National Parks visit

Nancy and I wanted to take a trip to see the fall colors before winter arrived in the mountains, so we planned a trip through the North Cascades NP, across Idaho and on to Montana.

North Cascades NP

The weather was predicted to be nice and the day we left we had a cloudy but clearing ferry ride from Kingston to Edmonds. As we turned north and then east onto the North Cascades highway the weather continued to improve. We were treated to many wonderful views as we passed through the rugged mountains. We had lunch near the summit of the pass in beautiful sunshine. We moved into eastern Washington and stopped for the night in Repubic, Washington. The owner of the older but remodeled motel mentioned the Acorn Bar and Filling Station as a good place to eat.

Kootenai Falls

We were a bit taken aback by the name, but found the food good and the atmosphere interesting. The bar had an interesting history and was filled with antiques. We enjoyed wandering around the old restored downtown after dinner. The next morning we continued across beautiful country and crossed the Columbia River near Kettle Falls. As we wound our way through the Selkirk Mountains we enjoyed seeing lots of fall colors. After following the Pend Oreille River for some time we crossed the Idaho Panhandle for a brief time before entering Montana. We continued to enjoy interesting country and the fall colors. One highlight was Kootenai Falls where the Kootenai River was particularly active. The pedestrian suspension bridge high above the fast moving water was rather shaky!

Ray and Teri enjoying Flathead Lake

After that experience we continued towards our destination of Flathead Lake where we looked forward to seeing Teri Warford. Shortly after our arrival she treated us to a wonderful dinner which we enjoyed as we watched the sunset over the Flathead Lake. The next day we packed for a trip to Glacier NP. Unfortunately the Going to the Sun highway had just closed for the season but our excellent guide (Teri) knew what to see and how to get there. We enjoyed time by Lake McDonald and then a walk on the Avenue of the Cedars before our great picnic lunch at the far end of the lake.

Lake McDonald in Glacier NP

For the trip we packed heavy coats which we did not need because of the unseasonably warm weather. Later in the day Teri took us to St. Mary where we found lodging at the Red Eagle motel and had a great dinner at the Snow Goose Lodge as the sun set over the mountains. The next morning we had breakfast at the “world famous” Johnson Café. Turns out it was famous for being run by Mr. Johnson who recently passed away in his 90’s. He had a wonderful collection of antiques with interesting histories. Mr. Johnson also had an interesting history including building runways during WWII in Alaska, working on the ALCAN Highway, as well as farming in Montana and running the restaurant.

St. Mary's Lake in Glacier NP

After spending much of the day in the mountains with beautiful views and great weather our time was running out. Our only regret was that we didn’t see any major wildlife, like mountain goats, elk or bear. We had another great picnic lunch before leaving the area. On the way out of Glacier we stopped at the unique East Glacier Lodge and then returned to Polson where we dined at a fine Mexican restaurant on Flathead Lake, watching yet another great sunset.

Flathead Lake - approaching Teri's home.

The next morning before leaving Teri and her beautiful house on the lake we took a boat ride to see some of the local sites. Then we headed south, stopping at the St. Ignatius church which had a rich history with the local native people. As we headed towards Oregon we found ourselves following the same route that the explorers Lewis and Clark had taken and Chief Joseph traveled when we was fleeing the Army trying to escape to Canada. We enjoyed the visitor’s center at the summit of Lolo Pass and at White Bird Pass we looked at the many switchbacks on the old highway from a viewpoint on the new modern highway.

Cecilia, Gopher explore deer camp...

Just below the viewpoint was the location of the first battle that Chief Joseph had with the Army. As we looked at the view, we could hear some coyotes playing in the gully below the viewpoint, but never could see them. We spent the night in the town of Kooskia which was on the reservation and seemed to be quite depressed. We had dinner at a small Chinese restaurant and enjoyed the entertainment: the cooks and waiters had several heated arguments or “discussions” during our dinner and the young waitress always smiled and winked at us, letting us know this was a normal routine and nothing serious. The next day we traveled further south because we needed to get south of Hells Canyon so we could cross over into Oregon. We had great vistas of the Snake River canyon and a nice picnic along the Brownlee Reservoir before we crossed over the Snake River at the Oxbow dam into Oregon. It was a wonderful afternoon to go by Wallowa Lake and down the Wallalla and Grande Ronde Valleys, through Joseph and Enterprise to LaGrande. We enjoyed some time with Sheryl Brown as we waited for Norm to get home, as well as Brett, Kasey and Cecilia who were expected later that evening.

Brett and Norm setting up camp...

This was the weekend for the guys to set up deer camp. We enjoyed the morning at Norm and Sheryl’s beautiful log home as preparations were made to depart for deer camp northeast of Pendleton in the Umatilla National Forest. We had a picnic lunch at the site as Brett and Norm set up the large tent, wood stove, etc. We explored and played with Cecilia during the afternoon. Nancy and I departed late in the afternoon for Vancouver where we spent the night with Roy and Suzanne before heading down to Eugene for a visit before returning to Hansville.