July-Sept 2022 MT to MD

 

                                        St John's Harbor

At Mallard Cottage with Aunt Catherine

On July 4, we flew from Helena MT, and landed at St John’s Newfoundland 20 hr later. We stayed with my Aunt Catherine and had a busy 10 days. Catherine took us out for a special dinner at Mallard Cottage, and we attended a Shakespeare in the Park play. Apparently, my taste in Shakespeare has not changed since high school.  Pat and I hiked several sections of the East Coast Trail. We were too late to see icebergs and not lucky enough to see whales.

Hiking the East Coast Trail

View from Elysia and Jason's Harbor House Deck

We spent a couple nights at my cousin Elysia and husband Jason’s house in Conception Harbor. At the time they were near completing a year long trip around the world. No small task with two kids and dealing with COVID travel regulations! This is the same house my grandfather built and where my mother grew up.

Bacon Cove, Conception Harbor

SMILE, you just caught COVID!

The highlight and low point of our visit was attending a dinner show with an ABBA theme. My cousin George and his wife Pam joined the three of us. Everybody had a good time and was fine until three days later when everyone came down with COVID, that is, everyone but me. Pat hated to see me missing out on all the COVID fun, so she shared her virus with me several days later.

Flood Damage in Red Lodge, MT

COVID felt like a bad cold for a few days. I tested positive for 2 weeks. For me the worse part of having COVID was the isolation. Weeks after COVID, I seem to have a lower energy level; the bar was not that high to start with. I needed to get out of our Helena house after my isolation so we took the RV down toward Billings MT. From here we took day trips into the mountains. We visited the small tourist town of Red Lodge, MT that was severely impacted by the flooding that closed Yellowstone NP back in June. 

Alpine Lake near Beartooth Highway

From Red Lodge, we took the Beartooth Highway that runs to the NE entrance of YNP. That entrance to the park was still closed, but the drive was spectacular. We enjoyed the 60-degree temps at the crest of the highway when it was 30 degrees warmer down in Billings.

Pictograph Cave SP in MT

SE of Billings we visited the Pictograph Cave State Park. There were over 100 rock paintings from 200-2000 yrs. old. Due to weathering and other factors, far fewer are currently visible. We also toured the Yellowstone Art Museum, which I found disappointing. 

                                  Aunt Ann, Pat's Dad, and Aunt Janice 10 years ago.

Pat flew back to MD for a few days to attend the funeral of her Aunt Janice. Janice and husband Mehrl had owned and run the Mayne’s Tree Farm in Buckeystown. They also loved to travel.

Minion feeling a little stiff

Sunset at Placid Lake, MT through a wildfire haze

In mid-Sept we started our RV trip back to MD. One problem with leaving a residence vacant for 6 -8 months is that a squatter could move in. This was one of the reasons we bought a secure condo in MD. Well, we were gone less than two weeks when our property was taken over by a big strong brute, pushing 340 lbs. The neighbors called it in and before long he was surrounded by officials. Feeling cornered he made a 30-foot dash up our large cottonwood tree. The Fish and Wildlife Officer felt he had no choice but to shoot the black bear with a tranquillizer dart. Apparently the first part of his body to feel the effects of this shot was his sphincter muscle, as a flood of bear poo poured down on the roof of our shed. The bear eventually fell to the ground, and was badly injured as a result of the fall. Later that day the bear died from those injuries. F&W should have known better.

His last stand

Mushroom of the Year

Sunrise in Siouxland

Field of Dreams Pitcher

One of our stops on the trip back to MD was Dyersville, IA, home of the Field of Dreams. We lucked out because shortly after we arrived a tour bus pulled in and the tourists were given a talk by the pitcher from the movie. We just happened to overhear the presentation. It was interesting to learn that after the movie was complete, the land was returned to its original condition, except for the pitcher’s mound. After the movie was released, tourists from all over the world started showing up at the site looking for the Field of Dreams. Finally, the landowner figured the best thing to do was to convert his field back into the movie set at his own expense.

Isn’t it ironic that the theme “Build it and they will come” was actually true, except that the movie executives and land owner didn’t believe it. Of course, the same mistake was made with the Hobbit sets in NZ. When will they learn?

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Laurel Hill SP - Fall is coming!