Travel with Sue and Ted

Tag: 2016

  • Our Long Drive Across Montana Included Miles City

    We drove across 400 miles of Montana on Friday, and arrived at Medora, North Dakota, about 5 pm.  But the big story was Miles City, Montana.

    The City GrindSue has this talent to find great local restaurants, and for this lunch stop in Miles CIty she found wonderful Yelp reviews for “The Main City Grind” – a combination deli, hamburger, and coffee shop. The food was good, and Ted struck up a conversation with an 86 year old woman named Esther.

    Esther told us she moved here from Michigan about 15 years ago to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren.  Prior to that, her family had a second home in this town of 9,000, and would come to Montana to escape the brutal winters of northern Michigan.  (It had never occurred to us that someone might actually go to Montana for the winter!!!)

    Small TownsSmall towns are great.  People are welcoming and love to talk about their town and life.  After lunch, we spotted the “Cowboy Cobbler” store and walked in to buy a leather strap for Ted’s hat – $2 for a yard of it!.  Sue heard a Matt Maher song (a Christian artist) playing on the radio and mentioned it which got a big smile from the owner.  At the gas station, Ted chatted with a guy named Jim.  Jim owned a greenhouse in town, and during the winter drove trucks across country from California to keep his income going.  In the Napa Auto Parts store, while purchasing a small item, Ted talked with Walter who was very helpful.  Small towns are unique and wonderful.

    But small towns also have their challenges.  While driving down main street, Ted suddenly had to slam on the brakes.  The street went under the railroad tracks.  The posted sign stated:  Clearance 11′ 6″.  Whoa!  We need 12′!   A close call averted by quick observation.  We were able to back up a few dozen feet, turn onto a side street, and find our way to the truck route out of town!  Yep, Ted had thoughts about that one all day.

    This weekend we’ll explore the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, which is in North Dakota near the border with Montana.  “When Theodore Roosevelt came to Dakota Territory in 1883, he was a skinny, young, spectacled dude from New York. He could not have imagined how his adventure in this remote and unfamiliar place would forever alter the course of the nation. The rugged landscape and strenuous life that TR experienced here would help shape a conservation policy that we still benefit from today”.   (www.nps.gov/thro)

    T & S

    PS:  On September 23-25 there is an astronomy festival here!

  • Livingston KOA in Montana

    Thursday, September 15.  We left the sulphur smell of the Yellowstone National Park to spend a night at a KOA camp right on the Yellowstone River, just outside of Livingston.  We also did a supply run to Costco in Bozeman, MT.

    One of Sue’s fav-things to do while driving on vacation is to “Yelp” the towns for out-of-the-way places to eat that have high recommendations from the locals.  In Bozeman, MT, she found “The Garage” – a BBQ and burger joint built from an old gas station/garage building and kept the theme.  From the menu (with real license plates as covers) we selected food that did not disappoint, and in fact were some of the best sandwiches and burgers we’ve had.  All the meat in Montana is very lean, and better quality that we’ve had at California restaurants.

    Back at the Livingstone KOA, we sat in our chairs on the riverbank for two and a half hours, talked, did some email, and watched the sunset.  Glorious.  Enjoy these pics Sue took of us on the river!

    Sue on Yellowstone River in Livingstonlivingston-719

  • First Snow! And a day at Yellowstone

    It rained on us during our last night in Grand Teton National Park, but we woke up to snow on the mountains, at a level of only 500 feet above the valley floor.  Here’s our view of the Grand Teton Valley as we left the park that morning.  This a is the Snake River, and Sue took this picture at the very spot where Ansel Adams took his famous picture of the Grand Tetons.    

    Grand Tetons – After First Snow

    Our travel to Yellowstone was made very long as the southern entrance was closed due to fire.  So instead of a two hour drive, it took six hours to go south, then west, then north then east and enter Yellowstone from the West Yellowstone side.  The fortunate thing about that was we got to have lunch with my sister Gayle as she was staying in West Yellowstone.  

    Bison after first snow in Yellowstone

    Yellowstone park is a higher elevation than Grand Teton, and it snowed everywhere.  We therefore caught the sight of Yellowstone’s first snow of the season! We stayed two nights at Fishing Bridge, saw bison, elk, moose, deer, swan, eagle and a squirrel and a crow.  The bubbling hot springs were steaming in the cold 45 degree air, and the Yellowstone River was gorgeous.  

    We’d love for you to see more of Sue’s pictures of Yellowstone, so click on this special blog page:  

    Yellowstone Page

    You’ll see six more photos including bison, waterfalls and us on that linked page entitled Yellowstone.  

    T & S

  • Hiking Around String Lake

    On Sunday we hiked around String Lake in Grand Teton National Park. It is next to Jenny Lake, and is a six mile hike through pine, aspen, chaparral, and streams.

    We thoroughly enjoyed the hike and even ventured off to nearby Leigh Lake. There were a lot of kayakers and groups with canoes traversing these two lakes.

    The weather is beginning to get a bit colder these nights, but so far the days have been gorgeous for hiking, biking, and walking to the laundromat to spend a few minutes on wifi.

    We also took a drive to the center of Grand Teton NP to see the famous Mormon Barn that is in so many gorgeous photos of the Teton Mountains.  The barn was built in the 1920s by Mormon homesteaders.  Now it is also in Sue’s collection!

    It was a very windy day on Sunday, which whipped up the fire between Yellowstone and Grand Teton that was almost out, thus closing the road between the parks yet again.  On Tuesday we hope to take that road, so we are now looking at backup plans.

  • Lickers and Kickers Ranch

    On Saturday we visited our friends, Steve and Jane Elam, on their Jackson Hole ranch named for their love of two dogs and five horses –   “Lickers and Kickers.” It’s a beautiful ranch and house that sit on a bluff 400 feet above the Snake River, a few miles south of Jackson.

    Ted was here two years ago to help Steve celebrate a milestone birthday, and this year, it was a get-together party of a handful of friends from the church Youth Fellowship (YF)  group of our high school and college days.

    These pics show the YFers that got together for a bbq dinner and campfire celebrating these friendships. Not pictured is Jane and Gayle’s daughter Heather and friend K.Leigh.  Sue did a photo-shoot for everyone as the backdrop was great, and spent many satisfying hours editing 400 pictures down to 108 final keepers.

    Isn’t it great that Sue can take her talent and favorite hobby with her on this trip?  And of course the tripod came along, so here’s a pic of us at the ranch.

    Saturday morning, before this event, was laundry day for us.  We’re now in our second week on the road!  All is going well.  We love our trailer, and with temps here in the Rockies getting down to freezing soon, we are grateful for our home on the road.

    T&S