We left Sheridan, Wyoming and made the interstate trek to Livingston, Montana. It was a rather quiet drive as we left the Big Horn Mountains, driving back to the rolling hills and then back to the mountains again as we entered the Rockies.
Livingston, Montana is one of the gateway towns to Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks to the south. (Something like Gardiner, Montana to the south, West Yellowstone to the west and Jackson on the south end of the Grand Tetons – only Jackson is really upscale!)
Livingston isn’t quite as nice as the others but they are quite proud of their position in relation to the parks and charge appropriately for accommodations that put you near these highly attractive national parks. It is a typical tourist town with the Friday afternoon/evening farmers market/band in the park/beer/wine fest complete with lots of food. The Yellowstone River runs through the city park with mountains and some snow covered peaks in all directions so the setting is really quite nice.
One of the town’s claim to fame is the Livingston Depot Center and Museum. We enjoyed an afternoon just wandering through all the exhibits of the museum and roaming around the historic downtown section of this little Montana town.
While we were in Livingston we decided to make a short trip down through Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Tetons and into Jackson, Wyoming to visit friends currently working in Yellowstone and those volunteering at the National Elk Refuge. It was a good trip visiting and catching up on everybody’s happenings.
As we were making our way through Yellowstone we ran into this young Elk (still with antlers in velvet) just lounging around waiting for someone to come take his picture. I took care of that for him.
A bit further south as we were headed into Jackson we stopped at one of the pullouts to take a picture of the Grand Tetons from the far end of Lake Jackson - quite the view!
A little closer view.
So after our stay in Livingston we made our way up to Missoula, Montana for a couple days stay. Again, it is a rather nice little town with all the unique buildings and historic downtown but one thing that did catch my attention was the number of bikes throughout the town. It is really a bike friendly place.
In one of the city parks of Missoula they have an attraction that they are very proud of – it is called “A Carousel for Missoula”. Back in the 90s a cabinet maker, by the name of Chuck Kaparich, told the city counsel that “If you will give it a home and promise never to take it apart, I will build a Carousel for Missoula.” They agreed and after many years of volunteer work, carving the wooden ponies, rebuilding the mechanical portion and raising the money needed – Missoula had its Carousel. Over 100,000 hours of volunteer work went into this project, the story alone was worth the visit.
On our way west we stopped in the town of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho for a couple days visit. We actually stayed in a little town just north of there called Hayden – the original base of the Aryan Nation organization. That got our attention! You may want to look these guys up if you haven’t heard of them - interesting group.
But we weren't there for Hayden - we wanted to see Coeur d’Alene. So we went for a quick drive and ended up doing a walk along the lake – it is quite beautiful.
Between the ski resorts right in downtown and all the major media this place has received over the last few years it is a growing place. The amount of traffic did surprise us as we drove around. It is a rather picturesque place and if that's not enough to get you to come visit, the fact that the movie Teenage Dirtbag was set here should win you over.
So as we make our last preparations for our journey north and our visits with Lee’s sister, Amy, and family - we leave you with a rather nice western sunset from the West Richland, Washington area. Next blog……Alaska!!!!
Home Is Where We Park It!
Lee & Linda
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