Olsen Family: Harley Ride 2011

Tony and I try to get away on the Harley for a few days, each year. This year, we took a ride up to Jackson Hole, Wyoming...through Yellowstone Park...we went out the north east entrance and over the bear tooth pass into Red Lodge Montana....over to Anaconda Montana....and back down to home. It was a beautiful drive clear to Anaconda. We had just been through Yellowstone at the end of July, with the kids. So I didn't take any pictures in there, but it is always amazing to me how people get worked up over a buffalo. I guess they just don't see them....ever. At one point, traffic was backed up a mile. We thought it must be an accident or a bear. No. A herd of buffalo. It seems buffalo are almost all you see any more, in Yellowstone. At the gates and throughout the park, you can see signs warning you not to approach the buffalo. They will gore you. People just don't care apparently. We witnessed many walking out toward the buffalo, to get a picture.

Park Rangers were trying to get traffic to keep moving in those really slow spots. You didn't have to tell us twice. lol Once we got to the north east entrance, things were new to us. Up over the Bear Tooth Pass was just gorgeous. It was over 12000 feet above sea level. There were still little glaciers of snow all over the place. It was COLD. It even snowed on us a bit. But oh it was beautiful.

Here is one of 3 videos over the pass. This one is a little more shaky than the other 2, but you can still see the beauty.

Top of the World Sign

"I'm on top of the world looking down on creation and the only explanation I can find, is the love that I found ever since you've been around. Your love's put me at the top of the world." Oh so true! (Name the artist and you could win a free subscription to my blog! No cheating now. We're on the honor system. *please note my blog is always free. lol)

If you click on the next 2 photos, so you can see them larger, you can see the road twisting back and forth by itself. Corners were 20 mph, they turned show sharp.

This one was at the summit.

On our way through, we stopped at one gas station, where I went in to use the bathroom. I was surprised to see this:

My first thought was, "what the...". And then I thought, "oh no way! I am so locking the door. No one else is going to come sit next to me. Gross!" And then my third thought was, I gotta take a picture of this! lol. 2 "thrones". No divider! My fourth thought....of course I was thinking all sorts of things but....."In case you're REALLY close friends?" ROFL!!! I of course posted to facebook and got all sorts of comments. You'll notice there is only 1 paper dispenser. Do you just sit there and pretend the other person doesn't exist? Ok...I could go on, but I'll let you go over your own scenarios in your own mind. Ewww!

Tony's Grandpa, when he was 17, got in a pickup with some friends and headed toward Montana, to find work. He ended up in Anaconda Montana, working at the Copper Mine. There, he met his sweetheart, Montana Summers. They married and the rest is history. So, there is a lot of history for Tony's family there. He still has family there too. So our visit to Anaconda was a special one. As you get close to the town, you can see the smelter in the distance. And when you get to the town you can see it up close and personal, along with the slag (bi-product) piles outside of it.

Entering Anaconda.

Anaconda, Gateway to the Pintler. Notice the 2 big ladles next to the sign. Those used to be used in the mine. Now they are planters.

This is the yard for Tony's relatives construction company that started with his Great Uncle's Grandfather. We stopped and visited with his Great Uncle Ray Laslovich while we were there. He told us many stories about his ancestry and Tony's ancestry. We very much enjoyed visiting with him and looking at all his great pictures. We hope to visit again one day.

This is an old street lamp. Unfortunately the photo is blurry. I was on a moving motorcycle. I just thought the lamps looked so neat.

At the other end of town, they have some metal cut outs. Anaconda Welcomes You. If you click to enlarge, you can see some people and some animals.

Ray's wife, Tony's grandma's sister, Ruth passed away last September. So we went to visit her grave, since we were unable to make it to the funeral. The cemetery was beautiful. I was amazed at the flowers and such adorning the graves. It appears that the cemetery caretakers just mow around them. It was amazing to look up the hill and see all the color. Their headstones were in such neat rows and so symmetrical. And on the backs of them, the last name was also etched. It helped to be able to look from either direction, to find the name you were looking for. It didn't take us long to find Ruth's headstone. And it is a beautiful one. She loved to play the piano. And there is a Mack truck for Ray. He told us a lot about his trucks. He has some older ones that he just loves, and some great pictures of them. Again, we really enjoyed visiting with him. Thanks for welcoming us Uncle Ray.

The next morning we had breakfast across from Wind's Bakery. For those of you who visited our wedding reception in Roosevelt, you may remember the cake like dessert that we served. They are called Tipperary (sp?) Squares. Those cakes came all the way from Anaconda, from Wind's bakery. They are one of Tony's favorites. Sadly, they don't make them on a daily basis now, so we weren't able to get one while in town. Next time, we will have to order some.

At the Chamber of Commerce, they have an old passenger car sitting outside.

And one of the old Mining Rail cars.

We'll be back Anaconda!
We headed down I-15 through Idaho and towards home. The ride became less beautiful at that point. Hot, windy, and fast on I-15. But we still had an enjoyable time, and were troupers!

Tony's in charge of fuel when we're on the Harley. He is the driver after all. lol He stretched this one just a little to far. We were running on fumes by the time we got to a gas station. E=Empty which also = BAD! lol But, he is a professional you know..so he knew what he was doing right? lol Well, when we were stopped at a stop light...waiting....waiting...waiting....he was wondering if we were going to run out of fumes at the light. I think that is the first time the low fuel light has come on. It works! We had to test it to make sure.