Weather and Natural Wonders

We were expecting yesterday to be a rainy and cool day, so I wasn’t at all surprised to get out of bed to find it raining and dreary outside.  The high was only supposed to be around 50 degrees, so we had already planned to stay put for the day.  What I didn’t expect was the WIND!  We had 20 to 30 mph winds all day, so the RV rocked and rolled and the wind howled outside.  It was like living in west Texas again, minus the blowing sand.  No, we had blowing rain and it was just too miserable outside to venture out.  So we listened to music, did a little housework, read books and watched a movie.

Today was warmer and we were back in our shorts to make the 15 mile trip to Ryan Dam and Great Falls for the afternoon.  The dam and falls are probably no more than a couple of miles from where we are at the RV park, but we had to make quite a loop to get across the river and down to the falls.

The first thing we saw from the parking lot was the foot bridge across the river.

Here is what we saw to the east from the middle of the bridge:

To the right in the picture is Ryan’s Island, which is in the middle of the river and where we spent the afternoon.  The rapids you see in the distance are close to the picnic table on the island that we occupied all afternoon.

To the west from the bridge is part of the dam itself:

And from the middle of the bridge looking toward the island:

Looks inviting over there, doesn’t it?  Oh wow, when we stepped off the bridge, it was like stepping into a park that was manicured, well kept, clean and oh so pretty!  Looking toward the dam and falls:

And looking toward our picnic table on the other end of the island:


The fence was six feet tall, so it made it hard to take pictures of the surrounding scenery and the rapids without getting chain link in the picture, so I spent a lot of time taking pictures through the holes and hoping for the best.





After taking in all the scenery around the picnic table, we ventured to the other end of the island to get a good look at the falls and the dam behind them.



There was lots of information about the falls and the dam, so click on the pictures to enlarge them if you want to read all about it.





We had taken our lunch, so we made our way back to the picnic table to eat it, then DeWayne took his walk while I read a book and took pictures.  It was great to be out in the fresh air and soak up some sunshine.  There was very little wind today, mostly a light breeze, so it was a perfect day. 
We came home via Wal Mart, put up the groceries, I did the dishes and cooked some sweet potato fries in the oven to go with the Rotisserie chicken we bought for supper. 

So that’s been our last two days here in Great Falls, Montana.  We will be getting up early tomorrow and driving about 80 miles to the “Gates To The Mountains” and the boat tour to the “gates”.  I’ve heard it’s really something to see, so I’ll have the camera loaded and ready to shoot!

That’s all the news, so I’ll wrap this up for now and call it a night.

HAPPY TRAILS!!!!