The Maritimes

Wow, we thought driving through Montana took forever, doesn’t compare to New Brunswick! And the weirdest thing was the moose fencing that ran alongside the road, especially when we saw a Moose running on the side of the highway, funny!

Prince Edward Island or PEI as the locals call it is a lovely island of rolling hills, beautiful beaches and miles after miles of biking trails. To see any of the sights on the island you must do a lot of driving as everything is few and far between. Small fishing villages line the coast so we took advantage and went on a local charter boat fishing for Mackerel and Cod. Troy caught the largest Cod of the day which was our dinner that night, so fresh and yummy!

Lobster traps, lobster shacks and lobsters boats were everywhere along with potato field after potato field. We drove to the North Cape and explored the tourist towns of Summerside and Charlottetown, quaint boutiques and restaurants made up the towns. We stumbled across a house, church and bar made all out of bottles. Here is Troy making himself comfortable at the Bottle Bar

After making our way over the Confederation Bridge the longest (8 miles) in the world crossing ice-covered waters (scary in an RV that reacts to the slightest change in the wind) we made our way into Nova Scotia. We really enjoyed our time in Nova Scotia and extended it by a few days once we were there to further explore. There are so many different areas of Nova Scotia that we didn’t even make a dent in the exploration but we sure enjoyed the areas we made it to and hope to make it back some day. Cape Breton Highlands National Park is at the tip of Nova Scotia and is famous for the Cabot Trail that runs along the coast, gorgeous! Along the Cabot Trail in Cap Le Moine we found Joe's Scarecrow Village, a display of more than 100 scarecrows dressed and masked to represent politicians, actors and other famous personalities as well as everyday life in Cape Breton. In 1946, Joe Delaney planted a garden and placed scarecrows in it - to scare away the crows. Neighbors told Joe the garden was too close to salty sea water to grow vegetables while other neighbors suggested he grow scarecrows. He placed more scarecrows in his garden and tourists stopped to see the figures so he planted even more scarecrows.

We took a hike through the park on the Skyline Trail where we were able to get a good look at the Cabot trail and met ourselves a Moose and her baby. The third picture below is Green Cove along the eastern shore of the trail with the waves crashing and the wind whipping, it was chilly to say the least!

We made it to North America's only single malt whisky producer, Glenora Distillery where we toured the distillery and tasted their whisky, not a big fan and boy was it expensive. We didn't buy any :) It was time to make it to Halifax and their Natal Days celebration. It was their birthday and they were having concerts every night on the pier. We made it to the last night of the festival and caught the band “Dirty Deeds”, an AC/DC cover band, very interesting! Alexander Keith’s Brewery is located downtown and we became a big fan! We toured their brewery the following day, best brewery tour we have ever been on. They took you back in time and everyone was in period clothes and the tasting room was in the basement from the original brewery, very cool pub, Cheers!

With Halifax as our base we toured Lunenburg and Peggy’s Cove. Lunenburg’s Fisheries Museum was a great history lesson in all matters of the sea and their waterfront is one of the most photographed views in the area.

Peggy’s Cove is a true fishing village. The tourist were everywhere in this little town to get a view of their lighthouse among the rocks and take a few pics, we joined in the fun.

We moved across Nova Scotia to Parkers Cove and the Bay of Fundy to experience high and low tide. Each day 100 billion tons of seawater flows in and out of the Bay of Fundy during one tide cycle more than the combined flow of the world’s freshwater rivers! The time between a high tide and a low tide is six hours. Every 6 hours the water went down or up 40 feet – truly a feat to see. In the pictures below you can see Troy on the ocean floor with Lisa on the pier looking down. In the next picture the water and boats are close to the pier with Lisa and no Troy, did he get swept away? Nope, just went to the pier six hours later, our campsite was next door to the marina with wonderful views of the bay and the sunset.

Our time in Canada was done (for now) and we began our trip South along the Eastern shore. When we crossed the border back into the good U. S. of A. the border patrol came into the RV and took a look around - good thing we didn't try to smuggle anything into the country :)

Canada, eh?

Troy survived the annual fishing trip and we met at Straits State Park just over the Mackinaw Bridge. Great views of the bridge and passing boats – beautiful place to camp.

On the road again we began our trek across the Ontario Province, it seemed like we were never going to make it to Ottawa. Green lush landscapes and Moose Crossing signs kept us company as we made our way along Route 17. We stopped for the night at Driftwood Provincial Park, it was calling our name (we live on Driftwood Lane in Michigan) and Troy needed a break, driving takes a toll on a person. The park was located on a lake with great trails loaded with blueberries for the picking. Blueberries were also everywhere along the Route. We could not figure out why so many cars were parked on the side of the road so we asked a local, people were in the bushes searching for blueberries – very strange and so many cars!

On our way to Montreal we stopped for a very quick tour and lunch in Ottawa. Since it is not so easy to maneuver the RV in the “Big City” we parked the RV at, you guessed it, a Wal-Mart and took the Jeep into the heart of the city. We didn’t stay long though, we parked the RV in front of a sign stating “3 hour parking while shopping only” and since the puppies were in the RV we were a bit nervous that we would come back and the RV would have been towed puppies and all, not good! So we only checked out the Ottawa Market – Great places to stop for lunch, cool bars and what a wonderful farmers market!

We made it to Montreal and played the part of tourist visiting the downtown area with a bus/aqua tour – we road around town learning the history and seeing the historic sights and then the bus went into the water to see the town from the Saint Lawrence River, weird tour, looked more fun then it actually was but we did get to see the sights in a unique way. We then toured the Basilique Norte-Dame Church, gorgeous stained glass and wood work, amazing!

We also went to the Montreal Tower at the Parc Olympique where the Olympics were held years ago. Strange that they offer tours for a parc that is no longer used, the place was desolate however the tower offered great views of the city.

We arrived in Quebec to learn that the city was celebrating 400 years. There were special displays throughout the city and numerous performers in the city centre. We loved Quebec, it was a little slice of Europe in North America.

Beautiful buildings, great people and pubs everywhere! Great food too! One new favorite: Poutine, French fries with cheese curds covered with brown gravy, yummy! The next morning we headed to the Citadell, Quebec Fort, and witnessed the Changing of the Guard, what a process to go through every day!

Later in the day we headed to Montmorency Falls, the tallest falls in Quebec – we took a tram to the top and walked over the falls – very wet! We will definitely make it back to Quebec to do more exploring in the future!

Voyageurs, Apostle Islands and the UP

It was time for us to make our way to the UP for Troy’s Annual Boy’s Fishing Trip in Curtis, Michigan. On the way we checked off another National Park – Voyageurs on Kabetogama Lake in Minnesota. We didn’t know that Minnesota had a National Park until we started doing research for the trip. The park is one of the few that is mainly water activities. We stayed at a quaint fishing lodge that also had a few spots for RV’s right on the Lake – wonderful views and great fishing. We rented a fishing boat from the lodge and hit the waters early! Lisa is not a morning person and to get her up early to go fishing is not the easiest task but she did it and in good spirits, we were both excited to be out on the water. We caught a mix of Walleyes and Saguers with the catch of the day going to Troy a 30” walleye, 8 fish caught in total! We brought them back to the lodge, where they cleaned them for us and that evening we had a fish fry – can’t go wrong with beer battered fish straight from the lake!

So, we have a bad habit of leaving the dog’s food containers outside the RV for the following day. In the places where we are truly “in the wild” we make an effort to remember to put them away. Well we forgot to put them away the second night at the lodge and Lisa hears the metal tins go flying and assumes that a Raccoon has gotten into the food, again! This would be the 3rd time, raccoon number 1 we scared away before he got into the food and the 2nd raccoon was munching away until Troy stared him down with the flashlight. We have had these dishes that store the dog’s food underneath for 3 years and the dogs have never “broken in” to get the food yet the raccoon’s figured out how to tip them over on their first try – interesting. Anyways back to the night in question, Lisa figures it is just another coon and makes some noise when opening the door assuming that it will run away, she peers outside and sees a BLACK BEAR eating the dog food – not good! After Lisa yells for Troy for a few minutes he finally manages to see what the fuss is all about, oh a BEAR! Yeah Troy, a BEAR! We make some noise, shine a light but the bear doesn’t want to move on – Dog food is yummy, right? Finally the bear gets the hint and moves on to rummage garbage cans located through the lodge. The next day we learn the bear comes around quite often and has become a “nuisance” according to the owners of the lodge, really, you don’t say?

We have stumbled across some very interesting picture taking opportunities along the way but the two below may be Troy's favorites taken in Minnesota Fish Country! :)

We had an appointment in Duluth/Superior to have the RV's oil changed so we headed to the “big city” and hung out there for a few days. Not much to do but Duluth does have a nice waterfront area were you can watch the boats go by and an Aerial Lift Bridge that is pretty cool. And of course you can’t forget the Lighthouses. We have seen Lighthouses everywhere on our tour and for some reason they are always a tourist attraction however we just don’t get the attraction, Sorry! Here is a picture of the Lighthouse on the Duluth pier – not bad, for a lighthouse!

Next state on the road trip, Wisconsin! We headed to Bayfield to take a tour of the Apostle Islands. We had been told the area was gorgeous and we were not disappointed. The downtown area is on the waterfront of Lake Superior with little tourist shops, pubs and of course fishing and island tours. The night we arrived we did a mini pub crawl grabbing apps along the way experiencing all the town has to offer! It was very quiet mid-week in Bayfield, this is definitely a weekend destination! We signed ourselves up for the Island Boat tour and arrived at 8:45 am the next morning to find the boat packed already, we were given middle seats on the main enclosed level of the boat, makes it a bit difficult to take pictures of the surroundings but Troy made his way to the upper deck a few times to get a few more lighthouse pictures :) The area is beautiful and exploring it on your own is probably the way to go, next time either sign up early to guarantee an upper deck seat or use your own boat!
Wow, we were now back in Michigan, such a strange feeling! We made it to Wakefield and made camp for the night. The Campground was on a lake so we let the puppies play in the water and lost 2 dog toys, guess the dogs weren’t in the “mood” to bring the toys back! Last time we buy $12 water toys, tennis balls will work just fine next time :)

The following morning we made our way to Curtis, love the UP, so much beauty! We did a 10 day camping trip in the UP 6 years ago and the drive brought back wonderful memories. This trip is not “camping”, it is “RVing”, big difference! Not that Lisa would have camped for the last 4 months but we do miss the trips when we “rough it”!

It was now time for Lisa to hit the road and let the boys be boys on their annual fishing trip, she couldn’t leave fast enough!

Touring the Dakota's

Time once again for some long driving days, we want to make it from Glacier to Mount Rushmore for the 4th of July Fireworks. So, once again we find ourselves at a Wal-Mart parking lot for the evening to save a bit of cash which normally works out great, free parking and a place to grab a few supplies. However we were across the street from a refinery of some sort and they started power blasting tanks at 6:00 am – not the best noise to wake up to! And just so you don’t think we are the only people staying at a Wal-Mart we took a picture of our “site”. There were about 6 RV's the night we stayed, you can see 2 other's in the picture.

On our way through Montana (gorgeous state that never seemed to end) we stopped at The Battle of the Little Bighorn National Monument — also known as Custer's Last Stand, where we listened to the Ranger tell what they think happened on June 25 and June 26, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in the eastern Montana Territory. Here is a bit of history for you: The battle was the most famous action of the Indian Wars, and was a remarkable victory for the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne, led by Sitting Bull. The U.S. Seventh Cavalry, including a column of 700 men led by George Armstrong Custer, was defeated. Five of the Seventh's companies were annihilated and Custer himself was killed as were two of his brothers and a brother-in-law.

We finally made it to South Dakota and headed to Deadwood, final resting place of “Wild” Bill Hickok so Troy really wanted to check it out. Legend has it that Hickok was playing poker when he was shot, was holding a pair of aces, a pair of eights, and a queen. "Aces and eights" thus is known as the "Dead Man's Hand". The town of Deadwood is trying a bit too hard to still be in the year 1876, the year “Wild Bill” was shoot. The town has turned into a tourist trap with numerous saloons, casinos and reenactments of the shooting taking place in the streets daily. If you are in the area check it out but we would not recommend going out of your way to stay or play in Deadwood.

Happy 4th of July!!! Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota is our new favorite state park. So many things to do and see! Close to Mount Rushmore and our campsite was within the park, what more could we ask for. Well we could ask for a camp host that does not look like they live in a junk yard, his refrigerator was outside of his trailer along with numerous other items, what a mess! This is the first impression people get when arriving at the campground! But as we said, perfect location, we love it when we don’t have to do a ton of driving to get to see all the sites.

We took off on a scenic drive along Needles Highway, which twists and turns its way past towering rock formations and through narrow tunnels. At the end of one tunnel stands the Needles Eye, a granite spire with a slit only 3 to 4 feet wide but reaching 30 to 40 feet in the air. Very cool rocks! At the end of the drive we came upon Sylvan Lake, a gorgeous lake surrounded by large rock formations and crystal clear waters with fishing, paddle boats and rocks for folks to sun themselves on – great place for a family vacation. On our way back to camp we saw 5 beautiful Big Horn Sheep. The size of their horns is truly amazing – take a look:

Upon arriving back at camp we took the dogs for a long nature walk. Many of the parks don’t allow you the take dogs on the trails but Custer does, streams to run through, bugs to chase, must have been a dream come true for the puppies!

That night we decided to go out for dinner at The State Game Lodge located within the park a short drive from our campsite. On the way we spotted a small herd of Big Horn Sheep (Lamb & Ewes) as they were munching on the side of the road. Wildlife is everywhere! The lodge served as the "Summer White House" for President Calvin Coolidge in 1927 and was visited by President Dwight D. Eisenhower for several days in 1953 so we figured if it was good enough for the presidents then it would be go enough for us, we were not impressed! The food was boring as well as the decor and the best part of the lodge, the outside views, were hidden upon entering the dining room so we had a quick app and hit the road again to drive the Wildlife Road.

Within moments on the Wildlife Road an Antelope and her 2 babies were right next to the Jeep. We sat and watched them roam for a bit, they are so graceful in their movements.

Funny this place is known for Bison (over 1500 of them) and we have only seen 1, Where's the Beef??? A bit further down the road we spotted Mr. Antelope, with some very cool antlers!

Before long we were surrounded by Jackasses, Donkey’s that is! Rumor has it that Donkey rides were once offer at the park and when they were no longer offer the park set them free to roam within the park. They were so used to people that they were begging for food to all the cars that passed by, they were creating a traffic jam in the middle of the wilderness. Lisa felt like she was being pulled over in the picture below while being asked for her License and registration! Note: Check out the smile on the Jackass, this is not photoshop - he was posing for the camera!

Dusk turned into night and it was time to head to the city of Custer for their annual fireworks. We stumbled across the perfect location just off the main road. With the top off the Jeep we could hear the music being played to accompany the Fireworks while we peered into the sky to see the brilliant colors explode into the night! It was a perfect ending to a perfect day! That is until we got home and Lisa went online to check out the details for the fireworks at Mount Rushmore the following day. Mount Rushmore on the 4th of July weekend was one of the very first things we put on our calendar when planning the trip. Somehow we had it down that July 5th was the firework display this year, not the 4th, boy was that not the case! Troy’s mom called us that night letting us know how cool they looked on TV and that they must have been spectacular in person, well we don’t know this year but we will make it back another year to see the fireworks above the presidents and I am sure then it will be a spectacular event!

Driving the Iron Mountain Road through Custer on our way to see Mount Rushmore we finally saw the “famous” Bison of Custer. And when we say famous some of them starred in "Dances with Wolves" so they really are “famous”. The picture below is of a Bison scratching himself on a tree, you should have seen the tree shaking as he was conducting his scratch, we though it might fall over!Driving along the windy road we came through a tunnel and had our first sighting of Rushmore, how awe inspiring! We were unaware that this was “the” tunnel to see the Memorial through so we turned around and went back to take some pics (we do this a lot, very important to get the picture just right!)We made it to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial and it was crazy with people. We know what you are thinking; of course it was, 4th of July weekend at a National memorial, duh! But we had such luck with places not being busy that we were not prepared for the summer rush, time to suck it up and stand in line!

A flag from each state greeted us as we walked towards the memorial – breathtaking! We were a bit disappointed as we made our way closer to the presidents as we noticed the crew atop the memorial cleaning up from the “spectacular” firework display from the night before (just another reminder we missed them). Troy did a great job of “hiding” the large white bags of trash coming down the face of the memorial in the photo below, nice work Troy!

Next we headed to the Crazy Horse Memorial located not far from Mount Rushmore. The Crazy Horse Memorial is a work in progress and who knows if it will ever be finished. Once the Memorial is complete Lisa is convinced it will be worth visiting but until that day don’t waste your 20 bucks! Maybe the admission price should reflect the ongoing construction and have a reduced price for work-in-progress. :)

After taking the puppies for another walk along the nature trail we got ready for a night on the town. We went to see “Urinetown” at the Black Hills Playhouse. "Penny for a Pee!" The play was put on by the University of South Dakota and was wonderful, so funny! The little playhouse in the middle of Custer State Park in the middle of the Black Hills made it all the more of a cool experience. We loved Custer State Park and wanted to spend more time there but it was time to move on, we have a schedule to keep, okay not really but we have a ton more places we want to explore!

We had been in South Dakota awhile now and it was time to head up to North Dakota, Fargo was our destination. Along the way we stopped off at Wall Drug. If you took an advertising or marketing class in College you heard about Wall Drug. Wall Drug became famous for it’s “Free Ice Water” signs on the freeway off of I-90 luring tourist in off the highway to their drug store. Wall Drug today is a huge tourist trap but one that is a welcomed stop along the road. They have also become know for the Jackalope in their backyard. Here is Lisa with the Jackalope, she had to fight off a little girl to get her turn, damn kids cutting in line!

Badlands National Park was another stop along the route however the badlands were a little too bad for us; dust, dirt devils, snake signs, we choose to explore this park in the RV – lucky for us much of the natural beauty can be seen from the safety and air conditioning of our RV and very far away from snakes! As you can see from the picture Lisa has overcome her fear of “Beware of Snakes” signs, we are still working on the actual snake part! We did miss the Minute Man Missile Silos on our way out of the Park, they were already closed, sorry Troy, maybe next time!

After spending the night in the middle of nowhere South Dakota, Kadoka we stopped at 1880 Town. Another tourist trap along the route – they seem to be everywhere and sometimes you just have to give in and stop. 30 buildings authentically furnished with thousands of relics from the era with the terrain of a sprawling homestead where you can envision life on the prairie– not a bad tourist trap if you had to pick one to stop at. They also had a museum dedicated to props used in the filming of Dances with Wolves since it was filmed in the area.

We finally made it to Fargo, North Dakota. Not a ton to do but we were happy to have a few days to chill and catch up on life outside of our National Park Tour, but of course we are not done with the tour – read more soon! (Really, we are going to post more soon, we are on a roll!)

Glacier National Park with Special Guest Brad Kopek

We left the beauty of the Grand Tetons, driving through Yellowstone to make our way to Glacier National Park. We stopped off at Old Faithful since the day was sunny and free of snow we wanted to experience the geyser once again. Boy did we get to see a geyser go “off”, just not Old Faithful. The Beehive is an amazing sight to see and does not go off very often but we got to see it! The little spout next to the Beehive starts right before the larger geyser as a warning that the Beehive is about to go "off".

After a very long day of driving we found a friendly Wal-Mart to “camp” at for the night, thanks again Wal-Mart. The next day we arrived in Hungry Horse, MT where we were a few minutes from the airport and the Kennel where the puppies were going to stay when we went home for the weekend. Mom P. sold her house and we were going home to help move her and to attend Lisa’s cousin Jonathan’s Graduation Party – Congrats Jonathan! GO MSU!

We exchanged 2 guests for one and arrived in Glacier National Park just in time to pick up Brad (Lisa’s Brother) from the very small airport in Kalispell, MT. On the way to the airport Lisa got pulled over, again, for the Jeeps back lights not working, always something on this trip. Troy took the Jeep in the next morning to get everything fixed, ask Troy about the experience, he would love to tell you about the garage, very interesting! When Troy finally made it back from the garage we headed to Fish Creek Park, our new home for the next 4 days within Glacier National Park. Here is the RV “squeezed” into our spot, we were a few inches over there maximum length, oops! We loved our spot, right off the river and the sound of the rushing water was heaven to listen to while falling asleep.


After settling in to the campground we headed to Apgar Visitor Center to get the scoop on the park. Going-to-the-sun Road was going to be closed for a long time, 100 foot snow drifts were blocked the summit of the road. For those of you not familiar with the park this road is the main attraction and normally opens the first week of June, we were there the 3rd week of June and the park was still trying to plow and repair the roads. Below is a picture of the road from our Helicopter ride you will read about further into the blog.

We drove the 13 miles that were open on our end of the park and hiked to Avalanche Lake. Not such an “easy” hike as the park claimed but worth the view once we arrived at the Lake. We also explored the Trail of Cedars, massive trees and the Avalanche River was flowing strong, great nature walk.


After dinner we headed up the logging road to Polebridge, what a strange little “outpost”, Brad and Troy loved it! According to Troy, “so close to the end of the earth that we saw hippies”. Reminded us of the small towns we saw when we were in Alaska. The one and only bar in town was a trip. Lisa asked for a Coors Light (an empty one was sitting on the bar) and got the following response “If you want shit beer we have PBR & Schmidt” – wow! They did have an open mic night with locals performing, not bad and the atmosphere was the best, dogs roaming everywhere, guy with a snake around his neck (Lisa was not happy at all about the snake) and folks playing volleyball.


The following morning it was time to drive. Since the “Going-to-the-Sun” Road was closed we made the trek around the outside of the park. What a drive, it took us 2 ½ hours to get to St. Mary’s for lunch at Park Place Café. “Pie for Strength” is their motto, so yummy! We headed to Many Glaciers to hike the Swift Current Trail – at least part of it. Such a beautiful day with Mountains & Glaciers all around us! Redrock falls was “glorious”; the water was so clean and crisp. We spent a good hour lounging around the falls, well at least Lisa was lounging, Troy and Brad were busy trying to get the perfect picture.


On our way back we spotted a Moose and 2 babies across the lake, what a sight! Look at her coat, she was molting!


Course we were not happy about the people disturbing the Moose and her little ones, they forced her into the water, not smart on their part, they could have gotten seriously hurt being that close to the mom, take a look at the right side of the picture, you will see 1 of the 3 people invading the moose's space.


In total we hiked 5 miles while enjoying the beautiful Montana mountainside. On our way home a black bear ran in front of the car, hey it counts for an animal sighting! We stopped at a “nameless” waterfall along Hwy 2 to let the photographers do their thing. Brad was trying a few techniques with the water and in the meantime Troy decided we should get our picture with the fall. Next thing we know we are getting soaked by the water – talk about cold glacier waters – freezing is more like it.

We also stopped at “Goat Lick Overlook” and saw 3 Mountain Goats. They come to the side of the mountain to “lick” the minerals and salts in the mountainside, not sure how they stay on the side of the mountain but they do. (See picture below from Helicopter Ride)

It was now time for us to take a Helicopter Ride over the Park. Lisa asked Brad to recap the flight as Lisa could not put into words her thoughts on our “near death” experience:
The weather was sketchy and we were already turned away for our early morning flight. The Pilot called and asked if we wanted to take the flight around noon before the afternoon clouds and weather moved in. After missing 3 chances in Alaska last summer to take a Heli tour we decided to take the chance rather than waiting till the next day (which turned out to be clear & calm). Lift off was a breeze and the approach to the parks boundary went without incident. Moving up the Middle Fork of the Flat Head we flew southeast towards Lincoln Lake, Jackson Glacier and Sperry Chalet (still buried in snow). Our first sense of danger came when our pilot banked the Heli severely and the G-forces climbed as he tired to get us a better view of the two impossibly perched Mountain Goats.


Senses alert, hands clenched on seats, fellow passengers, thin air or anything that could give a sense of security, none worked. As we continued our way through the 7,000 foot peaks along the Continental Divide we started to understand the nature of our decision to fly on this day. Flipping between jaw dropping views, the 30 foot sudden drops, shifting high mountain winds we clicked cameras, tired to calm ourselves with deep breaths and in general, tired not to soil ourselves. Cresting the Continental Divide and reaching Bownan Lake in the northern half of the park we could see clear to Canada and Prince of Whales Hotel perched above Upper Waterton Lake. Turning south we passed more familiar places to us like Lake McDonald (our campground was near the lake) and Avalanche Creek where we had hiked the previous day. Thoroughly scared, bodies drained from the emotional and physical overload we returned to the Helipad in West Glacier. Lasting only an hour, our aerial tour of Glacier will leave an impression that will last a lifetime. Jim, our pilot, stayed calm on the surface but upon return stated that the winds were truly bad. The final sign of this was his statement that although his wife had joined him on countless trips, she would never fly in weather like this. To our relief we remembered our stock of beer in the RV and returned to camp for a few decompression suds and rest.

Although the flight made us rethink going on a Helicopter ride again we did get some amazing pictures, well Brad and Troy did, don’t think Lisa’s hands ever stopped clutching the sides of her seat. Check out the few photos below, ask us to show you the rest sometime, they are magnificent!

Upon exiting the plane our pilot, Jim said to Lisa, wow you look better than I expected, I expected you to be "Green".

Here is a rare picture of Brad, since he is always behind the lens and hardly ever shots photos of people this is one of the few photos we have of Brad with us in Glacier.

Since it was Sunday the “Going-to-the-Sun” Road was open for bike traffic and Troy was not going to miss the opportunity to make the ride. The road was a mess with tons of work needing to be done before it can be opened for vehicle traffic. A glorious 3000 foot climb to the summit gave Troy a very sore ass and the most amazing pictures of 2 Big Horn Sheep, one which started to charge him and the most awesome views for the Park. Charger after the encounter with the sheep he pedaled faster and came across many deer and spectacular views.

Here is a picture of the Weeping Wall Troy rode up to along his summit journey.

June 23rd brought to you by guest writer Brad Kopek: Leaving Lisa to her lounging Troy and I headed to Polebridge again, for hippie fest part II. After arriving via the North Fork Outside Road we grabbed a quick lunch at the Polebridge Mercantile (focaccia bread, the hippies have the best) and headed into the northern most U.S. entrance to the park. The Jeep came in most handy as we bumped and wiggled our way down to “Hidden Meadows”. This landscape burns regularly so the small tightly packed 20 years old trees gave dramatic views through the Grizzly Country. We arrived at the meadow, straight out of a picture book … low laying lake, mountain crest background and shielded trees. Without a moment to realize what was happening I yelled “WOLF!” and our cameras started clicking away … an adult black wolf with 2 young pups howling and barking at us the wolves made their escape leaving out heart rates to return to normal. We checked in with the park rangers on our way back and they confirmed our belief that we truly did see and experience something unique for we were only 20 feet from the wolves. We celebrated with several beers at Northern Lights Lounge (the hippie bar from earlier) and then returned to Fish Creek and told Lisa of our adventures.


Our last day in Glacier was a lazy day spent packing up the RV (which doesn’t take long) and heading back to Hungry Horse where the RV is going to stay while we go home. It was a funny feeling to be leaving our home-away-from-home to go home. We also took the puppies to the Kennel, we were a bit nervous leaving them when we were not that familiar with the kennel but we checked the place out before we left and of course they were fine when we returned!