Around and in the creek

Just some photos and video updates :)

Nora feeding the deer:


Picking huckleberries on the side of a mountain:


The view from the middle of the creek in front of the cabin:


Shannon and Nora wading in the creek:


Flaming Marshmallow Man:

Days Three & Four

Montana is beautiful. There's no other word for it. Even the dry, tan and brown prairies on the eastern side of the state have a sort of romantic edge to them. I had no trouble imagining cattle herders and pioneers fording creeks and rivers to get to prime grazing land.

We hung out in Great Falls most of the day on Friday, even popping off to the cinema to see Pirates. Fun movie, lots of winks and nods to the rides, barely a plot but who cares. I could watch Johnny Depp as Captain Jack all day. Then after burgers and Nebraska corn we packed up and headed for the cabin in the mountains.

Lots of rolling hills with hazy peaks of the mountains in the distance. Because of the wildfires the horizon has been tinged with the haziness from the smoke. Sunsets are fiery orange and red filtered through it which is spectacular. But it does sort of impede the view. Then again, it also gives you an idea of depth and how far or close the mountains are compared to the rolling foothills at their feet.

We passed a couple of nuclear warhead silos (underground) and I took a picture of one, fully expecting to hear helicopters after us from being caught on their cameras taking photos of it :) no such luck because that would have made for some excellent photos :)

Finally arriving in Lincoln at dusk. Lincoln's a tiny town of about 4 or 500 people. Spring Creek passes right in front of the cabin. We waded out in it for a few minutes but *shiver* it's cold enough to cramp up your toes pretty quickly.

After depositing bags and food we grabbed some beers and sat outside for several hours just chatting and having a good time. We plotted out the course for the next day and then headed for bed.

In the morning, we rose early and headed off for Helena where we were going to hit the Farmer's Market, a bread store that's supposed to be really good, and to stop by a friend of gary's to pick up some books on CD.

Going to Helena involved a trip through Flesher Pass and tall pines and huge peaks with great names like the Sleeping Giant:



See his profile and chest? He's either pretty buff, or it's really the Sleeping Giantess.

Bread shop was yummy, Farmer's Market was ok. We got the veggies we needed and Gary's friends weren't home. That was OK. Helena is a cool city, even with the yuppies everywhere :) Gorgeous old mansions from cattle barons and senators that manage to look stately and rustic at the same time.

Our last stop for the day was a place called Gates of the Mountains which is an opening along the Missouri River that flows between the mountains... Actually, it's hard to describe how amazing they are. We took a boat tour about 6 miles down the river from the Gates with a colourful tour guide who told us everything from the time period of the oldest rocks in the cliffs to the meanings of some of the ancient Native American shamanic pictographs found in a depression along the cliff walls. We spotted some bald eagles who had not reached maturity and learned about a devastating and fast fire that killed 13 smokejumpers in 1945.

The day was brutally hot though and that put the kibosh on our plans to picnic at the other end of the boat ride, so we returned back to the marina and headed back to the cabin. We grilled Beer Baron sausages (made in Great Falls) in the fire pit and later in the evening we did the S'more thang :) Mmmmmmmm...

Here is Flaming Marshmallow Man:



Early night after that so we could get up early and go Huckleberry picking.

Day Two - Montana Trip

Today, there was a LOT of road to cover. Drive drive drive. That's what we did. Thankfully the scenery was amazing almost the entire way. We detoured over to the Devil's Tower in the morning. Totally worth it. What an eerie hunk of rock.



Was very tired though from lack of sleep. I think I was too excited, plus the motel guest above us had the squeakiest bed ever and evidentally couldn't get comfy all night long judging from the tossing and turning. Ugh.

Made it to Great Falls, horked some bandwidth from an obliging connex somewhere on the main road so I could do a Google map thing and get directions to Gary's house. My bloody cell phone has had no service almost the entire way up here. According to Virgin I should have nationwide coverage. When we hit Billings, Montana I finally found a connex but couldn't send the slew of cell pix I've got to the Spotted Gallery. Argh. And here in GF, it's got a connex but it's on some Amex service or something bizarre like that and basically, the damn phone is useless :( I'm v. disapointed in Virgin.

But other than that, it is lovely to be here, lovely to see life in Gary's neck of the woods and am looking forward to a laxy morning tomorrow, followed by a trip up to the cabin in Lincoln for the weekend which we will use as a base to get to a farmer's market in Helena, a huckleberry-picking trip and then a drive up to Glacier Nat'l Park on Monday. Somewhere in there we might do a boat trip along the Missouri and a little poke around the Tribune to see what a Gannett office is like ;)

Bye for now!

Day One - Montana Trip

Well here we are in Belle Fourche, South Dakota :) Yes, that's Beautiful Fork. Not to be confused with Gorgeous Spoon or Pretty Knife.

We made excellent time today and after some time worrying about being able to see Mount Rushmore, we hit it at around 2pm this afternoon. Plenty of daylight. The Black Hills are beautiful. Maybe it was the scenery change from flat, brown-ish Nebby but it felt like a feast for the eyes to be surrounded by tall, green pines and rocky buttes and peaks.

Jo drove through BH so I could gawk and snap pix and then as we approached a single lane tunnel there it was, looking tiny off in the distance:

As we got closer though, it became larger of course. Everyone always says, "It looks smaller than I thought." They say that about the White House as well. I think you build a monument up in your head until it becomes larger than life. Then you see it in person and of course it will seem smaller. But according to Bill Bryson, if Rushmore included the bodies of the presidents, they'd be something like 350 feet tall or something.

Anyway, we enjoyed watching some good storms off in the distance as we drove up Highway 2 from GI. Was weird to be able to watch them from the comfort of broad daylight. Out on the prairie, everything seems close but really is miles away.

We passed through Deadwood, SD on our way here to Belle Fourche. What a tourist trap. Yikes. I rarely get to see entire towns devoted to nothing more than sucking the money out of people.

Anyway, we're here now and pretty tired. We got up at 5am this morning and hit the road by 6. We're going to watch mindless telly and then crash. Early start tomorrow when we head off through Wyoming and the prairies of Eastern Montana. We should hit Great Falls in the late afternoon. Can't wait!

[More photos from today]

Musing

Why do the clerks at Walgreens always ask, "Is that all for you?" when it's my turn at the checkout? I don't understand that.

"No, I was getting a bit bored so I thought I'd stand in line for a bit. If you'll excuse me I'm going to go grab my shampoo and banana nut muffin. Be right back!"

Silly clerks.

So we're in the midst of getting ready for a ROADTRIP BABY!!! W00t w00t! Yes, the kid, the aunt and I are piling in my little black car and driving off into the sunset. With a couple stops in between :) A Mount Rushmore driveby on our way to Bellesomething for the night and then westward ho into the land of the Big Sky. I can't. frickin. wait.

I'm hoping to do some photoblogging from the road and from Montany. Anyone wishing to follow along can do so here in the paper's Spotted galleries. Crappy pix from my cell phone will end up in the Mobile Spot album and I'll put the better ones in the album called 'Roadtripping.' I might even, like, blog blog from the road too. I haven't decided. And I don't know when or where I'll have a connex.

Anyway, so that's coming up. Should be fun. Nobody rob us while we're gone, I have someone keeping an eye on things here :) I got nothing worth stealing anyway. Unless you'd like a pissed off cat.

I'm exhausted. Very little sleep last night, the hottest day of the year today and a broken AC at work (great timing eh?) makes me just want to crash. After a cold moviestar shower.

Gnight!

Ahhh good to be back

Ohhhh how much I have missed this place. It's almost like I can't think properly without it nearby. I've been a complete bitch about it too and I hope I haven't whined too much to my dearest friend and her hubby who graciously host all my shit. I'm sure I did but it's a good thing they love me :)

I've just come home from an evening out at Prufrock's. I hadn't been there before and while I'm not much of a martini fan, I have to say their Spice Cake 'tini was pretty good up until the little bug decided to take a swim in it. Relax, we were sitting outside.

A very enjoyable evening all around. Should do it more often. I'm told I should get out more but it's hard to leave the kid home alone at night. Yes yes I know. Cut the chord. And I'm getting there. And I'm sure she's enjoying it :)

Anyway it's late and I have to work tomorrow so off to bedfordshire.