After enduring heavy smoke for one day too many in Eastern Washington, we escaped and headed to the forecasted sunny skies of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. While under sunny skies in Idaho, we were able to get in two amazing rounds of golf at Circling Raven and Coeur d’Alene Resort.
In hindsight, we had a pretty good omen for the next few weeks of our trip. We finished the 18th hole at Circling Raven under perfect blue skies. In the hour or less that we spent grabbing lunch after the round, a fire sprang up less than 5 miles from the course. Smoke would be the dominant story for quite awhile...
We squeezed in a road trip to Harrison, Idaho, as I had read it is a quaint village and a favorite destination for Inland Northwest visitors since the early 1900s. We found the most amazing homemade bread at Harrison Trading Post and enjoyed a picnic lunch at the Harrison city park with views of the City of Harrison RV park which looks like an amazing spot for a repeat visit!
Given the size of the many fires, the smoke came on relentlessly, so we exited one day earlier than planned from Coeur d'Alene - we didn't want to repeat our mistake of sticking around one day too many! I was hoping to tour the town of Sandpoint, but it will have to wait for another year.
Having now been "chased away" from a 3rd city, we decided it was time to take stock of our upcoming destinations - after which, it became clear to us that it might be best if we avoid West Glacier (the blue dot on the map below).
My friend, Julie, indicated her place near Billings, Montana was smoke free, so we started heading east.
On the way to Billings, we made two overnight stops: Kalispell (which was so smoky we barely made it outside) and Big Timber. Our intended destination was Bozeman/Livingston, but all of the campgrounds we called were booked, so we ended up driving 7 hours to the only campground we could find with availability – in Big Timber, Montana - approximately 30 minutes outside of Livingston. We scored with this site! It was right on a river and so peaceful. The town itself was also very quaint. The smoke was nominal in Big Timber, however, it was still so hazy that the mountains were just a faint outline on the horizon.
We arrived in Billings on apparently the same day the smoke arrived (either that or Julie sold us a bill of goods 😅). Julie has an amazing piece of property, though - with a HUGE yard that Max enjoyed (complete with chickens - he wasn't quite sure what to make of those "strange" creatures!). We golfed Pryor Creek and Julie took us on a tour of Red Lodge, Montana - where we had the most amazing lunch at Red Lodge Ales Brewing Company - and took a short hike around Greenough Lake. As you can see from the picture, Max is still afraid of water.
After 2 days of driving 14+ hours east and still not being able to get away from the smoke, it became clear to us that we would have to abandon the remainder of our plans throughout Montana/Wyoming – which included a stay in Yellowstone, among others.
It was unfortunate that the entire drive throughout Montana, we never got to experience the "Big Sky" or see the many enormous mountain ranges. We'll be back!
After spending the better part of a full day cancelling all of our upcoming reservations and determining where best to head next, we have a new Plan B - which hopefully avoids fire/smoke!
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