Like in the song “America the Beautiful” we saw the spacious skies of Montana and Wyoming where the land is flat and there is hardly a tree or hill between the fields and the sky. Now we know why this is called “Big Sky Country”. We saw the amber waves of grain as we drove through the plains states and the purple mountains majesty as we traveled up the 11,000 foot elevation to see the Medicine Wheel located in the Big Horn National Forest and wondered if our brakes would hold out as we traveled down the other side. We saw the fruited plains as we drove through Washington where there are endless apple trees and grape vines.
We spent three days in the fantastic Yellowstone National Park where Mother Nature can be seen at her best. What must the early settlers have thought when they came upon this land with its geysers, hot springs, mud volcanoes, and more? Thank you Teddy Roosevelt for having the foresight to declare this land as a National Park so many years ago so we can all enjoys its majesty today. What a thrill it was to see the magnificent Buffalo, one close enough to reach out and touch, although we chose not to. We did say good morning to him and he actually replied in his own way. We missed seeing the elusive bear but enjoyed the antics of the Prairie Dogs and saw a coyote and a number of Bald Eagles.
We were able to spend time in South Dakota where the boys had a taste of the old west as they rode horses at the circle B Ranch and we saw the fantastic Mount Rushmore and were able to be there for the evening light show which was fantastic. We went to see the Crazy Horse Monument that has been in the works for 50 years and isn’t expected to be finished for another 130 years, if ever.
We spent two weeks visiting family on San Juan Island in the small town called Friday Harbor. We were able to experience the quieter lifestyle there and find out what it is like to plan any off island excursions around the ferry schedule. I would imagine the islanders are all avid readers as they spend their time waiting in the ferry line, sometimes to find they are not going to fit on this ferry and will have to wait another 2 ½ hours for the next one. We were treated to the awesome display put on by the Orca Whales as they were feeding and the playful nature of the Sea Otters as they vied for our attention. We spent a day on Orcas Island and drove to the top of Mt. Constitution for a fantastic view of the surrounding area and the other islands.
As we headed back home we were able to stop and see “Devil’s Tower” which we learned was named by mistake when an interpreter mistook the Indian name “God’s Tower” as “Bad God’s Tower” and thus called it “Devil’s Tower”.
We also had some unexpected stops when we came across the Historical Rangers Station in the LoLo National Forest and the Smoke Jumpers School in, Missoula, Montana. And, we had stops at unique places like the “Corn Palace” in Mitchell, South Dakota and of course the “Spam” Museum in Austin Minnesota.
We learned some things as we traveled across the country too. We learned that there are great places for picnic lunches and almost all of them come with a squirrel or a chipmunk for entertainment, we learned that the rumor about mother and daughter-in-laws isn’t true ( in our case anyway), and we learned that young boys don’t care too much for long days in the car but after awhile the “Oh God-how much longer” laments cease as they realize it doesn’t make the time go by any faster.
No comments:
Post a Comment