August 16 – 21, 2020. After our trip to Glacier National Park, we were once again looking for a place where we could just relax and pursue our newest hobby, stalking birds. Along our path to our next provisioning stop in Great Falls, I found Freezout Lake. Freezout Lake is a Montana Wildlife Management area …read more
August 1 – 6, 2020. Often times after big events like visiting major National Parks we need to do something a bit more relaxing like kayaking and looking for birds. Actually, we are always looking for birds and other wildlife but it is nice to take time out to dedicate to just doing that. So …read more
July 4 & July 22 – July 30, 2020. One thing I found rather curious about Yellowstone National Park is how many people I saw fishing. I imagine someone’s significant other coming home and saying, “Honey I just booked us a vacation to Yellowstone National Park, the country’s first national park and a UNESCO World …read more
July 20 – 21 & August 7 – 13, 2020 Mountains. They are all over out west. When I first moved to Tucson, AZ from the Midwest some 30 years ago I was awed by the mountains. I’d never lived near mountains before and in Tucson, the city ran right up to their ascent. As …read more
July 1, July 10-14, 2020. Right now this very minute a breeze blows through Ballena Blanca as I sit here writing. Greg is sitting outside playing the guitar. Life is lazy. We have spent a week camping out in the Freezout Lake Wildlife Management Area where we have had the best internet connection since we’ve …read more
It was summer, 1849. When we left Independence, Missouri months earlier our wagon was loaded with 2495 pounds of gear and supplies including five barrels of flour, 600 lbs of bacon, 100 lbs of coffee, three rifles, and three pistols. We were a bit lighter now, having covered over half of the more than 2000 …read more
June 21 – June 24, 2020. We didn’t expect to find shorebirds in Idaho, we didn’t expect to find an amazing canyon with such amazing scenery in Idaho, and we didn’t expect to find the tallest sand dune in North America in Idaho. And we had no idea we’d find all of this in one …read more
June 19 – 20, 2020. It was a little disappointing that we didn’t get to kayak on the Snake River. When we were at Swan Falls the weather turned bad on the days we had lined up for kayaking and at Celebration Park, north of the Swan Falls dam, the current ran too fast for …read more
June 11 – 18, 2020. I’m not sure exactly how the idea to visit Idaho popped into my head. It must have been some #vanlife Instagram image or perhaps a photograph of some picturesque Idaho campsite from the Campendium newsletter. Whatever it was, up until that point I had never thought of Idaho as a …read more
June 7 – June 9, 2020. “Oops”, thought Craig Breedlove. “The braking chutes won’t deploy. ‘Spirit’ and I are in for a rough stop.” It was October 15, 1964, at Bonneville Salt Flats. Craig, driving the ‘Spirit of America’, had just iced the world land speed record on his second pass at 526 MPH. ‘Spirit of …read more