Sunday August 10, 2014 Montana, Idaho and Wyoming

Left Great Falls heading down Interstate 15.  Part of this retraced my drive up from Alpine, but I kept going south into southern Idaho but took some other roads to avoid going into Utah (too far west).  I don't remember exactly where I took the pictures but I was obviously still in the Rockies.  I do remember that once I got off the Interstate I found a valley that looked almost perfect.  There were wheat fields on both sides of the road and a few houses here and there.  Further in it wasn't quite so perfect with at least one abandoned hotel and a somewhat cheesy water park before I found my hotel.

Saturday August 9, 2014 Great Falls, Montana

Today I went out to see several sites around Great Falls.  The first stop was a sculpture on the banks of the Missouri showing Lewis & Clark and Sacagawea looking upriver.  Up close the sculpture is abstract made up of metal pieces.

Next we went to the fishery and park around a river/spring that feeds into the Missouri.  It's right on the river and you can see various birds floating on or flying over the water.

After that we went down-river to Rainbow Falls, which wasn't much of a falls with the new construction.  A dam blocks off the river to feed it into a new generator plant.  The river picks up again around the bend but the falls themselves are pretty dry.  While we were at the lookout point there was a crowd of people who apparently just finished racing down the river.  There was a tent in the middle of the parking lot and a lot of people around it.  Other than overhearing some announcements, I didn't try to find out much more.

The last stop was the city visitors center which has a large traditional monument to Lewis and Clark near the parking lot and a life-size abstract Native American sculpture out front of the visitor center.  There is also a great view of the city.

All and all a nice relaxing day.

Wednesday August 6, 2014 through Idaho to Montana

Got on the road at 8:30 AM – earliest so far.  It turns out that Alpine is only a few miles from the border with Idaho.  Basically, I got gas at the edge of town, drove another mile or so and ran into a sign saying “Welcome to Idaho”.  The morning was overcast but not raining, at least to start.  The road ran next to the Snake River for some time.  I stopped and took some pictures of a dam across the river, but it was one of many dams from what a sign said.
I made it to Idaho Falls without much delay and immediately got on the I15.  I was expecting this to be the simplest leg of the journey.  Two things made this a bit of a challenge.  The first part was the rain.  It started again pretty much from when I got on the I15 and didn’t let up for about 70 miles.  It was heavier some times and lighter at other times, but it was pretty much constant until I got over the crest of the Rockies (there was a sign announcing the location of the Continental Divide).  Past that point the rain stopped almost immediately (at least that’s how I remember it).
The second thing that proved a bit of a challenge (at least in testing whether I can read directions) was the intersection of the I15 and I90.  It turns out there is about an 8 mile stretch where the two merge and to get back on the I15 requires that you go to surface streets (at least by my directions).  Getting on the I90 for a while wasn’t a problem.  Realizing that there was a turn while on the surface streets was.  I almost missed the turn mostly because I hadn’t read the directions carefully until just before the turn.
Back on the I15 I basically went over a series of mountains into different valleys – some developed, some not.  I also saw a second sign indicating I had crossed the continental divide.
Finally, after about 8 hours I sighted structures from the Great Falls Airport.  I keep forgetting that the airport is south and west of the city.  Total distance about 435 miles.