We took a quick jaunt up here yesterday from West Yellowstone (460 miles) It's easy to lose perspective on distances out here when simply studying a map, but it's all on such a grand scale. Still, the drive was pleasurable. I-15 was scarcely traveled by others with my passing of other cars, or if you've ever driven behind me, more likely others passing me maybe once every 10 minutes, and otherwise no one to share the road with. The scenery heading north is so typically wonderful that I found myself repeatedly saying "I should take a picture of that", but each bend in the road continually brings another view as great or even better than the one before, and so it is that one can easily become inured to the photographic possibilities. BTW, you can click on any picture here to enlarge it. And so we tooled along drinking it in, eating little cheddar fishes, and listening to Josh Groban serenade us in Italian - not a bad way to while away the day. Finally, we stopped at our KOA in St. Mary's about 6:30 pm. As we checked in we heard a small confrontation between the management & two guests. They were both 20-something, and were apparently of eastern European origin. I assume they were touring the country. Anyway, the were being kicked out of the campground, & the sheriff had already been summoned. Apparently they had been drinking, and decided to go skinny dipping in the pool. (brrr!) I guess the "ugly American" is not unique in foreign travel. This brings to mind the type of foreign tourists we've been seeing in the parks. I recall in the '80's it was the Japanese who were so prevalent. In the '90's Germans were extremely common. Now, it's much more of a mixed bag with these nationalities present plus others - Italian, Indian, even (I think) some Chinese, & Russians! Imagine that. I must mention the stars; I thought we had a beautiful view of the heavens in our country backyard, but there must be four times as many visible in northern Montana. There is an incredible creation over our heads as well as at our feet! Anyway, onto the events of today; we crossed Glacier National Park (on the Montana-Canada border) from the east side and drove the fifty miles to the other side. Not long compared to Yellowstone, but it took most of the day because of the continuously stupendous mountain views which dictated stops about every 1/4 mile for another picture. Pam & I were here 22 years ago with my parents & the girls, but on the day we went through Glacier Pam was sick as a dog, & saw nothing but the back seat of the car, so she enjoyed it very much today. This park has without doubt the best mountain scenery in the the lower 48, or maybe in North America. It makes me think of the Alps, though I've only seen pictures, so much that I almost expected to see Julie Andrews & her brood traipsing up one of the slopes! We also were surprised by the opportunity to see mountain sheep & mountain goats up close. In the case of the momma goat, it was almost uncomfortably close as she seemed to nearly take an unwelcome interest in me! I think I may have the picture upload problem straightened out in that I opened Microsoft's "Services" menu, & turned "on" any program with the word"Network" in it. (Are you proud of me, Worm?) 'm sure you'll agree that's more than enough for now, and so I sign off with my caboose resting tonight in Missoula, Montana & our sights firmly set on Seattle. Good-night.
No comments:
Post a Comment