Before I update you on our recent trip west, I need to indulge the followers of the healing fingers. I think we're making progress.
We left Tuesday evening, later than we planned and made it to Madison, Wisconsin. That was OK, we could make up the time the next day. Well, that was fine until I decided to surprise Georgia and stop by the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN.. I think it was worth it as she seemed to really enjoy being in shopping heaven, even if it was only for a couple of hours. That night we made it to St. Cloud, MN, knowing that we could make it to our next planned stop by the next evening by driving a little extra. About here there was a little disappointment, however because we had expected that we would be at the right place and time for beautiful fall tree colors. However, we forgot about the cold snap that swept across the area just ahead of us and frosted the trees before they had developed their color. Our goal for that evening was Glendive, Montana, just across the North Dakota, Montana line. We didn't take into account that the pheasant season had just started and eastern Montana was included in the hot pheasant hunting country, so every rooming place was surrounded by pick-up trucks and filled with hunters. It had gotten dark about Bismarck, ND, so that also made the trip a bit unpleasant since we were missing the scenery we had come to view. We decided that rather than taking the "through the country" route that we had planned for daytime travel to Glacier National Park, we
needed to stay on the interstate and go on to Billings for the night. 3 hours later, we find that Billings is hosting the Northern International Livestock Exposition (NILE) as well as a state teacher's convention, so every room in Billings was booked. On to Bozeman where we had secured a room. After a few hours of sleep, we found that Bozeman was a beautiful spot on the earth surrounded by several mountain ranges. We also experienced our first Hilton Garden Inn..... good place. To give us some time at Glacier, we pushed on to stay in Great Falls, Montana, only 3 hour
s from the east entrance to the park at St Mary. Check out this western disabled parking spot in Great Falls. My, m
y, I have never seen such majestic mountains as we saw going up the "going to the sun" road. Oh, another small surprise. Although the web site said the park would be open til Oct 18, we found building except a couple of primitive rest rooms locked up without a person in sight. There were a few adventerous souls on the road and we did enjoy the free trip up into the park. We know the road would be closed to going completely across, so that wasn't a disappointment. If you get near this area, it is worth the trip. On the way out, just past St. Mary we rounded a curve and Georgia got a dream come true experience. There along the road was a band of horses. She jumped out and started snapping pictures. We made it to Kalispell, MT where we had booked a room (no more
chances taken) about dark, so we didn't get to go into the west end of the park. Got a good night's sleep before making the last leg of the trip to Pullman. We took state roads southwest to get to I-90. Just outside Plains, MT after talking with Greg on the phone, Georgia saw a herd (flock) of Bighorn sheep resting on a cliff along the road. That was a thrill for both of us as the horses and a few deer were about all we saw besides cows to this point. Well, we did see a herd of bison on the blackfoot reservation. Once we hit I-90, we were ready to be in Pullman. Believe it or not, as beautiful as it is, we were no longer impressed with scenery. I think we have OD'd again. Since we went through Moscow, ID on the way, we stopped at one of our favorite Mexican Food places (Casa D' Lopez) so we could crash when we got to our room in Pullman. So now, with one day of
work under
my belt, we are settled in for a couple of weeks.
We didn't get out Saturday, so had to modify our plans to go to Kennewick, WA for a weekend trip and modified it to a day trip to Palouse Falls State Park and return via Clarkston, WA and Lewiston, ID which is really one city divided by a river (The Clearwater, I think). These cities are located near the spot where Lewis and Clark met Sacajawea. If you don't know who she is, you need to look her up. But before we get to the trip, here are this week's pictures of the healing fingers. Only one little scab left, then we will see how much scar tissue will remain. We had a beautiful day with some sunshine. That may be the last sunshine we see in Washington if the weather reports hold true. We headed to familiar Colfax just north of Pullman, then went southwest 
toward Walla Walla about 50 miles. We wound our way out of wheat country where the green fields of winter wheat were interspersed with the short amber wheat stubble. As the wheat fields diminished, more rugged terrain with sparce vegitation (much sagebrush) came into view with lots of cattle scattered on the hills. Tiny towns would crop up here and there. We did find a McDonald's in one little town. Fortunately Mapquest accurately guided us to the State Park, but we were beginning to wonder as we left the state highway and although we weren't in the mountains found ourselves winding back and forth on little serpentine roads. Then out in the middle of "nowhere" was a sign "Palouse Falls State Park". We crossed 2 cattle guards (again; if 
you don't know what they are, look them up.) We came up over a rise and there was a little parking lot. I went to the bathroom and saw the sign about local inhabitants. I didn't tell Georgia about it til we were leaving. We didn't see any. Probably too cold??? We walked down to the rail and OMG Would you believe this is sitting here in the middle of someone's "pasture field"??? I think they call it a range out here. The falls itself is 198 feet high, but appears to start about half-way up the wall of the cliff. The falls is the Palouse River dropping before it winds it's way to the Snake River about 6 miles away. The Snake joins the Columbia near Kennewick where we had planned to go on Saturday. To give ourselves the chance to see more different terrain, we chose to take 
the "long way" back to Pullman. Believe it or not, there about 20 miles from the park, we went through Starbuck, Washington. No green and black labels here. The only green we saw had a yellow deer on it. I doubt there is a latte in town. Then we hit US 12 which follows the Lewis and Clark trail to Clarkston. By the time we got to Clarkston, it was dark, so we didn't get to see as much of this town as we would have liked. We went across the river to Lewiston, Idaho, then climbed up out of the valley on 195 where we had had come down in August on our way through the Nez Perce reservation to Missoula, Montana. After we got to the top, the road straightened out and we went about 30 miles to Moscow where we had a great Pizza at Gambino's. Got one large 
enough that I will be eating pizza for lunch for 2 days. But really good pizza. Once we were in Moscow, we felt we were essentially "home" as it is only about 8 miles from there to our room. A short, but satisfying trip to see more of this beautiful creation called earth. Oh, then to top it off, on PBS last nite, we say "Cloud, Stallion of the Arrowhead Mountains". Pretty interesting since we just came across the Montana Rockies last week and saw free ranging horses.
