Driving west... again.

I always dread the 6-7 days it takes to drive through N Dakota and Montana... OK, it feels like 6-7 days but I guess the option of driving thru Saskatchewan and the flat part of Alberta is much the same... The nice part of N Dakota is the badlands.. it's such an awesome landscape with the many colors and buttes and rock formations....

And the nice part is the fact that I did some hard driving and in two days, have reached Spokane WA. The weather has been clear and dry and hot.. I was wondering about the fires that we keep hearing about in Idaho but I didn't see any signs of forest fires in the part I went through.

But... the highway was quite smokey in Montana approaching Missoula.  It was kind of funny coz when I arrived in Missoula, the smoke had dissipated and it was clear and hot in the city.  Then, on the way out of town, there was obvious smoke rising from the hills to the south west.

Nothing in the local news about Montana fires so I assume it is all under control.

Tomorrow I drive up to Vancouver and over to the island on Thursday.

Life... she's good!

pleasant evening in Duluth....

Tonite, we were having dinner on the deck - had a "Saltie" moored out on the lake when a big "Laker" floated by... so nice to have a great lake view off the deck..

Soooo, we decided to head out after dinner to the lake walk ....

There was a fair amount of activity on the lake tonite... I managed to get the Saltie in the background for a lot of my photos... plus some kayakers and Jewels, in a pensive moment.

We stopped at the Leif Eirikson rose gardens on the way back.. it was getting dark so we may stop in tomorrow to get some pics.. it's a lovely place named after a great Icelander!

Leif is Good...

Looking forward to seeing my kids...

Well, I'm off for a drive out west this weekend.  Leaving on Sunday and I have a lovely place to house sit in Victoria.  I'm really looking forward to this.. not only a nice place to stay but the people seem to be very nice as well...

After a couple of weeks, I'm heading out to Courtenay to see Jill and the kids..  I can't wait to see them.. sweet girls..

Life is
Great!!!!

Sometimes my hiking photos aren't just scenery....

These are some of my favorites taken the past couple of weeks...

yeah... Life is Good!

Carlton Peak.. with a great ending...

Adding on more very important hiking tips.. If the destination has the word "peak" in it... very similar to mountain in that the last bit hiking in will be kinda uphillish... it was a very nice hike today.. just over 3 miles and as usual, the photo's don't do any justice to the actual scenery.

After returning to the trailhead, we checked out our maps and low and behold, we figured that the Trestle Inn, a very charming and rustic bar and grill we found last winter when we were up at Blue Fin was fairly close so we thought we'd try find it...

The meal was great, and we even found some company along the road..  a great day.. a Great Trip..  Life is Good!

Leveaux Mountain... it was so nice.

Today's hike started out very flat but a pretty trail... now, when your Hike's name includes the word "Mountain"... well, you shud know that it's not going to stay flat for long..

A lovely loop trail that got into a good climb including switchbacks... about 4 miles in all and at the top the view was absolutely fabulous... the panorama was about 240 degrees and the photos we took didn't do the scenery any justice at all..

We both loved this trail and if the timing works out, I'd almost expect to see it in full fall colors around the end of Sept...

Life is Good.

A superior day, starts with a Superior Morning...

I guess a great day starts with a great sunrise - Lake Superior sunrise off our deck - so nice -

Jewels and I headed off this morning up the north shore to Lutsen where we plan to spend the next 2 nights and find 3 or 4 hikes that work for us.. today, we headed up the peak at the Cascade National Park... it was a nice and somewhat strenuous hike uphill for the first half...lots of nice changes of scenery and some great falls along the way.. ended up on the big lake which is alway nice..

All in all, a good day and as usual.... Life is Good.