Glacier Meadows RV Park

Glacier Meadows RV Park. Glacier MT. right on route 2. We had a water 50 amp electric pull thru site. There are no sewer hooks ups. There is a free pump out service and they also have a dump. Most of the sites are in a large open meadow and are pull thru side by side sites.  Very big rig friendly. There are super views in all directions. It is super dark at night with great night sky views. The road and sites are gravel. There is some minor train noise. The park is located about 16 miles west of the town of East Glacier. It is 37 miles east of West Glacier. The park was full every day we were there. We wanted to stay a few extra nights, but all sites were reserved. We could get satellite from our site. No over the air TV. Our Verizon cell phone said no service. But we got cell service and Wi-Fi using our Wilson booster. I didn't think it would work as it has to have a signal in order to boost it, but it worked fine. The RV Park has a large pavilion with a cell phone booster and Wi-Fi. We could get the Wi-Fi from our site, but it was week and I couldn't connect. The cost is $30 a night with a 10% Good Sam discount. We paid $27. Very friendly staff and very well kept park.
The entry and office

Check out the view.

See our satellite just sitting on the ground.

 

 

Bonner County Fairground Idaho

Bonner County Fairgrounds, Sandpoint ID. We used this campground for an overnight. It is about one mile off Route 2. But our GPS took us about 3-4 miles out of the way. The campground host said it is a problem with GPS's but she didn't know why. There are about 25 sites. All roads and sites are paved. We had 50 amp electric. There is a water outlet between sites. Two to four units share the water hydrant, depending where you  park. We needed a 50 foot hose. There are 2 dump stations, very big and easy to use. All sites are back ins. Site was just long enough. No room to park the car, parked it on an empty site, and just fit the truck. On the half we were on we could not find a spot to use our satellite between the trees. Over the air TV was good, got most major networks. Good Verizon cell and data.  On the other side of the park it was fairly open, but those sites were full and seemed a little longer. A little tight to back in. If all sites were full it could have been difficult. our cost was $25. a night.  Big rig friendly with care. Very well kept park.

Thanks for following along.

Lake Shel-Oole Campground Shelby MT

Lake Shel-Oole Campground is a city park in Shelby MT.  Locate about 1/2 mile off I 15 I believe its exit 364.  Also about 2 miles from route 2. We had a long pull thru. All sites are gravel. About half the interior road is paved.  The site was long enough that we didn't have to unhook. It is self pay and is $18. a night. We had 30 amp electric and water. There are 42 sites. About half the sites are pull thrus. It is big rig friendly. There is a dump station. About 15 miles from the Canadian border. There were about 4 other RV's and 3 tent campers that joined us for the night. There is low lighting at night. There is some train noise, other then that it is very quiet. We had stayed in this park in 2009 on our way to Alaska. This is a great overnight stop if traveling through the area.

Glacier National Park

   We have been to a good number of National Parks and Glacier rates in the top 5. It would be very hard for us to choose which one would be number one, but Glacier is a contender. Pictures do not do justice to the beauty of this park.  Linda took over 500 pictures.  We did come here during the height of the wildflowers blooming. All over there was something blooming. In the middle of July there was still a little snow along the "going to the sun road".  This is the height of the tourist season but the only place that was crowed was Logan Pass visitors center. But we were lucky to get a spot. We stayed at Glacier Meadows RV Park in East Glacier. The park was about 15 miles west of East Glacier. We did one road trip from the RV Park to the east entrance of GNP, thru GNP and out the west entrance and back to the RV. A trip of about 150 miles. It was a long day. The lady staying aside of us at the RV Park told us to leave early and pack a lunch and plenty of water if planning on hiking any of the trails. she said there is nowhere in the park for lunch other then at the entrances . There were 100's of great picnic spots through out the park.  Other days we visited both the east and west sides of the park. We did want to stay a few extra days, but our park was full and we couldn't extend. Called several other parks in the area, and the same thing.  One had a few spots, but we were to big to get into them. So we moved on, a reason to come back. We don't like making reservations. We like to travel willy-nilly. But this is vacation time and a very popular tourist area so reservations are necessary. We will add some photo's, but they do not do justice to the beauty of the park. Some things you have to experience for yourself. We fell extremely blessed to have had the privilege to be able to do this in so many places in this amazing  country of ours.

Our first short hike. The water is snow melt so you can imagine how cold it is.

Another hike, to a small water fall. It was about a1.5 miles one way.

Note the red bus. There must be 50 of these restored buses. This East Glacier and Two Medicine Lake

One of the lodges, note the size of the trees used.

Views from the Going To The Sun Road

Along one of our hikes, a field of wildflowers

 

Along the "going to the sun road"

 Note the snow, remember this is July. Note all the red buses, this is the full parking lot at Logan Pass.

We wanted to hike to Hidden Lake, but see the sign. So we decided to hike to the Hidden Lake Overlook. We were informed there is some snow on the trail. It starts out with a boardwalk that is steep in places and has a lot of steps. Some of the steps were a little high. The snow was very slippery as it was packed from people walking on it. Also it was slushy from melting. Linda took a break a little back further as the steps were bothering her hips. After I slipped several times on the slush/snow I turned back.

 Linda waiting for me. I should have taken her walking stick so I had two to travel over the snow.  See the EMT's heading in to get someone. Not sure what happened. Note the unique stretcher.

From the going to the sun road.

A few mule deer, see the one running through the creek.

Thanks for following along.

Fort Peck Dam

     We stopped at Glasgow MT to visit Fort Peck Dam and Reservoir. We wanted to stay at the Corp of Engineers RV Park, but there was a fishing tournament and fish fry being held and the park was full. So we found a park in Glasgow about 15 miles from the dam.  We did take part in the fish fry but didn't stay for the tournament weight in.

      We  did visit the Interpretive Center and Museum. There is a great display of prehistoric dinosaurs found in the Hell Creek Geological Formation.

    We also signed up for a tour of the powerhouse. Our tour guide was very informative. We toured powerhouse one and two. Then we went outside to see the tunnels and outflow. NO PHOTO"S on the tour, Linda's heart was sadden. 

     Some facts about the dam.  The world's largest hydraulically filled dam, the 2nd largest dam in the U.S. and the 8th largest dam in the world. The lake formed behind the dam is 134 miles long with 1520 miles of shoreline. Its maximum width is 16 miles and its maximum depth is 220 feet. You can see a more information about the dam at   www.corpslakes.us/fortpeck

The dam spillway, only used 5 times since the gates of the dam were closed in 1937.

The lake and the dam. You can drive across the dam.

Hollyhocks blooming

The old Fort Peck hotel

The Fort Peck Theater

Delayed in Washington, medical problems

   Hi, just a quick update. Remember all the problems Bob had with a tooth. Well more problems. Friday he got a very bad tooth ache, were the tooth use to be. What the heck? Got here Friday late and called 3 dentist. This is a small town of about 2000. They were all out. Left messages. Didn't get any call backs and Saturday the pain was extremely bad, Bob couldn't talk, eat, drink and had a hard time swallowing.  So I drove him to the ER in this tiny town, to a tiny hospital. Short wait and got some meds and told to see a dentist on Monday. Saturday afternoon a Dentist called us. Told him the problem and he said I'll meet you at my office in half an hour. Off we went. After a few x-rays and exam he said I can't find anything. Not what we wanted to hear. He set up an appointment for Bob with an Oral Surgeon for Monday afternoon in Spokane, about 50 miles from here. So off we went. After the paper work in we went. More x-rays and an exam. Good and bad news. Not a dental problem, probably nerve damage. Have to see a Neurologist. Told us to get in touch with our Primary doctor to call in special meds and refer us to a Neurologist. Called our doctor and he is on vacation. Called the oral surgent back, told him the problem. He stepped in and called in our meds and acted as our primary and got us an appointment with a neurologist for August 5th. The new pain meds are helping. Still a lot of pain, but eating and drinking better. Can talk a little, and writing notes to communicate. The 5th is going to be a long wait, but nothing else we can do for now. Bob has seen 6 dentist and 2 oral surgeons in the passed 4 years for this problem. Saw a dentist in 2010 in TX, then in FL 2 dentist and an oral surgeon, and 2 dentists  in PA and a dentist and oral surgeon in WA. Hopefully this problem will be solve on the 5th.
   We will catch up on our blogs soon as Bob gets over all the side effects of the meds.

Here is a teaser of the wildflowers in Glacier National Park

Her is our site for the next couple of weeks

Shady Rest RV Park

Sorry no pictures.
 Shady Rest RV Park,8 Lasar Drive, Glasgow MT 59230
A total of 40 sites. There are 8 pull thrus. We had a full hook up 50 amp pull thru. Very long but very narrow. Most of the park was full with workers, working on the Fort Peck Dam. They offer a Good Sam and AAA discount of 10%. We paid $27. a night. The park is located about 1/4 mile off Route 2. The roads and sites are gravel. Very quiet and dark at night. A very clean laundry room There is Wifi in the park, but in our site we couldn't connect to it. Our Verizon phone had 3G and 4 bars. Some trees but we could use our satellite. Not a lot of room to walk a dog. Good for an overnight stop along route 2. Some train noise, but this is required for an RV Park, right.

Red Trail RV Park, Medora ND

Red Trail Campground, Box 367, Medora ND. Date of stay 7/9-7/12/13. We had a back in Full hook up with 50 amp electric. The cost was $30.40 per night with our  Good Sam Discount of 10%. Our site was very close and very tight to  back into. The owner takes you to your site and does an excellent job of guiding you into your site. The owners were very friendly. It is a great location for visiting Theodore Roosevelt National Park, south unit. The Park entrance is less then a mile from the campground. Not all sites are full hookup. There are some pull thrus. . We walk to town from the campground, only about 1/8 of a mile. Big rig friendly with caution. Dog friendly, but not a lot of grass anywhere in the campground. The campground did fill every night. We did find another RV Park about a mile from here that had a lot more room and many pull thrus. That was Medora Campground. We would stay there if in the area again. It was around the same price, maybe a couple dollars more.

Our site

Right along a dead end road, the rest of the campground is off to the left of the photo. We seemed to be in an annex to the rest of the campground. There were about 10 sites in this section.

Looking up the road, see the back of our RV.

This is another section of the campground.

Enchanted Highway and Ukrainian Cultural Institute

   The next morning we got an early start and back tracked about 50 miles to tour the Enchanted Highway. We had read about the large metal sculptures along a 32 mile stretch of winding country road off I 94 on the Roadside America website. . One of the sculptures can be seen from I 94. It is the largest of the metal art.  It is in the Guinness World Book Of Records as the largest scrap metal sculpture in the world. The road ends in the town of Regent with a population of 160 according to the 2010 censes. We visited the souvenir shop and had a treat of ice cream. Along the way  we met a couple in a motor home at several of the sculptures. They had an article with them that was published in the June 2012 Family Motor Coaching magazine. They saved the article to visit the sculptures if they every got out in this area. They gave us the article to read as they now crossed it off their bucket list. RV folks are the best.  There isn't much in the town of Regent, but there is an RV Park. It is just a bare bones grass lot with full hook ups for $20. a night, pay at the souvenir shop. See www.enchantedhighway.net

See how small Bob looks under the sculpture "Geese in Flight"

The drive to the above sculpture, there must be about 100 + small geese on these posts

"The Deer Family"

Many fields of yellow along the road. This is canola for canola oil.

"Grasshoppers In The Field"

"Fisherman's  Dream"

"Pheasants on the Prairie"

"Teddy Rides Again"

"Tin Family"

Downtown Regent ND

   We are now about 90 miles from Medora  our starting point. So we found another country route to go to the city of Dickinson. We read about the Ukrainian Cultures Institute and wanted to visit it. Of course food had to involved. We had heard about their "three corners", "bottoms" or Pyrohy. We know them as pierogies.  After getting a informative tour of the small museum from a very outgoing lady we did purchase a two pound bag of the potato Pyrohy. The colorful intricate painted Pysanky Easter eggs were beautiful and the highlight of the museum.  See their web site at www.ucitoday.org