From Koocanusa, we headed down into Montana, and to Talley Lake. I was inspired to check it out by careful studying of a map, and then looking on-line. Much of my inspiration comes originally from a map. A real paper map. Yep, I’m old school that way.
We wondered out loud as we drove in, what we would do if the forest fires came our way. It was SO smokey already. We felt like we drove a long way into the bush. The visibility was poor, and you could smell smoke in the air. Though there were some local fires in Montana, most of it was from way over in Washington State, where some big fires were burning out of control.
Not to be detered though, we found a spot in the campground, got set up, and headed down to the lake.
Hey big bro, let me hug you!!
Right away, we felt like we were in the States. American’s are not Canadian’s!! These yanks are a different breed for sure, and the camp hosts were redneck Montan-in’s to the bone! We are only like an hour from the border, yet they hardly knew where Canada was. Their awesome drawl is just the icing on the cake.
We were biking down the road (above) to another part of the campground that was a couple of km’s away from where we were staying, and the hosts came along on their side-by-side. They thought we were crazy for biking, and thought I was mental for having Chelise in the backpack on my back. So funny!! We had a good chuckle when they drove away, especially because they couldn’t understand me in the slightest with my accent.
Neika hinted at going for a late evening swim, and I totally encouraged her because the light was so pretty for photography 🙂
A bit of a thunderstorm rumbled around, and the tiniest bit of rain, and somehow, amazingly, it totally cleared the smoke, and we woke up to the most amazing weather. It was the perfect temperature. I’d say about 25 degrees at a guess, and so sunny and gorgeous. We had a bit of bike maintenance (and dental work) to do, and we just really enjoyed taking it easy for the morning.
I enjoyed playing with my camera and the harsh/hard light.
After some lazing in the sun (we hardly ever do that!) we went for a bike ride to find the cliffs that our friendly camp hosts had told us about. Never been there themselves of course!! The smoke had started to come back again, but it was just a gorgeous spot and the kids really loved jumping.
And then some gorgeous evening light, and some cute kids to finish a really lovely day 🙂