My people decided to switch my Jeep beds for the trip so I helped them put the new one in! And I also got treats. It was hard work!
1st Day in Montana
We spent the night at the place we stayed last year that had bedrooms and a kitchen and living room. I really liked that place! The next day, we got to Montana and I stayed at the bed and breakfast we always stay at in Missoula. We stopped at the rest area just over the state line between Idaho and Montana because I like to explore the trails in the dog area and we. We stopped at a fishing access site on the interstate to look at the flooding from the Clark Fork River. Once we got to Missoula, I got to go to the dog park and go swim in the river and I got done before the mosquitoes came out! The dog park was flooded too which meant there were a lot of places to swim! My people forgot to bring the camera though so no pictures of me at the dog park.
Leaving Missoula, Stopping in Butte, Checking In
After my people ate breakfast at the bed and breakfast, they took me back to the dog park so I could swim before we checked out. This time, my woman remembered to bring the camera and got some good pictures of me swimming in the flooded parts of the dog park. We checked out and drove to Butte and met my people's friend. I first met her last year and I really like her even though I know she wants me to come up and love on her so I don't! They don't call me "ornery butt" for nothing!!!! I did sit in her lap and give her kisses! She brought her little black dog again. I like her but she's still just a kid so she's still a little crazy! We got lots of good stuff from her and her family! I really love the hedgehog, it is one of my favorite toys. My woman has already had to sew its head back on! After she left, my people took me to the pork chop sandwich place so we could have pork chop sandwiches! Then we drove to our motel not too far away from Butte. It's the town where my man finished growing up and he still has family there. We stayed at a motel owned by a woman my man went to school with. I really love her and her mom. She has Jack Russel Terrorists and once the bossy one tried to chew my toenails off, we became good friends!!!!! We had 2 rooms in the motel and the way they were set up, we could lock the hall door and have what my people called a "sweet." Not sure why they called it that, I licked it and it didn't taste sweet at all. We used one room as our living room, kitchen and dining room. The other room was our bedroom. I liked living there!
Mountain Fun
We went up to the mountains every day so I could play in a bunch of snow, swim and splash in some very cold mountain creeks, play a lot of ball and go explore. I was only on my leash twice the whole time, both times because there was a cougar nearby. One day there was a cougar and a black bear! I saw the cougar once and we could hear the black bear walking around in the snow. I saw a cougar, lots of white tailed deer, mule deer, marmots and Sandhill cranes. I saw lots of tracks and wild predator poop. I saw tracks made by elk, deer, moose, cougar adult and cub, black bear, something my people don't know what it was and wolf. There was so much snow up there we never made it to the place I swam at last year and we only made it about 1 mile below the lakes. There was 5 or 6 feet of snow still on the ground to the lakes. We found an old mine entrance up on the hill above the old mining camp and also ran into what my people said were idiots because they were moving some cabins and didn't bother to make sure the road was wide enough so they ended up having to cut down a person's tree and damage the cabin on the bank along the road.
Headed Home
We checked out of our motel and headed up to the mountains one last time so I could play. We stopped in Butte for pork chop sandwiches and spent the night at the bed and breakfast in Missoula again.
Leaving Montana
We had time to kill after we checked out of the bed and breakfast so I got to go to the dog park for as long as I wanted after we checked out! It wasn't nearly as flooded as it was the last time I swam there but it was still just as fun! Since we needed stuff to do, we drove to a historic ranger station and stopped. It was the Ninemile Ranger Station. My people said it was very pretty. Our last stop before getting to the place we stayed for the night was the rest area just before crossing over into Idaho. This rest area has even better trails than the rest area on the other side of the interstate. It also has prairie dogs that fascinate me because they look like squirrels that live in the ground like the gophers do in the park but the whistle at me! We stayed in Washington again at the same place we stayed at on the way to Montana. And it was PIZZA FRIDAY so we walked over to the Pizza Hut across the street and got a yummy pizza.
Home!
It was a fun trip but it was good to be home again with all my stuff and friends! I got to swim every day except the day we left home and the day we got home!