Cowboys, Indians, Lewis and Clark, Wildlife and Boeing jets!

What a wide variety of scenery and experiences we’ve had as we traveled through Montana, Idaho and into Washington State and we also had a wide variety of weather – from warm, to cool, to rain and even snow!

Snowing as we traveled through the Bitterroot mountains

Wildlife sightings along the way….

Big Horn sheep

Elk

Baby black tailed deer

Moose

Some of the highlights:

Pompey’s Pillar where William Clark camped on the expedition to find a water route to the west coast. He carved his name in the huge rock that has guided travelers across the western plains for 1,000’s of years

Pompey's Pillar in Montana - 300 feet high and 1 acre square

William Clark carved his name in the pillar in 1806

Little Big Horn Battlefield where Custer lost the battle to the Sioux Indians and died.  

Hill where Custer and 250 men died in the battle

memorial for the Sioux Indians that died in the battle

Grant-Kohrs  Ranch a National Historic Site that was once the largest ranch in the west – the cattle roamed on 10 million acres. It is managed by the national parks and is being operated as it was in the late 1800’s.

Making "cowboy coffee" at the chuck wagon

Cattle baron's ranch house

Virginia City, a gold rush ghost town from the 1860’s. It is  truly a ghost town with the original buildings -  stores, houses, saloons  and blacksmith shops left exactly as they were ( contents and all) when the town was abandoned after the gold rush ended in the late 1860’s. The ghost town has a lively history filled with tales of outlaw “road agents” hanged by self appointed vigilantes before it became a part of the Montana territory and there was a “real sheriff” in town.

Ghost town stores

Original contents of the store

Lake Coeur D Alene, Idaho – a quaint little town and a beautiful glacier carved lake

The Boeing manufacturing plant in Everett, Washington – north of Seattle. We took a tour of the plant where they manufacture Boeing 747, 777 and the new Dreamliner 787. It was fascinating to see those jumbo jets rolling along an assembly line in the largest building in the world!

Boeing manufacturing plant

Fuselage of the new 787 Dreamliner

We’re planning to spend the next couple of weeks in Washington state exploring the beautiful national parks, wildlife and scenery along the coast. We  have always loved the Pacific Northwest, it’s a nature lover’s paradise–snow capped mountains, the rugged Pacific coastline, rivers, lakes, waterfalls and all kinds of wildlife - unfortunately it is also known for lots of rain. Maybe we’ll get lucky and have more “sun breaks” than we do rain showers!