Friday - Sunday, August 28 - 30, 2015
When we arrived in the area, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that Tic's niece was getting married this weekend and we were invited to the event.
Turns out both the bride and groom are professional producers. So the wedding is an event to say the least.
Friday evening there was a BBQ for everyone. I heard one of the caterers say 160 people expected Friday evening.
The couple rented a compound consisting of a huge house able to sleep 40 people in 8 different bedrooms. The compound had an additional building that was being used by the caterers.
These logs created a magnificent entrance to the compound.
This is the main house with 8 bedrooms with a large kitchen area and a large living area. The front porch is fantastic also.
This is a closeup of the fountain area on the right side of the picture above. See the tent in the background? Several people pitched tents, some had RV's and most of the rooms in the big house were filled. People came from all over the U.S. to attend, and one flew in from Europe.
The building you see was used by the caterers. This was the setup for the BBQ.
This is Tic's sister and her husband. They live near Newcastle. WY.
The wedding is at a different location called the Brumar Estates.
This building was where the ceremony was held.
This is the front of a separate house where the wedding party was getting ready.
This was the setup for dinner after the wedding ceremony. They even had a small orchestra (no guitars).
Here's Tic and his sister, Diane.
This is Mom (Diane) and bride (daughter-Lisa). Quite a bridal gown!!
Randy (Diane's husband) and Travis (Diane's son) are with Tic.
Here's the bride and groom during the wedding ceremony.
Getting ready to cut the cake. Wonder how they will treat each other when feeding each other a bite.
They were both very nice to each other. No smearing of cake on either face.
We did not think to take a picture of the buffet line for dinner. It was fantastic. Dinner consisted of: salad; beet, carrot & jicama vegetable mixture; mashed potatoes with brown gravy; baked fish; baked chicken and prime rib. There was a separate menu for the children.
As we were eating dinner, this was the sunset. It was beautiful because of the smoke.
The sky got pinker as the sun got lower.
We left this event about 9pm after several people gave short speeches to and about the newlyweds.
Next there was a brunch for everyone Sunday morning about 11am.
The brunch setup was the same as the BBQ setup.
Early this morning the wind blew a small rain storm through. It cleared the sky and we actually got to see sunshine for the first time in days. Look, you can even see trees on the mountains. This picture was taken from the porch of the big house.
We were excited to be able to see the green trees on the mountains. This is on our drive home after the brunch. The clouds seem to be building, so we might get more rain. We sure pray the rain is helping with the wild fires.
On the way home we thought about getting a picture of this entrance to someone's home. We especially liked the little bear on the top rail.
This wedding event was a royal production. We felt blessed to be in the area at the right time and able to attend.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Even though it is smokey this morning, we decided we would drive up to Glacier National Park to see what we could see. The weather prediction is for the smoke to continue with no clearing in sight. We packed a lunch and took off.
Here we are at the entrance to the park.
Here is our dead tree picture. This is taken on the edge of Lake McDonald. The smoke is so thick you cannot even begin to see the other side of the lake.
This is Lake McDonald Lodge. They also have these unique tour buses. The buses have cloth tops that can be rolled back.
This is one of our stops on upper McDonald Creek.
Here is a short video of another stop along upper McDonald Creek. While we were close to the creek, the smoke seem much thinner.
At this stop, there was a walking bridge where you could cross the creek. There was a man on the bridge that took our picture.
The road followed McDonald Creek a long ways. We stopped many times for pictures.
Tic got some great pictures of the many mini water falls.
This is another short video of another beautiful water flow. The water if such a pretty color and so clear.
Here is one of those unique tour buses full of people.
At this stop, the water appeared to be still. See the pink tipped rock in the water? There were lots of larger pink rocks on the shore. Interesting how the dry part is pink. You can also see how clear the water is.
This tunnel was at the start of our drive up to Logan Pass in the Glacier National Park. Can you see sunlight coming in on the left side of the tunnel. There were arches cut through the mountain to let the light in.
This picture shows the arches. It was a pretty tunnel. The smudges are bugs on the windshield. Ha!
The road began to get narrow and curvy. The speed limit was down to 25 mph.
This was part of the Weeping Wall where the rock seemed to be weeping. Water "weeped" slowly out of the rock.
You are looking at the McDonald Creek below. As you can see, the smoke is thicker in the valley. We still have smoke in the air, but it is thinner the higher in elevation you get.
This was an interesting view of the way the road was built along the mountain edge. You can also see one of those red tour buses.
We are almost to Logan Pass when we saw a pullout near this small waterfall.
I did find a handsome man that agreed to travel with me! ☺
Here we are at the visitor's center at Logan Pass.
This sign was full of good info about the history of Logan Pass. Also talked about hiking trails around. There are over 700 miles of hiking trails in the park. We will definitely have to return when the fires are out. http://www.hikinginglacier.com/
These people are taking off on a trail to Hidden Lake. The air still smelled smokey so Tic and I opted out of the hike. The trail goes to just the other side of this mountain. The picture below describes the trail.
We headed back home.
The smoke was still thick. We can imagine that the view would be absolutely gorgeous if it wasn't so smokey.
On the way home, we saw this huge eagle and had to get a picture. We noticed it was for sale. Anyone want this little sculpture in their front yard?
Tuesday, August 29, 2015
Today we moved from St. Regis to Kalispell, MT. The plan is to go to Glacier National Park. The smoke has been moving east and south AND there is a fire in southern part of Glacier, so we are not sure what to expect.
This was a cool train trestle we saw as we traveled along side the Flathead River. And yes, the air is still filled with smoke.
We had lots of pretty views of the Flathead River. As you can see we have not escaped the smoke though.
We followed the Flathead River a long ways.
By the time we got to Flathead Lake, the smoke was too thick to get pictures of the Lake.
We are all set up at Rocky Mountain Hi RV Park. We have a nice long and wide spot. It is fairly level also.
We learned that one of Tic's nieces is getting married over the weekend very near Kalispell, so we are planning to stay 1 week to be able to attend the events. Nice place for a week.
Monday, August 24, 2015
Today is moving day. We woke to Hazardous air quality in Spokane so are hoping for clearer air by the time we get to Montana. Our drive is only 137 miles, but one can hope.
As we got onto I-90 headed east, this was the smokey condition.
As we crossed into Idaho, it was not any better.
As we drove by Lake Coeur d'Alene, the 3 pictures below are the best shots I could get.
The pictures almost look like black and whites.
We crossed into Montana at Lookout Pass elevation 4860 ft. As you can see the sky is not any clearer.
We were told we needed to stop at 50,000 Silver $ along our way to St. Regis.
Wow, can't wait to get inside. ☺ We are told the bar area is covered in silver dollars.
This is general picture of the bar area. Each of the plaques on the wall are filled with silver dollars.
This is looking up one wall.
This is part of the wall at one end of the bar. See the $ sign made out of silver dollars?
Silver dollars are also embedded into the bar itself. You can tell that many of the silver dollars are really old. The ones that actually are solid silver.
The bar area was the most interesting part of the stop. The restaurant wasn't anything special. The gift shop was full of high priced novelty items.
We made it to our campground. We are only staying one night. Prices in this area are high. They seem to gouge the RVers. We only have 30 amp and no sewer and with a Good Sam discount it costs $35 per night and the spaces are narrow.
We are actually pulled forward into part of the space next to us. They told us it would be ok for tonight. Some of the other spaces seem to be a little wider. No problem. We are only here one night.
Notice also the sky looks pink in places. That is because the smoke is so thick the sun is diffused.
WOW by sunset the sky had cleared some.
This was about 8:30pm tonight. Nice. No wonder my headache is finally gone. The smoke has really been bothering me today. Great way to end the day!! We are so blessed!
