Glamping Days

Arrived in the Pittsburgh area this evening. Leaving trailer at a nearby campground for 2 nights & then putting it into storage on Fri am.  Won't be posting again for a couple of weeks. On Sept 13, I leave for a 3 week trip going to 2 rallies (relating to my trailer) & a visit to the daughter in Kansas. Will post periodically during that trip. Pic above is the sunset from my front door at home this evening - a lovely welcome home.

Crossing Indiana yesterday, I passed into the Eastern Time Zone. Today, I arrived in central Ohio, so definitely feels like home territory.  Leaving the "campsite" this morning, I snapped this pic. Found it pretty amusing.  Staying tonight in Dillon State Park in Ohio. It has a beautiful large campground & many activities. Will definitely put more state parks on future itineraries. 

 Drove to Sheridan, IN, north of Indianapolis, & staying at another distillery tonight. 

Hated to leave (Isaac's) Aunt Terri & Uncle John. Here's Terri in her Jeep & a sample of the wonderful dinner & breakfast they made.  Apparently, corn festivals are quite popular in southern Wisconsin.  Am "camping" tonight at this distillery northwest of Chicago. 

Spending tonight with relatives: daughter's (Meredith) husband's (Isaac) aunt & uncle in central Wisconsin. They are lovely peeps who live on a beautiful farm with a pond & trails through the meadows & woods. It was a beautiful cool day today, & they prepared a wonderful dinner, which included produce from their garden. 

Took this pic in the campground this morning; many campgrounds now offer cabins, teepees, & such.   Drove 650 miles today from far eastern Montana, across North Dakota & Minnesota, & just into Wisconsin. It'll be the only long drive day of the trip. 

I drove from Billings to the far eastern edge of Montana today. The prairie & grassland of the south central part of the state gradually gave way to rock outcroppings & badlands, which peaked at Makoshika.    This is the view from my camp site.

Drove from Great Falls to Billings, MT, & am staying at the same campground that I stayed in here 3 weeks ago. Here is a sampling of Montana scenery from today.  This cool old house is in White Sulphur Springs. The sign is in the Lewis & Clark National Forest a bit north of White Sulphur Springs; who knew that dog sleds were a thing outside of Alaska? 

This is the Freezeout Lake Wildlife Refuge, northwest of Great Falls. The green in the foreground & the water are unusual in this area, but the dry area in the background is typical.   There are 5 significant waterfalls along the Missouri River. Due to a series of dams, the falls are not very impressive. The pics show one of the dams & a long concrete river bypass. When Lewis & Clark came this way, what they thought would be a half day of travel turned into 18 days, due to having to portage 15 miles & 500 feet in elevation around the falls.  The Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center was quite good, as was the C. M. Russell Museum here in Great Falls. I especially liked the door handles at the Russell Museum. 

Today was a drive day, crossing back into the US & continuing to Great Falls, MT. With little of interest to photograph, here's a look back at some mountain views from the last 3 days in Waterton Lakes. 

This morning, I walked up to the hotel (only guests can park there). The views from there are amazing, & the inside definitely feels like an old lodge.  This afternoon, I  took a short hike to a small waterfall. Much of this park has burned in recent years, but it's interesting to see the wildflowers & trees coming back.  This is the view out the back window of the trailer, & the big wildlife siting today.  Back to The States tomorrow & pointing homeward. 

Waterton Lakes is a bit unusual in that there is a whole bustling town within the park. I'd guess that this is because there are no other towns nearby, & all the visitors need services.  Being in the park, all the buildings are done in browns & tans & mostly pretty quaint. The police station looks like a tudor style house.  The beach along the lake in town is made of gravel, but the views are amazing. The old hotel over looks the town.  It seems that not just people love this little town. The bighorn sheep were in driveway on the edge of town, but the mule deer was smack in the middle of things, 2-3 blocks away from any woods.  I wouldn't have been able to dig this info out of my brain, but reading this sign brought it back.