National Bison Reserve and a Breakout room

We had a fun and entertaining day yesterday with Rod and Shirley. They took us ip onto the Flathead Indian Reservation to the National Bison Reserve. It is a huge fenced area with a variety of wild animals on the Reserve.  They have 250 - 300 Bison, not including calves.; also they have elk, pronghorn antelope, and bears. Also saw a few rattlesnake warning signs.

We saw 3 Grizzlies - A Mama and her cub, and about a 2 year old. We didn't see too many other animals until we got to the end of the road.

At the end of the road we came up on a group of pronghorn in the meadows. We saw 3 bucks and about 10 does. No babies that we could see.

The biggest surprise, was what cane upon last. We saw a few bison spread out here and there, mostly bulls. As we traveled along slowly,  we saw a herd coming up an embankment from a creek.  We timed it perfectly. There were probably 70 head of bison. We were so close because they came right up the road. We could hear them communicating with one another. They were rolling in the dirt and dusting themselves. Mamas were nursing the young, and we saw the oldest bull in the herd. He walked up the hill and just sttod there as the rest of the herd went aling their marry little way. He was in no hurry to catch up.

It was really cool to see so many at one time. The babies were cute and there was a very young one that was about a week old.

Later that night, Mike, Dave, Rod, Shirley, Brittiny, Cameron and I went and did an escape room (they call them Breakout Rooms up here). We had two more young ladies join us that had never done one before. Actually we were pretty even when it came to a ratio of newbies and those that have done a room before. It was an interesting place. The rooms were in an actual house that was probably built in the early 1900s. We did an Alice in Winderland themed room. It took all 9 of us to escape with 6 seconds to spare.

Glacier National Park

Well, we have made it through another National Park.  I should have bought one of the NP Passport books. You can stamp it at each Park that we go through. I think it's a bit too late for us now, so I will just have to keep it up in my Diary of the 50 States.

Yesterday we went through Glacier National Park with Dave, Leanne and Wesley. Leanne and I  found out how photographers can have such different pictures. She was more interested in water and waterfalls, where I like pictures of a grander scale, such as Mountains, layers in the rock and valleys. But we both wanted pictures of animals.

It seemed like we travelled so far yesterday but we only travelled like 50 miles through the Park on the Road-to-the-Sun. Unfortunately, it was very cold at the to where Logan's Pass was. 

2 facts about Glacier- 
1. The Park at one time had 200 glaciers, but now only has 50. What I saw looked like snow pack. I learned that to be considered a glacier the ice needs to have a blue color. So, in my pictures  I don't know exactly what was a glacier and what was snow pack.
2. That place is packed, especially from the West entance to Logan Pass at the top of the mountain. It pretty much was bumper to bumper traffic.  A lot of people pulled over randomly for pictures, Including us. 

Leanne, Wesley and Harley went with us to Logan Pass on the and from there, they went back down to the West entrance. We finished the road and exited through the East gate. Right before we got to the end of the road, we got a glimpse of  Grizzly that was meandering through a meadow. The grass was quite tall but you could clearly see his grizzled hump on his shoulder area.

 I did not get a picture because we got shewed away by a Park Employee. We weren't allowed to park in front of her vehicle, which we didn't know.  It was kind of funny when she came and told us that we had to move. Mike said, "What do you mean we can't park here? I already did." The look on her face was a bit of astonishment. But then Mike said after a hesitation, " But I can move." She looked so thankful and that she didn't have a obstinate traveler. 🤣

Hope you enjoy some of the pictres that I took.

I want to tell all of you thank you for reading my rambling on about our trip. 

Tomorrow, we are supposed to go with Mike's brother, Rodney and his wife, Shirley to the Bison Reserve. I guess there is supposed to be bison, elk, and bears on the Reserve.

Montana and Whitewater Rafting

We made it to Missoula, Montana last Friday afternoon. We dry camped right outside of Stevensville in a Forest Service Campground with Dave. It was a beautiful spot, but it really showed me how spoiled I have become with water, Electricity and an Amazon Fire stick. I actually had to read a book. Not my Kindle but a book! I read my Kindle at night, so I had to save my battery for that.
We got to visit with Dave, Rod, Shirley, Brittiny and Cameron on Friday night. Saturday, Mike went and got a fishing license. Saturday night we had a thunderstorm like I haven't seen in quite awhile. It woke us up around 4 and Mike got up with me and texted Dave to see if they were still going fishing the next day. Dave all was a go as long as there wasn't lightning on the lake. There must not have been because they were gone most of the day. No fish in my frying pan though, because as most of you know, Mike is a catch and release kind of guy.
Monday, we traveled to Columbia Falls right outside of Glacier National Park. Just let me say that the pictures of the RV Park that we got into was better in pictures then in life.  But we got to visit a bit with Wynne, Dave's ex, and her Mom Sharon Snyder Turner. (Some of you will recognize Sharon's name).
Tuesday, Mike, Dave Wes, Leanne, Rod and I went whitewater rafting and had a blast, but you can tell we are getting older because some of us were hurting the next day. But I would do it again in a second. It was so much fun and we had a great raft guide with a terrific sense of humor. She got to know all of our names plus the two guys from Texas that were in our boat with us. Dave told her that he was a driver of the propane trucks that go by, and thus started a round of what everyone did for work. Mike told her he was a Counselor (but nothing else); Wes said he wasn't paid enough for what he did; Rod told her that he was "retarded" and not retired; the Texan Dad that was in the boat with us said that he was in Logistics with ATM Machines and that he transports them. She didn't ask Leanne, Dillon (the Texan teen) or me what we did. At this point, since no one was freely giving anymore information,  she thought we all worked in Area 51 or some other Secretive government jobs. Everytime she would asked Rod where he was from, he would tell he, "I  could tell you, but then I would have to kill you."
She probably thought we were all crazy. LOL We did tell her that we we all from California, that is the real, conservative Northern California, but we couldn't tell her where because we didn't want her to get sucked into the yucky part of California's politics. She kept telling the other boats that everyone on our boat was biased. We were probably the loudest people on the river, or at least I was. LOL We kept asking people from the other boats where they were from and we told her if they were from yucky California, we were going to dump their boat. She just laughed. Nickolette you did a great job!! Thanks for the fun memories on Flathead River!
These pictures are from when we went down our biggest whitewater, the boat folded in half and Dave ended up on the bottom of the boat.

We are on the road!

We are on the road to Montana. We are going to possibly make it to Twin Falls, Idaho tonight. Then off to Missoula tomorrow. Sounds like we are goning to have quite a crew when we go camping up near Glacier National Park. I took a picture of our rig as we pulled out of our spot that has been home since the end of February.

The first full week of retirement

We are working on getting rid of work related clothing, putting more in storage, cleaning up the trailer and arguing about what needs to go where.
Yesterday, we took Kathy up into the mountains to camp. Jazz, her dog, was having a blast, just running and running. She loved the creek too. That was until it touched her belly. She was very funny.
Mike and I are learning to communicate better. I find that I get very defensive when he asks me why are you keeping something. I probably could become a hoarder if left on my own. I think of so many things as sentimental, and Mike is the total opposite. I guess that is why God brought us together. We needed each other to balance out the other.
I think I fear change. Mike is cool with it. I freak out if I don't know where we are going or doing. Mike doesn't feel like explaining why he is going or doing something.
Please pray as we grow closer to God and to each other.😉🏕

Happy Independence Day!

Mike got to celebrate his first day of Freedom from work with my family and his sister, Kathy. We had fun setting off some California "Smokeworks" and some Oregon fireworks at my nephew Adam's house. Then we watched the County Fireworks from his back deck. We are heading out on our first trip next Thursday for Montana to visit Dave, Brittiny, Cameron, Rod,  Shirley, and the Utters. Then down into Cody, Wyoming area to see the Wilsons, and the Collins. Excited to go to Glacier National Park and going camping with family. I am sure we will do more but we don't know adventures lay ahead of us.

Today is the Day!

Mike Retires today! We are excited to see this day come. We have Grand plans, but we need to remember that ultimately GOD is in control. Yesterday Mike turned 50! We started dating when he was only 14 years old. It seems that we have know each forever. He definitely is the love of my life. I am so proud of him reaching this goal in his life.