Winter Excursion 9, Day 234

We did absolutely nothing today! It was relaxing!

We did manage to play a card game in the afternoon.

We did get a few pics of some of the local residents.

Here's a nice whitetail.

Look close (zoom in) here's a nice young moose.

We are off to more points west tomorrow.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 239

We left camp at 0800 and drove 140 miles to Dayton, WA to visit Cath's sister, Maggie, and her husband Bob. It was a nice drive on the backroads through eastern Washington. Along the way we saw deer and even a moose!

We had a fun visit with Maggie and Bob. They took us to lunch at a great bakery in Dayton. The sandwiches were delicious.

We left around 1500 and drove back to camp.

It was a fun day!  

Winter Excursion 9, Day 238

We left Lolo, MT around 1000 and made the short (197 miles) drive to Liberty Lake Regional Park Camp Ground southeast of Spokane, WA.

We stopped at a rest area on I-90 to eat lunch. This rest area looked very familiar, think Deja Vue. We thought about it a few minutes and realized we had stopped here with Jacob on the way to the Family Reunion 6 years ago!

After gaining an hour, we're on West Coast time now, we arrived at our campground around 1330.

Here's Site #6. It is very unlevel fore and aft! Notice the truck.

The campground was almost empty when we arrived, but was full by dinner time. It's a small campground with around 20 sites.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 237

We slept in this morning and then had a nice breakfast. We did a little camp maintenance and relaxed.

We took a short drive to Lolo Hot Springs. The landscape scenery was beautiful, but the Hot Springs are just a ski resort that is for the most part closed right now.

We played some cards and then headed out for an early dinner.  Lolo Creek Steakhouse is famous in this area. It opens at 1700. We got there at 1645 and there was already a line to get in when it opens. I would guess by 1715 every table was occupied and there was a waiting list for folks still outside. The food and drink was excellent. Here's a few pics.

We had a good time and a great meal!

 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 236

We went into town this morning and did a little shopping and got some propane. On the way out of TSC I got this pic of Fire Station #5 in Lolo. Cath's niece's husband use to work there. They have since moved back to Oregon. We sent the pic to Cath's niece. We all got a kick out of that!

In the afternoon we drove the 2 miles to Fort Fizzle Historic Site Picnic Area. I've been wanting to fly the drone and this was the perfect place. There is a short path to the stream. Looks trouty to me!

I did get the drone in the air.

There were two young guys having lunch at one of the tables. We said Hi and asked if they minded that we fly the drone. This started up a conversation. Seems this guys are Firemen in this area and they know Cath's niece's husband and had worked with their daughter. If that was not coincidence enough one of the guy's father was an Army Helicopter Pilot and an 

OH-58 Maintenance Test Pilot.

BTW. All the pics except the fire station and the stream pics were taken with the drone.

Back at camp we sat outside and watched all the new campers coming in for the night. 

 

  

Winter Excursion 9, Day 235

We left Big Timber, MT and drove 280 miles to Lolo, MT. It was a nice drive with no issues,

We arrived at Yellowrock Campground around 1400. It's a nice campground. We were booked for Site #24, but they changed us to Site #6. There is a big Class A in #24! Site #6 is what I would call a "transient" site. It's a little close to the neighbors, but for three nights it will do.

All is well in the Boss Camp!

 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 234

It was L-day again, our favorite! The place was empty when we got there and it was nice and clean. This laundromat also has a pay shower. The first 3 minutes is $1, first time we've seen that! It also has  mural on the floor. This area is called Sweet Grass and the High School Football team is called the Sheep Herders.

On the way back to camp we got this pic of the valley we are in with some new snow on the mountains.

This really is a beautiful area. It's 25 miles up the valley before you even get to the foothills.

We checked out a local brewery for dinner. The beer was great and the food truck out front was also excellent. It was fun talking to the locals once they figured out we were not from the city!

 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 233

Temps were in the 40s last night. It made for great sleeping and we slept in until 0800!

We had a bite for breakfast and then took the short drive to Natural Bridge Falls. I'm glad we did the scenery driving down the valley we are camped in and the falls were fantastic. Here's a few pics. This is the short walkway to the walking bridge.

From the bridge you get these views.

The river runs under the Natural Bridge here!

There are other "lookouts" along the paths.

From Natural Bridge Falls we drove into Big Timber (closest town to camp). It's a very small town. We gassed up the truck and stopped at the local grocery store for a few supplies.

Back at camp we watched a little TV and just relaxed. Temps remained in the low 50s all day.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 232

The wind has been howling all night!

We left camp at 0900 for the 279 miles drive to Spring Creek Campground and Trout Ranch. I fought the wind most of the way. We did run into some nice scenery!

We arrived at Big Timber (closest town) around 1400. It sure was nice to get off that interstate!

First thing we noticed when we drove through the campground gate was that the place looked like a construction zone. Actually it is. Probably 75% of the campsites are closed and under construction. We were supposed to be in site #32 a nice creekside/riverside site, but that site is under construction so we ended up in Site #7 a back-in FHU site.

The campground is nice, but it will be spectacular when the construction is complete.

I've been looking forward to this campground the whole trip. The trout fishing here is world class, but with all the rains they have had the river is too high and muddy. There won't be any trout dinners for us!

Rain is in the forecast, but we hope to do some exploring tomorrow.

 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 231

After breakfast we drove about 20 miles out of town to Yoder's Country Store, an Amish establishment. It reminded us of a store back home; Nolt's Country Store. We picked up some jam, pickled eggs, and some barn art for the camper. They had lots of beautiful, handmade furniture. They are also known in this area for their Corgis, but they had none today.

We spent the afternoon at camp packing up a few things as we are leaving tomorrow.

We left camp to fill up the truck and have an early dinner.

All the Sinclair stations in Wyoming have green dinosaurs, but this one has a green Big Foot also!

We had dinner at the The Bozeman Trail Steakhouse. They had a nice bar and the food was good.

Outside they have a cool Weather Rock.

Here's an old Transport Wagon.

It's been fun here in Buffalo, WY. We are off to more points west tomorrow.

 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 230

After breakfast we left camp to do some exploring. First stop was a gas station. Gas here is running around $3.50.

Then we drove about 20 miles to Loaf Mountain Overlook in the Big Horn National Forest.

On the was we got a few pics. Here's a couple of Antelope.

And here's those snow capped mountains.

This pic is from the actual overlook.

The meadows are loaded with these Silvery Lupine.

One more pic of the mountain peaks.

We followed a small trail for a few hundred yards and came upon these "teepee like" things. I think they had been cutting out some dead/diseased trees and stacked them like this. There were probably a dozen of these. 

On the was back to town we got a good shot of this guy.

We walked around downtown Buffalo, WY. It's a little touristy, but it was not crowded.

There are lots of Murals, but this was my favorite.

Especially this part!

This was our view from our lunch table. That stream is "trouty"!

This is the barroom in the old hotel built in 1880. It was closed for business, but the door was open.