Day 5- The Giants Make Me Cry & I Finally Get a Real Shower!

9/19/2010 6:28pm Day 5

Well, it’s Football Sunday so the Colts and Giants are about to face off, Manning versus Manning. The media just loves this. There have been 13,500 games or so in the NFL and this is only the second time that Eli and Peyton Manning will be facing off. Let’s go Giants!

Yesterday afternoon I spotted a patch of thimble berries on a trail by Flint Creek so this morning when I woke up to walk Hanz we brought a little basket and collected some. Yum! We hung out for a little bit to enjoy the scenery and then started to pack up to move to our next destination. Hanz saw a squirrel of some kind run over to a tree by our trailer and he chased after it. It proceeded to tease him for at least the next half hour by going down to the base of the tree, making Hanz run over to it, and then running up- just out of range for him- and loudly chattering at him. I’m not sure what kind of squirrel it was. I’ll post a picture below and if anyone knows, please tell me! It’s definitely smaller than a typical squirrel and the coloring is a bit different. It let me get really close to it. I was staring at it up in the tree and it would literally come down to about shoulder height on the tree but on the opposite side so all I could see was its bushy little tail waving back and forth. I would dart over to try to get closer to it and then it would scamper up the tree, just out of reach and then stare me straight in the face... cocky little bugger! So I guess it wasn't only Hanz that this squirrel was teasing! 

The Squirrel that gave me and Hanz a headache

When we finally departed we continued along the Pintler Scenic Loop. Right before passing Georgetown Lake we saw the locally famous “heart” on the mountain. It’s basically a scree field on the side of a mountain that is perfectly shaped like a heart and surrounded by trees. There’s also a dramatic and unexpected waterfall just off the side of the highway. Tyler commented on how this is a very interesting and dangerous place to put a highway and I have to agree. Sometimes it's pretty crazy to think about all the work that goes into building the first roads through rough terrain. I remember when I was in Costa Rica a few years ago for school we talked briefly about all the lives that were lost in building the Pan-American Highway and I bet it is the same out here. 

The Pintler Scenic Loop just up the road from the Flint Creek Campground

Check out the waterfall!

Georgetown Lake is where I went fly fishing with the CFWEP camp about a month ago. It’s a very beautiful area. You can see the Governor’s house overlooking the lake and supposedly a cell tower was built nearby specifically for his convenience. I checked my phone, the reception is great!

We passed through Anaconda, a town named after the company which ran the famous Butte copper mines starting in the late 19^th century. Anaconda is home to the smelter which processed a lot of the ore that came out of the Butte mines. There is still a railroad connecting Anaconda to Butte. If you do not know much about the history of mining in Butte I highly recommend looking into it because it is absolutely fascinating. There is a great book called Fire and Brimstone, which I believe I mentioned in a previous blog, which documents the events leading up to and following a huge mining disaster in 1917. It also discusses Butte’s role in American history and really, without Butte and its prolific copper mines there would not have been an industrial revolution and our world would be a very different place. Not to mention the fact that Butte was ethnically a microcosm of Europe because of all the immigrants that came over to work in the mines so it was socially a fascinating place to live in during World War I and II.

Tyler and I had planned on stopping in Butte and staying at an RV park but we opted to stop just outside in Fairmont for the night. We found a sweet little RV park with really nice owners originally from Minnesota. It’s nice to every once in a while stay at a place that gives you internet and cell reception and (gasp!) a warm shower! Allelujah! So right now I am sitting at our little dining room table typing away while the winds outside are insanely blowing. Even with the windows closed it is loud and every once in a while the travel trailer gives a nice little shudder reminding me or how exposed we are. Of course this is the one night we choose to stay in a campground that isn’t surrounded by mountains and trees. It’s not raining yet but starting at 5am it’s supposed to be thunder storms all day and into tomorrow evening. Makes for interesting traveling! 

By now the Giants game is over, and not just the over that it has been since the Colts initially asserted themselves in the first quarter. It's so frustrating when they get dominated like this!! I want the 2007 team back! And Amani Toomer! And Tiki Barber!!!! Is that so much to ask for?!