountain goats but it was raining and they were smart enough to stay where it was dry. It was interesting to see the snow sheds for the trains to protect the tracks from avalanches.

It was late when we got back to camp so we stopped at a local cafe and had dinner and homemade Huckleberry Pie. They make alot of things from the huckleberries - they are a little tart but very good.


The weather was so rainy that there were no river rafting or helicopter tours.

We are leaving for Deer Lodge on Monday - as we continue to the reunion in South Dakota.

Glacier National Park

This is truly one of the great wonders of the world. With all the people that visit this site it is very clean and beautiful. It rained the entire time but it didn't stop from driving and stopping along the way - it would have been great to take the hikes but will still could enjoy the beauty.
When we got to the top of the "going to the sun road" (no sun) we had snow flurries. You can not believe how beautiful all the wild flowers are growing along the road. The glaciers can only be seen from afar but the wonder of what the glaciers did is well worth the trip here. You will see as soon as I post my pictures (which will be when we get to Deer Lodge).

Polson, Mt

We enjoyed the view as we drove along to Polson, Mt for a stop over. It actually turned out to be exciting. We took a drive around Flathead lake (which is gigantic) it goes forever. It rained and hailed on us as we stopped to buy fresh picked cherries from a roadside stand. (I am getting ready to download all of our pictures and then I will post them and you can see the beautiful scenery. We have had no downtime since we left. We left for Glacier National Park.

Idaho - 2009

We had the most amazing visit to Glenn's Ferry - there is a lot of history about the Oregon Trail. We stayed in a campground that had a view of a golf course and a winery. We had dinner at the winery- did some wine tasting and then the next morning played golf. We then headed out towards Stanley where we spent the night at a campground with a view of the Sawtooth mountains - we saw a very large bald headed eagle. The town is doing better than in 2007. The river actually has flowing water in it so they are back doing some rafting trips and fishing. Wish we had longer but we need to make it to Glacier park and have a ways to go. We are going to Salmon this morning and then will take some day tours in the jeep.

On The Road

Hello - I was hoping to display some pictures but I am still computer challenged but working on it. We stopped in Bishop so I could try my luck at Puiate Palace and won $70 on a new machine - I have no idea the name of it or how I even won - just lucky I guess. We then travelled to Reno where we stopped to see the new Scheels sporting good store (guess who needed to do that) he knows the owner from hunting in ND -it was an amazing store. Then we spent the night in Winnemucca - took our jeep and toured some old mines (I'll get the pictures online soon) there was the cutest mother cow and her calf just out in the middle of no where (amazing). Went back to town and played the longest 9 holes of golf ever - but I have to say I am now playing with my woods and the ball does go further - I think I will be buying a set as soon as we get to a big town (Thanks to Target and my anniversary gift). We are heading out today for Idaho

2009 Trip

We are starting out again on August 7th - we will be traveling to some of the same places we visited in 2007 - our goal is to reach South Dakota by August 21st for a Nichols Family Reunion.
We hope you will enjoy our adventure and see where it takes us this year.