These are the last photos I will share from our September Road Trip to Northwestern Montana. We drove west into Idaho as far as Coeur d'alene, where Joe planned to attend an event. We drove through Thompson Falls - and saw country we had never seen before. These two small forest fires took us by surprise.
.jpg)
.jpg)
I grew up in Wallace (which I'm guessing you drove through) and my dad loved to go over into Montana to fish along the Clark Fork, Thompson and Yaak Rivers. I haven't been through that area for quite a few years, but once knew it well and loved it. Now I am in Sandpoint and often wonder where the smoke is coming from once fire season starts. I wasn't aware of these fires back in September but I bet they were contributing to some of the haze I was seeing here.
ReplyDeleteWe did drive through Wallace on our way back home and no sign of smoke on that side of the mountain. Must have been an interesting place to grow up!
ReplyDeleteAll depends on which way the wind blows whether those Montana fires effect us or not - it doesn't often come from the east but occasionally!
ReplyDeleteWallace was such a different place when I lived there - a more vibrant town with the mining in full swing. Indeed, it WAS an interesting place to grow up, what with all the bars and houses of prostitution for a start! I'm actually pretty proud of how it has worked so hard to survive both the demise of its main industry and the building of the freeway which would bypass it. The townspeople really hunkered down and made the town survive, getting the entire downtown listed on the historical registry and keeping the residential areas up to snuff. I have no desire to move back there, but I am thankful for the people who stayed as well as the newer residents who have worked so hard for Wallace to survive. I was fortunate to grow up in such a beautiful setting and with all the advantages a small town has to offer.