Something New Evokes a Memory

 

Our time in Montana was short. We spent just four nights there, then headed back to Idaho. But Montana was beautiful and we will be back.

 

 

 

We spent a couple nights in a lakefront Montana state park (Salmon Falls), and our neighbors recommended Priest Lake, Idaho as a place to check out. I was able to get a reservation at the state park campground for three nights, so we headed right there.

 

 

I grew up just a few miles from one of the most beautiful lakes in the US, Lake George, New York. My first reaction to Priest Lake was an instant memory of Lake George. Very large northern lake. Surrounded by pines and with islands sprinkled here and there.

It’s funny — I haven’t been back to Lake George in many, many years. Since I was a teenager, in fact. But standing on the shore of Priest Lake made me feel a little bit homesick for awhile and brought back many summer-time memories. Triggers are funny things.

The fire danger here is extreme, and we started to see the smoke drifting down from the devastating fires in British Columbia. It turned the blue sky hazy, and make the deep blue water less blue. But it created some interesting skies at sunset.

From Priest Lake, we headed just a few miles south and stayed at a Corps of Engineers campground in Priest River. The two areas got their moniker “Priest” from settlements of Jesuits in the 1840’s. An earlier name was “Kaniksu” which was the native word for “black robe”, a designation that’s much more interesting, yes?

From our campground, we traveled about five miles to check out the visitor center of the Albeni Falls Dam. It’s perched up on the bank of the Pend Oreille River.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was an interesting display of the full  Columbia River System. It consists of 29 major dams. The Army Corps of Engineers operates 22 of them, and per the signage, it’s the largest hydroelectric system in the world.