WOW! I can't think of what else to say...We are having a Montanastic time! In a trip that has already been so filled with great experiences and dear friends - I keep thinking that one of these times there will have to be a dud, but it never happens! The whole experience has really been magical. We got up this morning and quickly added my 45th (Wyoming) and 46th (Montana) states. We've been writing the states we go to on the van windows along with our ambition of "27 states in 25 days" (I think the graffiti helped to get me out of the speeding ticket yesterday!) So this morning JonDavid was getting something out of the van at the hotel and an older couple was walking past carrying their cooler to their car. The husband pretended to hand off the cooler to his wife and exclaimed "Take this...I'm going with them!"
I realized something while I was driving today, that really has to be of the Lord...I have not gotten sleepy ONCE while driving on this trip. I think it is about 50% people praying for me and 50% the spectacular scenery that makes it too stimulating to get sleepy! Here are just a couple of examples of the interesting things out the window: A sign near Mt. Rushmore that said "Buffalo are NOT friendly - do NOT leave your car, do NOT approach them" That is just the sort of sign we don't see often in Western New York! Also, today we continued to travel Rte. 90 - that major interstate that traverses the nation--But I noticed in Wyoming that several of the exit ramps were actually dirt roads!
I thought I was amazed at the natural beauty of Wyoming until we got to Montana. Every prejudicial thought I've ever had about Montana was wrong! (Steve Lebien, if you are reading this, I apologize for making fun of your home state!) I spent the day with my mouth hanging open at the splendor of this place. We saw the snow-covered Rocky mountains, bluffs, buttes, Bozeman pass: just one incredible vista after another. It took forever to get to Ann's because I kept jumping out of the car to take pictures!
Finally about dinner time we got off at the exit and dear Ann was waiting in her pick-up truck to guide us back the 12 mile dirt road to their ranch! Words fail me to describe how enchanting it is...as well as their hospitality! Every nook and cranny of this place is picturesque, from the log home with the stone fireplace and the great wooden table and rough hewn decor, to the beautiful barn which actually smells like sweet hay instead of animal crap! and which has the upstairs all decorated with white Christmas lights for their barn dances, to the grassy prairie lands surrounded by mountains, to the massive starry sky uninterrupted by any artificial lights the whole place is just incredible.
And the hospitality matches the scenery! The kids are already enchanted as Ann let each of them drive the truck through the pasturelands tonight while we were hunting for a rattlesnake she'd seen today and wanted to kill, tan, and send with us as a souvenir! (And even when JonDavid's driving sent Uncle Ray toppling backwards out of the back of the truck, everyone still kept their sense of humor!) Tonight we had a great late night dinner (10pm!) around their big table - spinach ravioli, strawberries, fresh salad and bread and strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert! Yum, I'm stuffed!
Tomorrow we are going tubing on the river, going back out to try to find the elusive rattlesnake, having a cook-out and I'm not sure what else - I think seeing some of the local sights and then on Tuesday we are going to Yellowstone. Thank God for facebook - Ann and I reconnected just in time to include them on our trip itinerary. On Wednesday we head out for Glacier National Park, that is if we haven't decided to have all of our belongings shipped out to stay on living here in Montana!
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