Anthony Lakes

Those of you who know me, know I used to play in a Marimba Band in La Grande, Kupenga Marimba.   I moved away from La Grande about 9 years ago, but the band invited me to perform with them when they are short handed, and I LOVE getting back together with them to play.    It is a wonderful group of people, and the music is delightful.     They have invited me to play with them at the Pendleton Farmers Market on October 7, so I have been practicing at home a lot, since the last time I played with them was before Covid.     Practicing on my soprano instrument only goes so far, so I traveled to La Grande to practice with them, on the Band instruments, last Monday.     I decided to make a Waddles trip out of it.

I dropped Waddles off at the Anthony Lakes Campground (one of my favorite Forest Service campgrounds) before practice and easily found a place.   This is high elevation, so getting cold this time of year, and I figured there would be lots of open sites.  I was right.

Then I drove back to La Grande to meet a friend for dinner before band practice.    I alway take back roads, and so drove through North Powder and Union to get back to town.   Along that road is this historical plaque.   It honors Maria Dorian, an amazing woman who was a contemporary of Sacagawea.     Her story is documented in a historical fiction book series by Jane Kirkpatrick.    

After practice I drove back up to the campground and crawled into Waddles for the night.    It is delightfully DARK and QUIET there.

I got up early the next morning to hike up to the top of the ski area (I was on a mission to find some geocaches).   This area has lakes, mountains, wildflowers, wildlife and is one of my favorite places to hike.

At the top, there are some interpretive signs about the Whitebark Pine trees which are a high alpine species.    There were lots of Clark's Nutcrackers, and Mountain Chickadees about. 

Hofer Lake

Fall is coming...

At one geocache I had to run a gauntlet of deer to get to the cache.   We all remained calm and moved slowly and it all worked out fine.

The old bridge

The new bridge

And then it was time to head back home.    Of course I took the back roads.

The bushes are turning, and were beautiful 

Out in the middle of nowhere!

I am hoping to get out with Waddles at least one more time.   I will be going back over to practice with the band in early October, so we will see; two days after I was at Anthony Lakes, they got 4" of snow.    Winter is coming.

 

Montana to Home

From the Dead Indian Campground I headed on up Hwy 296 toward the Beartooth Hwy.    This highway runs between Cooke City and Red Lodge Montana.  You may recall I travel the Beartooth a few years back.      I decided this time to head toward Cooke City, and through the northern edge of Yellowstone National Park.   I got up VERY early because, those of you who know me, know I do NOT like crowds of people, so wanted to avoid most of the congestion I knew would be in Yellowstone.     The sunrise along the highway was wonderful.   The mountains are breath-taking.

I was not so early hitting Yellowstone that there were no people there.   Plenty of them, poised with Cameras to get that perfect shot in the Lamar Valley, and plenty of them just out to see the many many bison, and bison babies.    I didn't stop (unless traffic was stopped), but did manage to get a few photos out the car window.   It is amazing, and being LOVED to death I fear.

You may recall seeing photos from the flooding that occurred last year in and around Yellowstone.   One photo in particular showing how high the water had gotten, and a big swathe of the highway that was washed away.   I drove though that part of the park, and encountered significant delays due to the massive amount of reconstruction going on.    It was impressive.

I headed north out of the park through the little town of Gardener. and back up onto I-90.   This time I jumped off at Missoula and headed west on Hwy 12, over Lolo Pass.    Once again, I found a lovely little Forest Service Campground for the night.

Another VERY early morning as I was close enough to home to think I could make it from there in one day (nearly 500 miles).    Hwy 12 follows the Clearwater River and is another beautiful drive winding through the mountains and along the river.

Hwy 12 took me to Lewiston, Idaho and then on through Walla Walla, Washington.     I could finally see the Columbia River and knew I was getting close to home.

I ended up back on I-84, which takes me almost home.      Mt Hood in my view meant I was almost there.

I am home now, Waddles and the car have been washed.  I still have a lot of unpacking and laundry to do.    Trip Statistics:

Total distance driving: 4725 miles

Number of States: 9

Number of days: 15

I haven't totaled up my average miles per gallons, nor what I paid for gas, not sure I want to know, but the price varied wildly.  Wisconsin was the cheapest by far at $3.12 per gallon.   I think Oregon and Washington were the highest at about $4.49 per gallon.

Can't wait for our next adventure.    I still love Waddles so much.