Gallivanting Grandma

September 2, 2014    sunny & windy – 54 degrees

Welcome to North Dakota

I love to travel because there is always something new around the corner and Williston, ND was one of those surprises. It was a rough city with many large trucks and machines rumbling along dusty roads. There were flat wheat fields & farm equipment along the highways and a booming oil & gas industry.  

Wheat Fields and Tractor

Oil trucks filled local roads and clogged highways along the road out of the city. Route 2 was lined with oil drill support companies, hastily built barracks for workmen, tank & silo companies, and John Deere tractor dealers. 

Pumping for Oil

Oil Pump

Huge Oil Well

We passed many towns with interesting names: Palermo, Melville, Bergen, Pingree, and Buchanan as we drove along the 70 mph two-lane road.

Freight Train, Silos, Tractor

We stopped for lunch in Minot, ND where the server, Dimitri, was from Odessa, Ukraine. He said last winter had been really cold in Minot with temperatures reaching down to minus forty degrees for several days. He said it wasn’t too bad, but recently he was looking for a job in Florida.

North Dakota Route 2

Grain elevators, silos, and cell phone towers break up the vast horizon. For most of the day, our cell phones had 4/5 bars of AT&T service. That’s better than I get at home in New York!

Have a Bud With Your Ice Cream in Carrington, ND

Big Sky

We stopped for coffee in Jamestown, ND

We reached Fargo by 6:00 PM after being on the road for eight hours. We checked into a newly built Hilton Home-2-Suites and it felt good to get out of the car.

Sunset in Fargo, North Dakota

Monday – September 1, 2014  Partly sunny/cloudy 46 degrees

Great Falls, Montana proved to be more interesting than we had expected but now we were ready to leave. We got an early start to drive across the state. The photos today are the best way to describe Route 2 in northern Montana.

Sunrise Over the Missouri

On the Road Again

Wheat Fields in Montana

Montana Grain Elevator

Another Style of Grain Elevator

More Grain Elevators

Welcome to Saco, Montana

Saco, Montana

Western Town

Close Up

Where We Didn’t Stay

Montana is a Big State

Gambling Casino

Almost to Williston, North Dakota

Sunday – August 31, 2014  Sunny & breezy – 53 degrees

It took us most of yesterday to drive north from Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming to the city of Great Falls, Montana.

Morning on the Missouri River

We found a comfortable all-suite motel and decided to spend two nights in Great Falls. We had been on the go in Yellowstone Park for four days and it had been a long tiring drive north. I also wanted to do laundry. When I travel, I always pack one small suitcase regardless of the length of the trip and that means stopping for laundry.

Entrance to the Charles M. Russell Museum

Great Falls, Montana was the home of western artist C. M. Russell and a large museum was built to honor their most famous citizen. No photography was allowed in the museum, so I couldn’t take any pictures. I learned he was a prolific artist who painted more than two thousand paintings in his lifetime. We spent more than two hours there until Jeff said he had seen enough western pictures to last a lifetime.

Quote in the Lobby

The most interesting part of the museum was the Native American exhibit on the first floor. It contained an extensive collection of contemporary and historical artifacts created by several local tribesmen and women.

Russell’s Log Cabin Studio

Charlie & Nancy Russell’s House

Missouri River

In the afternoon we drove along the river to see the Lewis and Clark exhibit. This region was the place that presented some of the greatest obstacles to the explorers. They had to portage their boats and heavy supplies across the land because of several large waterfalls along the Missouri. Stephen Ambrose’s book: Undaunted Courage was a good account of the expedition.

Lewis & Clark Interpretation Center

We learned there are several broad waterfalls along this section of the Missouri River. Today, the largest ones provide electricity for several states.

Rainbow Falls

Black Eagle Falls

We stopped at the large old Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Station which was converted to office space, but it was a reminder that the railroad helped to build the city of Great Falls, Montana.

Old Railroad Station

After passing vast wheat fields and huge silos, we found a giant General Mills grain elevator next to railroad tracks in Great Falls. Now I know where my Wheaties comes from.

General Mills Grain Elevator & Storage Facility

Saturday, August 30,2014        48 degrees & drizzling

As they say in Scotland, it was “misting” this morning. We didn’t mind since this was only our second day of rain on this entire trip. As I checked out of the Snow Lodge, I noticed that Old Faithful was scheduled to put on her show in ten minutes, so we rushed over to the Lodge.

View of Old Faithful Geyser From the Lodge

We had noticed indoor viewing from the large windows when we explored the Lodge yesterday. It was 7:30 in the morning so there weren’t many people around for the eruption.

Rustic Lodge

We had front row seats and watched as the old geyser puffed and spewed with increasing force then she ‘let it rip’ with great strength and height. I guess Old Faithful was a “morning person” because this eruption was higher and stronger than the one we watched a couple of days ago. It restored my faith in geysers.

Old Faithful

On The Road Again

Afterwards, we had coffee in the Lodge then drove out of Yellowstone’s Western Gate toward Bozeman, Montana. Several hours later, we stopped for lunch and walked around a bit. Bozeman seemed more like a college town than a tourist destination. In comparison, Jackson Hole seemed lively and more fun.

Lunch in Bozeman

Sign in Burger Bob’s

Jeff had found a reference to the American Computer & Robotics Museum near the University. We had to go. With the help of Google Maps, we found it.  The young woman at the reception desk said it was one sixth of one man’s collection. There were several rooms arranged chronologically telling the story of communication and the development of computers. It was much better than we expected and well worth seeing. The best part of the museum was a life-sized copy of Robbie the Robot, from the film Forbidden Planet.

Bozeman Attraction

Old Computers

Rain Clouds Along Rt. 89 North

Driving Into White Sulphur Springs, Montana

Local Hot Rod

Sports & Western Wear Shop

Clearing Weather Along Route 89

The road continued through vast wheat fields as far as we could see along the horizon in all directions. We passed through small western towns for several hours. We were in ‘Big Sky Country’ and the ever-changing cloud formations were amazing.

Route 87 in Montana Among Wheat Fields

Friday – August 29, 2014     48 degrees & sunny

There had been a huge thunderstorm last night with dramatic lightening and loud rumbling thunder.  This was our last full day in Yellowstone and we had a few more sights to see. We checked out of the lovely Lake Hotel and drove to the eastern Norris section of the park..

Entrance to the Norris Geyser Basin

Norris Geyser Basin

There was a self-proclaimed “Geyser Gazer” sitting on a bench in the middle of the boardwalk surrounded by steaming sulphur-smelling pools of hot gas. He encouraged visitors to stay to watch Constant Geyser erupt. The Geezer said the eruption occurred every seventeen minutes – give or take a few minutes. A small crowd gathered and on cue, Constant did its thing.

Boardwalk Across the Basin

It was weird to walk above the warm bubbling earth that looked like pictures of the surface of the moon. The pungent odor of sulphur filled the air and tickled inside my nose.

Like a Moonscape

Algae in the Water

Algae and other micro-organisms grow in the warm water. The wide varieties of algae cause the different colors.

Visitors Above the Steaming Ground

Constant Geyser Erupting

Steaming Pools

Colorful Algae

Female Elk on the Road

After we visited several Geyser Basins, we drove to the Snow Lodge where we had a reservation for the night. It was located near Old Faithful and we walked around that area to explore the buildings. Snow Lodge was the only facility in the park which is open to visitors during the winter.

The Snow Lodge Reception

Snow Lodge Lounge

Our room was very clean and comfortable despite no cell phone, no television, and no internet. The decor is rustic modern and practical for skiers. It reminded me of an alpine hotel we stayed at in Switzerland.

Old Faithful Inn

Back Door of the Inn

The Old Faithful Inn was a glorious log building built in 1903. It had a sweeping five-story center area and a huge fireplace. It was quite elegant for a wilderness “log cabin.”

Interior of Lodge

View of the Clock From Balcony

We found a comfortable leather couch on the second floor overlooking the main level and made ourselves comfortable to enjoy the view. After a few minutes, a little girl, about four years old, joined us and sat next to me. I greeted her and asked her name. “Sage,” she said with a bright baby-tooth smile. “S – A – G – E,” she spelled for me. “Like sagebrush,” she added proudly. A true western kid, I thought…. 

View Across the Great Lounge

Lodge Dining Room

There’s nothing like creature comforts in the wilderness! Especially at my age…..