Montana 2

Montana is a state with vast areas of nothingness…the only green we saw on the east side was the money we payed for gas…The speed limit on interstate highways is 75 and 70 mph on secondary roads…we laughed because we went thru a construction zone and the speed limit was 65… and there is no traffic.  Sure the cities such as Billings and Bozeman and Great Falls has traffic – but out in the country… the highways are empty…It seems that drivers are relaxed and in no hurry..of course, if you can go 75 mph how could you tell.

Glacier National Park was the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.  We spent an entire day driving the 50 miles on the “Going to Sun Highway”.  The brochures say that you can estimate 2 hours each way…. 

St Mary’s Lake

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The picture above is Jackson Glacier – it is the only Glacier that could be seen from the highway – the other’s required some hiking and our knees just were not up to it….

…until we got to Logan’s Pass – the continental divide…behind the bookstore/welcome center was “going to the sun mountain” – there were various trails – all UP…we decided to go for it…steps and ramped wooden sidewalks 3/4 of a mile.  I’m very sensitive to altitude so it took us a while but we made it 3/4 mile – did I mention UP.  The view was breathtaking..we just sat and looked around – in awe.  On the way up, these fellas were laying on a ridge.

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and here’s a view from almost 7000 feet – the continental divide

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On the way down….. the beauty

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…and this fellow standing right beside the road….

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Driving down the western side of Montana was shockingly green…more visible ranches and lots and lots of cows and horses.  What a gorgeous place on earth!!!

Until next time…… 

 

Montana

 Montana is a beautiful state…I didn’t find the eastern side quite as impressive as the other side – he didn’t really disagree but he thought the east side was beautiful.  I will say the landscape is like nothing I had ever seen before.  Lots of earth colors.  Lots of wheat fields – foothills/mountains and pretty much the landscape of old western movies.  Seems there were lots of dilapidated houses/barns/ranches…

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Very rustic.  I spent many miles inventing stories about the people who used to live and farm in these places.

We made it to East Glacier late afternoon…it may be a wonderful place to visit but I just didn’t feel right so we drove up this narrow, winding mountain road to St Mary’s.  Of course the pop up was still following us and by the time we made it to St Mary, my anxiety level was near the top…I think a lot of it had to do with being stuck in a car for many, many hours

We found a camping spot at a KOA campground at the foot of the mountains right outside the park.  The temp was in the low 40’s when we arrived.

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While he was getting the camp site together, I went into St Mary to get groceries…and tried to scope out the town.

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I took this picture right outside the grocery store…I ended up with weiners and bread for supper…which didn’t thrill either one of us so we went back into St Mary and ate at a little cafe with huge prices…but we were full.  That was it for the day…we went back to the camper and decided to go to bed…I think we both read for a few minutes…it was COLD but it was an adventure

Tonight we are in Livingston, MT…will share more of the adventure later.

Until next time….

::Edit:: he is reading a magazine about Livingston and says that the movie, A River Runs Through it, was filmed mostly in and around Livingston and Park County.  Now I”m intrigued!!!

 

vacation Wyoming, Montana black hills

 Wall Drug – hmmmm – overpriced food – lots of souvenirs and Black Hills jewelry.  Important to see only because of the original story…the druggist’s wife started giving away ice water to tourists who were driving thru on the highway in order to bring in business and today – it’s huge.

Decided to forego Mt Rushmore this time..we’ve been there before….so made it thru South Dakota and into Wyoming to visit Devil’s Tower….wow…this was a volcano millions of years ago…after years of erosion – all that is left is the hollow core.

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Those of you who remember my story about the honeymoon at Mackinaw Island – almost missing the ferry and ended up on the island with only thongs…well… this 1.3 mile trail around Devil’s Tower was done today……..

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We started up the hill of the trail and he asked me if I wanted to go back and get some decent shoes on and I thought it would take too much energy…don’t do as I do…do as I say.

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On our way out of Devil’s Tower National Park, we came upon an area running with Prairie Dogs…they were just delightful.

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We decided to drive all the way to Sheridan, Wyoming for the night…figured it would cut driving time off of tomorrow when we hope to actually arrive at East Glacier Park and set up the popup that has been following us since Iowa.  We arrived in Sheridan at 10pm mountain time…exhausted…but look what awaited us

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AHHHHHH

Until next time…..