Great Falls, MT

We stopped by Great Falls, MT and visited my nephew Tom.  We went to meet him along river road near Gibson Park.  There were numerous traffic stops from the geese crossing the road.

The adults would put their beaks close to the road and make noise to hurry up the slow goslings.

Turned out we chose a spot too close to the skatboard park.  Bailey had to get out her thunder shirt to help take the edge off.  Those kids are mighty scary with all the noise.

We decided to go look at some stuff. 

A trip to Great Falls just did not seem right without stopping at the over look of Eagle Dam.

We noticed across the river they had opened the area below the dam up to the public. 

Since we had never been down there before we just had to go check it out.

As we talked to Tom we discovered he had never been to Ryan Dam that he could remember. 

Ryan Dam is a few miles north of town.  Below the dam you have to cross a walk bridge to an island, that is a beautiful park like setting perfect for picnics and such.

Upon arriving on the island, we encountered this sign.  Hmmm made us ponder, what if it is something other than 8, maybe 3 or 19 or something, what then???

At the end of the island there is a great view of Ryan Dam itself.

 It was great to hang out with Tom, We had a blast!

Holter Lake, MT

We thought we might find a spot to swim the dogs at Holter Lake, MT

But there were no dogs on the beaches signs everywhere, so we found a trail up the hill to run them. 

Looks like a hot dog to me...

There were alot of pelicans floating down the river below the dam.

Bonanza and Custer ghost towns ID

Found a couple of ghost towns Bonanza and Custer ID

One ghost town was alot of foundations, and falling down buildings, and the other was one that they have refurbished to how it probably was back in the day.

This dredge for mining is refurbished and evidently during the peak season you can tour it.

It is floating in a small amount of water

We had alot of fun circling the dredge.

Down near Sunbeam ID is this dam on the Salmon river.  You can see on the right where they blasted part of the dam away to let the water and fishies get thru.

This is the same dam from the other side.  Look close on the left and I marked where Suzi is for scale.

Mackay Res., and Borah Peak, ID

We headed North on US93 and came across Mackay Resevoir.  We thought it was the perfect place to let the dogs burn some energy.

Gator here is showing offf her ball reteival skills in the water. (sometimes her head goes completly under while snatching the ball out of the water)

 Bailey on the other hand keeps herself high and dry during the retreival process of snatching the ball.

 The mountains to the East were magnificiant!

Borah Peak below

We came across this interesting road stop about the 1983 earthquake.  This is the epicenter and you can see how the earth shifted.   

Crators of the Moon

Our goal was to make it to Crators of the Moon National Park, ID.

Nature will find a way...  even in these desolate conditions.

Years ago we came upon this lava flow in the middle of southern Idaho of all places, and wanted to come back in cooler weather.  (we previously were here in August and it was over 100F)

We saw alot of cool stuff, but the light was wrong for the camera to do it justice.  And since, as with all national parks, no dogs are allowed, we wanted to move on to more enviting surroundings.

Cottonwood, ID

We started our vacation near Cottonwood, ID. 

There is an ancient dwelling we decided to check out. 

In the photo below, you can make out the dwelling.  Suzi is standing near the road for scale. 

 It was in the 90's when we were there, but it was noticabily cooler in the cave.

We enjoyed the rock outcropings along the road.

We found a backwash off the Salmon river for the dogs to take a dip.

Home sweet home... for the night.

Wild Horses

 Took our annual Trip to Montana this time via southern Idaho.

We stopped by Wild Horses Monument in Vantage WA on the way.  Suzi and the dogs took the hike up the hll to get closer again.

When she got back, she thought we had a flat, cause she heard hissing by the trailer tire...

It stopped when she moved away, so we thought it might be a snake, sure enough there was a rattler in the cool spot by the tire under the trailer.

Saw this Quail at Kens house

Marymoor Dogs/ Herons

Finally had a nice day at Marymoor Park, aka my physical therapy treadmill...

The dogs seem to like it too

The herons are back nesting for the 2nd year.  It is fun to watch them building the nests.

Owl

This owl was hanging out high in the trees behind our house one afternoon.

  We often hear the hooting in the late evening.

dead possum / 2 eagles

We had a sad but facinating event, a possum passed away on our property the other day. We decided to let mother nature take it course... it was gone in just a few days.

With a game cam posted on a tree near by.
We were surprised by what came in. We expeced a coyote or 2, maybe a turkey vulture, but there were none. 

We were surprised by the 2 bald eagles coming in.

This is all the video shots we got strung together. (for those I emailed this to, you need to go to the blog at http://www.gingerthebrave.blogspot.com/ to view it.)

Swans

It seems like we are seeing more swans each year. 

It is fun to see the white dots in the fields outside of town.

spring crocus

A sure sign spring is creeping in, the crocus' are especially perky this year!

Safeco Field roof

Went to the home show in Seattle yesterday and got this great shot of part of the roof of Safeco Field.

Alder tree view

We hae been thinking about cutting down our alder grove since we bought the house.  Well they finally got in our way of the view and will make good firewood for next year.  They will grow back. 

below is a before shot:

and here is the after shot:

This is a time lapse video of the trees disappearing:

Game Cam

Suzi spoiled me this year and got me a game cam for my christmas present. 
(I think it is as much for her as me)
Anyhow, we set it up out on a trail out back in the woods and this is some of what we got. 

I set it up low figuring I might get some coyote action along this trail.  Gator was kind enough to pose for me to see if it was set right.  Note Suzi is in the upper left corner.

below is one of last years baby deer.

 Then today I noticed this shot:

Here is a zoomed in shot of the same photo: my first thought... cougar? (we have a baby deer missing, and the coyotes quit howling around the same date as this shot)

Upon further scrutiny from the next shots I think it is a bobcat...  what do you think?

note the racoonesk stripes on the front leg of this blury shot:   zoomed in.

the tail looks awful short

same shot as above just zoomed in:

We are looking forward to bringing our new toy camping.