Idaho - ho - ho

 We made it through Montana... but we'll be back.

Our first stop in Idaho was Idaho Falls, at the Elks lodge. Our stay in Idaho Falls was just an overnighter so we didn't bother unhooking for the night. The disadvantage with not unhooking here was the slope we were at, it was a down hill walk to get to the bedroom, meaning an uphill walk to the bathroom.

With COVIDs going on the lodge was open for drink, but not food. A brother Elk recommended a small Mexican restaurant just up the street. After walking back from the restaurant when settled in for a quiet evening. The next morning we packed up and moved on, without knowing the little surprise awaiting us. As we religiously followed our Garmin, we found ourselves at an underpass with a height of 13' 8", the exact height of our trailer. With flashers on, I slowly went under the two bridges... no gnashing or scraping noises.

One the way to Boise we passed through Atomic City, the first city to ever be powered by nuclear power, then we stopped in Arco to eat at "Pickle's Place". The place is quaint, serving a variety of food. The food had the home cooked nature, the portions were good, and the prices were fair. There is a dirt lot across the street to park rigs. We finished lunch and headed off to Boise.

Continuing west on Hwy. 26 we took a short break at Craters of the Moon National Park. 

If the photos look a little hazy, it's because of smoke from the fires that are burning in California and Oregon. The first photo is us parked at one of the moon craters, fortunately the craters are big enough for our rig. 

The area is filled with volcanic rock, walking from the rig through the vista site is like walking on crunchy cheese puffs and broken glass... crunch, crunch, crunch. The information center is chalked full of information. There are hiking trails throughout the craters, and a campground suitable for tents and small RVs. If you plan to hike the trails, it is wise to look at spring or fall, when it's no too hot. We only spent enough time for a potty break, then back on the road.

It was a beautiful drive on to Boise, part of it along the Snake River.

We arrived in Boise, got set up in our site at Boise Riverside RV Park (boiseriversidervpark.com), and off to dinner with one of Carol's cousins and husband. I am getting spoiled with all these pull through sites... no worries if I backed halfway into my neighbors site, knocked down bushes, or caused a flood in the park.

This is a nice RV park right at the river's edge, and fairground. There is a walking path along the the river, 26 miles long, part of it through a greenbelt zone. 

I said the park was close to the river. I had to cross two bridges to get to the greenbelt, and met up with some friends playing in the water early in the morning. These were only a portion of the geese and ducks around.

Carol's cousin and husband chauffeured us around the Boise area while we there. We tried to do everything from shopping to wine tasting. 

One afternoon we visited downtown Boise, an area called "Freak Alley". Different artists paint what they feel and see. I couple of them reminded me of my past youth.

These works of art are periodically changed out, some stay for a long time. Some are whimsical, others are very deep and dark. There is a statement from Jimi Hendricks, I'll paraphrase: When I look in the mirror I only see me, so I broke the mirror, now I see the world.

For those of you that like to boat or kayak, there is a lot of water to do it in, both state park or local access. This is our tour up to Lucky Peak Reservoir, from the top of the dam.

We were in such awe of the lake behind the dam, we didn't take pictures. There were boats and picnic areas everywhere up there.

One day we all started off to downtown Boise for brunch at a place that puts bacon in everything, including drinks. The restaurant is called "Bacon". We're talking Bloody Marys, mac and cheese, and salads. 

You can't see it, but that Bloody Mary has a carrot in it the size of a small redwood, four people could eat off it for a month. My mac and cheese in the bottom right is penne noodles, sausage, bacon, four cheeses, and tomato slices on top... yes, it was very good. For those of you concerned about our health, we did eat breakfasts and dinners at home, whether theirs or ours. One night at Carol's cousins RV we had smoked pork tenderloin, grilled Idaho cheese, and green olives.

We took a few days and tried out a few breweries, then on to wine tasting.  Breweries come up with distinct names for their businesses. The first brewery we hit was "Loose Screw", a brand new brewery started in 2020. Name for some of their beers were just as wild. For example: "Screw You, Amber" - red ale, "Flocked Focker" - stout, and "Batty Bombshell" - blonde ale.  The four of us all agreed that we liked "Flocked Focker" the best (try it three times after a few glasses). The next brewery was called "Crooked Fence". Carol's cousin, husband, and I really liked their "Sins of the Father" (SOF). SOF was  a chocolate licorice stout, licorice was real light. They had a coffee stout that was pretty good too. Carol like a raspberry blonde called "Tiger Spit". We kept our breweries to two a day.

How many have ever thought about Idaho being in a high desert with temperature in the 100's... well, I didn't. A good cold beer takes the heat off, at least for a little while.

There are a lot of wineries in the area, we only hit three. Our first one was St. Chapelle, good, but didn't find anything worth buying. The second winery was Free Dog Wines. They had some good wines, we bought a few bottles. The last winery called Koenig was my favorite, they had a port wine, which was the only reason we stopped there, I walked away with two bottles.

Top photo is Koenig, bottom is St. Chapelle.

Before we left we had dinner out one night, just the four of us, went over to a relatives house for dinner, and prepped for departure. Our next stop was Grangeville Idaho.

Great drive to Grangeville, had a couple of grades that were on the steep side. 

Bear Den RV Resort (beardenrv.com) with 35 sites. Most of the sites are pull through with full hook up... and cable.

Besides large pull through sites they have cabins, and space for tents. Hot  and sweaty... they offered showers for the stinky body, and washing machines for the stinky clothes. Once you're cleaned up visit the little store in the office for a snack, or RV accessory. Grangeville itself does not have a lot to see, except farm land, however, one town over in Cottonwood Idaho, there are a couple of things to see.

St. Gertrude Monastery (stgertrudes.org) is located in Cottonwood. The monastery is still active, we were not able to visit the chapel during our visit, but the museum was open. The museum was completing the last year of a five year renovation. The museum starts with the history of the sisters coming over from Switzerland, beginning in Oregon, and moving to Idaho. There is an eclectic rhythm of the artifacts collected from all the endeavors the sisters accomplished from teaching to hospitals.

This is a view from the back side of the monastery; visitors can walk the grounds leading to the cemetery. Back to the museum, it can be walked through in a couple of hours. One area of the museum talks about the people that made the area what it is today. 

How about the man that lived in the wilderness and built this rifle from scratch. The carvings on the butt of the gun are covering knots in the wood; the figure at the upper left has what looks like a red feather tail on it, it represents animals running from a fire. There is a collection of artifacts from a couple who visited the far east. The collection was donated to the monastery when the wife pasted away.

With all the fires burning throughout the west, I was a bit set back when I walked out to see this. After the shock, I thought about it, and reasoned it was just a field being burned. I spoke with a gentleman leveling a parking lot, and he told me that farmers usually burn off the stubble from a harvested crops. The farmers were on hold from burning fields because of air quality from existing fires, this day was a good day for them.

We took the round about way through Cottonwood and past a B&B that is a bit unique. 

This beagle B&B is "Dog Bark Park" (dogbarkpark.com). Besides being a B&B, there is also an art gallery. The gallery displays all the work the owners create. As you can see the dogs do get proper care and treatment from their owners.

Off we went to Lewiston Idaho, staying at an Elks lodge. This lodge has a great view of the Snake River from the RV park.

These are views out our front door.

The lodge is equally as beautiful. All the doors in the lodge were carved by one of the members, who has since passed away.

This is one of the outside doors leading into the lobby. The inside doors have different carvings, just as fabulous. Once one enters the dining/bar area, the views are spectacular.

How 'bout this for the ladies, they have their own social area, outside of the bar/dining area... and the bathroom.

To some of you this may look familiar, your homes may have been decorated this way, back in the 70's. Yes... the seating is covered in actual cowhide. Those pillar looking things are lights hanging from the ceiling. I didn't take any pictures of the Men's room, it looks like any other Men's room. There are several other sections of the lodge, the Game Room, and the Athletic Center. The Game Room has three pool tables, card tables, and a more, however darts are in the bar area.

This lodge does serve dinner on Friday nights. Fortunately we were here to enjoy it. I had the Salmon Wellington, Carol had Steak Bites. For dessert, Strawberry Shortcake.

Another advantage of this lodge is the opportunity to slip into Washington for lunch, shopping or sightseeing, then sneak back to Idaho. Our first afternoon out we visited a Hawaiian restaurant for lunch, than a winery tasting room, both in Idaho. The winery is called "Vine 46" (vine46.com), unfortunately their website is not a secure website, but has some good information. At the time we visited their tasting room they were finishing their new facility across the street. Their new facility will process the grapes, and be their tasting room. Carol did buy a bottle of wine from them.

Today we just took a drive and ended up at a unique sculpture along the roadway.

As you can see, this is a sculpture made from canoes that are welded together.

After we visited the sculpture in Idaho, we went to lunch at Rooster's Waterfront Restaurant (roosterslanding.com) in Washington. The food was good, nothing special. Carol had a "Baked Apple Cider", I had the latest vintage of Dr. Pepper. The cider was so good, we bought a growler (1/2 gal) to take home. One of the fun parts of coming here is reading their signs.

These are just a few, you'll have to come and visit so you can read the others. After our lunch we headed back home for our happy hour. Our happy hour is on a magnet we have near the front door, it reads: You know you are getting old when happy hour is a nap. I like my happy hour so much that I have a tendency to draw it out to two hours.

Tomorrow we are going to visit some petroglyphs in Washington.

Let's Travel Through Montana

 

It's pronounced Wee bow.

These are the town's most famous pit stops, Beaver Creek Brewery  (beavercreekbrewery.com), and GEM restaurant. The brewery is part of the Harvest Host group. Because of the height of the trailer we had to take a detour around the overpass which was only 13', our trailer is 13' 8". The detour wasn't a big deal, we just had to go down a bumpy road, past a school, the public pool, over a set of train tracks, down a reeeally bumpy road, and wa la... we arrived at paradise. The parking for Harvest Host guests is a dirt lot owned by the railroad, and offered lots of sunshine. This host is a dry camping facility (no water, electric, or sewer). The train noise was not too bad, considering they were passing by above us within 20 feet of the trailer. They were only required to sound their whistle at the crossing about 100 yards behind us.

Both establishments are owned by the same family, and are very nice folks. Before the brewery was a brewery it was a grocery store. They did some remodeling, preserving some of the history on the walls. We started off with beer tasting, then we left for a short break, walking all the way across the street to our trailer.  When the restaurant opened we went back for dinner. The food at GEM's is fantastic, most of it made in house. 

The restaurant was converted from the town theatre to the present eatery. Besides serving dinner, they also provide live music from local bands... and I don't mean just Wibaux. One cool thing is an old canvas billboard hanging from one wall. The restaurant was able to display it because the town museum did not have the space to display it.

As you can see, they did little to the outside of the building. The original ticket booth is part of the kitchen area for the restaurant. The projection room was remodeled to provide a group table and their office. Let's talk dinner. 

Both meals required to go boxes... of course we had to order dessert to go also. They didn't skimp on the shrimp in Carol's meal, and they were not afraid to put meatballs on my sandwich. It was hard to tell if the meatballs were store bought or homemade, they had a dense texture with good flavor. Their bread and rolls were homemade for sure, they were outstanding.

Before we left the next morning we stopped at the town museum, you can get more info at: (https://www.visitmt.com/listings/general/museum/wibaux-museum). The museum was more about the area with a lot of artifacts donated by local residents. The town was named after Pierre Wibaux, who gave up the opportunity in his families textile business for ranching, and became one of the world's largest cattle ranchers. Pierre also owned several other businesses in town, one of course being the bank. It is a guided tour through his business office, a railroad car that was taken to a World's Fair, livery stable, and the barber shop which was moved from a different location in the town. The train car contains artifacts about the early and recent history of the area, again, a lot donated. The livery stable holds items ranging from a kitchen cupboard organizer to chain assembly for knocking down brush during fires. An interesting item found in the attic of one of the homes at the turn of the century was a french made bicycle, there were only three in America, mostly because it was a disaster to ride on dirt roads. The reason the barber shop was moved on museum grounds was because of the bathroom, the first one in Wibaux. The water for the bath tub was heated with Kerosene before filling the tub.

Splinters were at a minimum on the toilet seat, it was sanded and varnished. Some of you RVers may look at this toilet and see it as the first prototype for the composting toilet, it  required emptying too. 

Now that we had our potty break, it was time to get on the road for Billings Montana.

It was a little windy, but very nice drive across Montana. Our game plan was to spend only a night in Billings before heading to an alpaca farm. Our night stay was at the Billings Elk lodge. The lodge was not open the night we were there, they were having a wedding and reception. All we did was sit and relax outside enjoying the evening, it was nice enough that  we did not need to run the air conditioner.

The building is behind our rig. Not only can you have fun, but they have a tennis club (you can see it to the left) they run. Unfortunately the Elks are selling this facility for a smaller one.

We left Billings on our way to Belgrade Montana to stay at the alpaca farm (sentinelranchalpacas.com), which is part of the Harvest Host group. Getting to the farm was a small challenge toward the end. After traveling down a gravel road for a mile, into the driveway, we arrived... wrong. As I was driving in another rig was driving out, so I needed to back up and pull over on a side street. After the other rig left I was able to back up around the corner and drive up the driveway to check in.

After we settled in we were taken for a tour of the farm. They have their alpacas organized by groups: males, females, moms with babies, and those in "freezer camp". We were the first trailer to settle in, by the end of the day there were over a dozen RVs in two areas. The temperature was very warm, we needed to run the generator for the air conditioner. We shut the generator off at bedtime, and opened windows. WOW, when it got really dark, the stars just burst into view. We had the big dipper out our front door.

Most of our tour was in the mom/baby pasture. Those creatures eat a lot, we brought a small bucket of pellets so we could feed them. It was fascinating feeding them, their teeth look like they will take part of your hand with the pellets, but they are barely felt. The pellets were really just a treat for them, they are happy munching grass. They only have bottom teeth, four large front teeth for cutting off the grass, the rest are more molar style for chomping/chewing. They are different from goats in the respect that they cut the grass, not pull it up by it's roots.

How many wondered what "freezer camp" meant? That is where alpaca go when their hair is no longer usable. We purchased some of the "frozen camp" alpaca in the form of chops, and ground alpaca. We were told that the meat is very lean and easy to cook, we'll find out.

With the days end it was time to prepare for our next stop in our journey across America.