VACATION

Well, The Husband and I have returned from our annual vacation.  Well, annual some years.  Luckily, this was one of those annual years.  We were gone for a week...actually eight days with two of them being travel days.  We flew in and out of Great Falls, Montana....flying in via Salt Lake City (and a run literally from one gate of arrival to another of departure--whew) and flying out via Minneapolis/St. Paul (with time for a Burger King lunch in between).

This country of ours has many beautiful sights.  The sights we saw were without a doubt "God made" rather than the bright lights of "man-made".  Before heading out, we visited the local Walmart to purchase our traditional vacation snacks.  One must prioritize...

We headed out bright and early on our first morning there in route to Glacier National Park.  Yes, we left the hotel before daylight and the only good thing about that was that I was able to capture this Montana sunrise.

 There were wildfires in Idaho and the wind was blowing so the mountains and sky were not as clear as we would have hoped but beautiful all the same.

Glacier National Park was beautiful, too, and we drove 18 miles to Logan Pass on "The Road to the Sun".  We would have driven straight across to the opposite side but the road was only open 18 miles worth so we had to turn around and come back.   At Logan Pass, we saw these sights:

Yes, the photo with the two wood "poles" show that they are ready for snow.  They put the poles so the snowplows will know where to come to scrap the roads when the time comes.  I can't imagine that much snow.

We then drove around the south edge of the park to the west entrance and drove the 12 miles into the park on the 12 miles of road that was open.  Then we turned around and came back.  West Glacier was a whole different landscape.  It was flat-ter with lots of water.

 The Husband really enjoys looking for "game".  He spent a lot of time like this:

 And he was rewarded for his efforts....

There were warning signs...

The large "bull" elk with his harem were over this hill.  I did forget my fear for The Husband and spent a slight bit of time coveting the nice lens on the other guy's camera.  Maybe The Husband was there to take a closer look at the lens and not the elk?  Yeah. Right.

 We even saw a moose, even though it was a dead moose, we stopped, gave thanks it was not our rented car that hit it, and took a picture.  The husband enjoyed taking a much closer look than I did.

The flat ranch areas were mostly "open range".  I soon found out that meant that one tags their cows and just turn them loose outside the fences to gather and socialize.  Amazing.  Just in the road.  Standing in the road.

And then the ranchers "round 'em up" just like in the movies....

There were classic barns...

...ghost towns (Virginia City--wasn't that the Cartwright's hometown?)...

...fall leaves......

....and beautiful scenery.

We ate lunch one day at Wisdom, Montana.  Population:  100....

....and reminisced about a prior trip when we stayed in the hotel in Cooke City that Frommer's called "the poshest in town"....

I lost my desire to ride in a hot air balloon by traveling the road through Beartooth Pass.  It should have been named "Fear Highway".  You can see the road just curves around the side of the mountains and there are no trees.  It was SCARY.  I have decided I don't care for heights.

I was sooo happy to see this:

I always love the artistic photos....

...and the turkeys and birds.

One of my very favorites (yes there was a deer in the distance)....

And yes, two of us went on the trip...

So that's it in a nutshell....see you next time....