Week Eighteen~Alaska Trip August 7-14

                              Kalispell MT to Libby MT
              SOMETHING OTHER THAN MOUNTAINS
                                 AND RIVERS!
We had a good week while we were in Kalispell MT. Sunday was our  46th Wedding Anniversary and our son Craig’s 41st birthday. Yes, he was our 5th Anniversary gift, one that we have never been able to top! Our week was up in Kalispell so we packed up and moved on. We had a lovely drive of about 90 west to Libby MT. No particular reason that we picked Libby, it just looked interesting.
Libby is a lovely little western town. It is called the ‘City of Eagles’. So, we went to the Visitor’s Center to see where the eagles were and how we could spot them. WELL, two local residents have made several metal sculptures of eagles and they are displayed all over town, so now it is ‘a City of Eagles’. The sculptures and murals around town are awesome. Double click on any picture to enlarge it.
    
With all the beautiful scenery in Alaska there was very little landscaping or yard flowers around. It is pleasant to be back in the lower  48 where people decorate their yards and streets.
They like to put a lot of things up in the air here as well.
       We are in a lovely RV park with a train nearby (of course). On Monday we took a drive up Route 37 toward Eureka. We will be taking that road on Sunday when we leave here, so Phil wanted to check out the road conditions for the RV. It turned out to be a very nice road. We only drove up about twenty miles. We were traveling beside the Kootenai River. There is a dam built by the Army Corps of Engineers that was quite impressive.
  

  







We couldn’t get it all in one picture. Then we drove up to view the dam from the top.
The scenery here in Montana is lovely. We had a good trip back.

OK, I had to give you at least ONE picture of mountains and rivers didn’t I??
Tuesday I spent on the computer, doing some web page work for DKG and also finishing the August edition of the Chapter 20 Newsletter. With that done, I will be able to concentrate on my work for the Escapade when we get there.
Wednesday we headed west into Idaho, just for fun. We followed the Kootenai River in the other direction and came to the falls.

This was still in Montana, then we arrived in Idaho and made our way south and east to the  Lake Pend Oreille. This is one BIG LAKE.
                                           Forgive me, I must educate:
Lake Pend Oreille is a lake in the northern Idaho Panhandle, with a surface area of 148 square miles (380 km²). It is 65 miles (105 km) long, and 1,150 feet (350 m) deep in some regions, making it the fifth deepest in the United States. It is fed by the Clark Fork River and the Pack River, and drains via the Pend Oreille River. It is surrounded by national forests and a few small towns, with the largest population on the lake at Sandpoint. All but the southern tip of the lake is in Bonner County. The southern tip is in Kootenai County and is home to Farragut State Park, formerly the Farragut Naval Training Station during World War II.


When we arrived at the Idaho/Montana border there was a dam that was started in the 1940’s and completed in the early 1950’s.
   This was impressive to see. The power of water is always very daunting to me.
The drive back up to Libby was pleasant. We had a dry, sunny day. Up in the 80’s but there is little humidity here. They could use a little rain.

Well, it is Wednesday evening and we don’t have much planned for the rest of the week. I’ll update this blog if we do anything interesting! All the photos will not make it to the Picasa Web Album for another day or so. My account is full (can you imagine??!) so I had to purchase more storage. When they have updated my account, I will add all of the latest pictures.
See ya!