The Madison River near Cameron

 

Last Sunday we were due for some grocery shopping and decided to head north for Bozeman this time instead of south to Rexburg again. The distance is about the same and since we hadn't seen anything north of us at all we did a little detouring to make it a fun day.

First we headed for Ennis, about 60 miles away, and basically followed the beautiful Madison River from where it leaves Hebgen Lake and meanders through the very pretty foothills of the Madison Range all the way to Three Forks where it confluences with the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers to form the Missouri River.

 

The Palisades Cliffs (in the distance)
 

 And yes, it's a beautiful day again.

 

                         

Ennis is a cute little place, very busy in the summer because of all the tourists coming to (fly)fish in the famous Madison River that skirts the tiny town.




                                                                             

Even Lewis and Clark are said to have come through here as is memorized at this store front.

                                           
In fact, the town is billed as the Fly Fishing Capital of the World and half of the stores on main street are tackle shops!


 



Iron-art: a fly fisher

From Ennis we set forth to Virginia City about 30 miles down the road on the other side of a small mountain range.
                      

Ennis Lake

                                    

We've visited Virginia City in Nevada before and this town is very similar.
It's another old (wild) west mining town, as in 'gold-mining' to be precise.

In the spring of 1863 gold was discovered in Alder Gulchand and the stampede of gold seekers was on!
Various "cities" blossomed forth as trading and amusement centers for free handed miners. Virginia City, the best known of these and the sole survivor, became the Capitol of the Territory.






The very much alive ghost town is frozen in time.
When the gold ran out, there was still enough left so that homes and businesses were occupied, but there was not enough wealth to remodel the buildings. So it froze, and now represents the whole Victorian era.





Virginia City was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

 

The insides of a grocery and 'department' store. I love the ceilings.

 

 

                       

 

This stage coach tours through town. They ask an arm and a leg for it but otherwise I'd like to test how comfortable they were (probably not).

 

 

 

Just 1.5 mile down the road is Nevada city, another 'gold rush town'. It has 14 historic buildings original to the site plus a collection of more than 100 other historic buildings saved from locations all over Montana at the 'Living History Museum'.

Since we've seen a lot of these towns already we skipped this one and just had lunch at the cosy bakery.

Their pulled pork sandwich was really disappointing but I loved the piece of apple pie we had for desert. It tasted very distinctively of nutmeg and although James thought it was too much I really liked it!

(It's like a more 'grown up' taste than the sweetly sugar and cinnamon of most if that makes sense.)

 

 

OK, time to move on. Especially since we'd left Sadie at home again. She has a big blatter and sleeps most of the day but I don't like to leave her for longer than we have to. 

 

 

 

 

We backtracked to Ennis and cought up with the river again. Apparently this part of the river is

prime 'tubing' area and we watched lots and lots of people floating happily downstream on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.

 

 

 

It took us 2 hours to get our one month supply of groceries at the Bozeman Walmart. Fortunately this was a Supercenter so it was a one stop shopping this time.

By the time we were done dark clouds had gathered and it looked like we were going to drive home towards a nice thunderstorm!
 

  

 

The road from Bozeman to West Yellowstone skirts the Park for most of the time and actually brings you into its boundaries for a couple of miles.
 

 

 

 

It's very pretty country but it rained most of the time so we really didn't see it at it's best but we'll probably have to make this trip again in the near future so we'll get another chance!

 

 

 

 

At home the storm that we had out-driven caught up with us again so we had a double whammy!

 

Hail!

 

But, as usual, this storm cleared after a couple of hours of severe thunder and lighting (I'm so happy Sadie turned almost completely deaf at her old age, she's now completely calm through all of this) and the sunset was as beautiful as ever.

 

 

 

 

 

As for those bathrooms James is working on....

    

 

 

If your bathroom looks dingy and outdated, who you're gonna call?........

 

 

 

 ......the Bathroom-Buster!

 

 

 

The result; seemless, smooth walls and a pretty, blue spackled, floor!

The owners are very happy with it (and him)!

 

Well, that was it for the week, I think. Here's some more flowers. They just keep on coming!

 

 

..dainty Harebells...

 

.... elegant Columbine..



...a  Great spangled Fritillary (the butterfly) on Showy Fleabane  (Erigeron)....

                            





....and some pretty Dandelion fluff.

 

                        
 

.

 

 

 

Last Sunday we took off for the next destination on our 'bucket-list' for this area, the Mesa Falls along the (surprise, surprise) Mesa Falls Scenic Byway.

A lot closer by than usual, only about 25 miles away, so we took it easy and left around 9.30 after walking Sadie whom we left at home this time. It's getting much warmer and since she's very often not allowed anywhere she has to sit in the much too warm car most of the time.

Fortunately she sleeps most of the day so she'll be OK for a while.

  

 

 

 

At 114 Feet high and 200 feet wide, The Henrys Fork of the Snake River cascades over Mesa Falls Tuff, which is the rock over which Upper Mesa Falls falls and which was formed 1.3 million years ago.

 

 

 

The beautifully restored Big Falls Inn at the edge of the falls was built around 1915 by the Snake River Electric Light and Power Company and used as an office, dance hall, Boy Scout lodge, and a retreat/meeting hall.  After it was destroyed by a fire and acquired in 1986 by the Forest Service through a land exchange it opened as an interpretive center in the year 2001 .

 

A small rainbow created by sunlight passing through the mist accents the falls from approximately 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. during the day. We were lucky enough to be there at around 11 am.
What a gorgeous view!

I think these falls are amongst the most beautiful I've ever seen, partly because of the rainbow, but the whole canyon is incredibly beautiful and untouched. I thought it was just a magical place. I expected fairies to pop up any minute!

The canyon is covered with vibrant green moss and colorful lichens because of the constant spray of the falls.

 

 

 

 

                             

 

A little farther down the road Lower Mesa Falls crashes about 65 ft. down the Henrys Fork of the Snake River.
The viewpoint is a distant one, from across the valley, and not very  impressive, unless you take your binoculars or zoom lens.
I have heard that it may be possible to hike down close up to Lower Mesa Falls, on a hiking trail from the Upper Mesa Falls parking lot.

Arriving in Ashton at the other end of the Byway we were back among Idaho's famous potato fields. Actually the district is noted for seed potato production and bills itself as the world's largest seed potato growing area.
Gently rolling farmland with the Tetons in the background. Quite pretty!

We were aiming to play some golf at the Aspen Acres Golf and RV Resort about 6 miles out of Ashton but overshot it and were driving around the wide open countryside for a while until we finally found it!

I'd hardly call this a resort and the golf course is very 'country' (rather rough around the edges) but we just loved the super friendly atmosphere and the 'come as you are' attitude! Such a breath of fresh air from the snobby country club (although very, very, beautiful) we once belonged to!

 

 

 

We had a great afternoon. We actually played fairly decent, the weather was beautiful (again, I know, it's getting boring), we had some good exercise and beautiful views!

 

 

 

 

 

James has been working on another project for the RV again. This time he's designed some braces for the back levelers to take some of the 'bounce' out of the rig when we're stationary.

 

Originally the RV came with these things, electric even, but before it came on auction they had taken them off (the buggers)Since they're rather expensive James has been thinking about designing and making them himself for a while now and finally gave it a try.

 

 

 See the sparks off the welder?

 

And this is the result. The pipes actually telescope in (or out) and they swivel at midpoint and at the ends so when not in use they come up and out of the (road)way.
Such a handy guy, isn't he?
He wants to make some for the midway area, over the tires, too.


The meadows around the park are constantly changing colors because of the different wildflowers that are blooming.

Here's some in a little more detail (from L to R):

Sticky Geranium (or Cranesbill)  and Slender or Five-finger Cinquefoil (bottom), American Bistort (a buckwheat), Douglas's Triteilia,  ?  and Subalpine Buckwheat (bottom).

Fortunately there's a lot of them because here's someone who loves to eat (at least some of) the roots!

huh.....?

(It's a Northern Pocket Gopher) (I think...)

These gophers vary in color from brown to yellow-brown to grey depending on the local soil color. Nifty!