Sunday 1st July  2018

We had a great trip into Canada to visit with our good friends Jan and Tom.  They own their own island near Minaki, Ontario.  We travelled to the island in their zippy speedboat.  Their summer house is fueled by solar panels and propane.

Tom designed and built the spacious gazebo.  It was very enjoyable drinking a cocktail in the evenings while watching the sunsets.

We had fun canoeing about on the nice calm lake.

A quick dip in the chilly (freezing) lake was on the agenda.

Dean even gave paddle boarding a try with Toms windsurf board.

Hot dogs and beer.  Those guys looked pretty happy.

A lovely evening on the island.

Thanks so much Jan and Tom for a super visit on your little piece of paradise.

We hiked some around Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota. Not much to see unless you have a boat.  A pretty butterfly stayed still for a picture.

This dragonfly hitched a lift on Deans hat.

We moved on to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.  Agghhh that’s more our cup of tea.  Open vistas and views. We had a great day hike of nearly 14 miles.

There were plenty of Wheeler Thistles,

and Wild Prairie Roses.

This Echinacea had a nice tuft of Buffalo hair.  There was a herd of these beasts roaming in the park but we only managed to see their fluffy hair on vegetation.

The hills were covered in wild Spurge.

The hike took a downward turn when we had to cross a few of these streams.  Up to the calves in squishy mud and water.  We also had some bushwhacking through  burned out areas.

Since I was the muddiest I got first dibs on the shower back at the camper.

We had picked a nice big batch of wild sage and that sure felt good in a tub of hot water on the old worn out tootsies.

It was very handy  spending a few days in Bozeman, Montana.  Our washing machine had conked out in Minnesota and we were able to buy a new Electrolux in Montana with NO SALES TAX.  Thank you Montana.  Of course we all know cock ups happen in threes.

Next it was the kitchen taps to kick the bucket. Now I have some nice new waterware.

And lastly the shower bubble on the roof was leaking but all that took was a big gob of gooey crack filler.

It rained quite a bit but we got lucky on this day with blue skies.  Time for a hike. The hillsides were covered with Larkspur and Balsam Root.

We were so happy to hike in the alpine meadows.

It was also great to be back to clear snowmelt streams.

Moving onto Wyoming tomorrow.