I <3 Montana!!!! I think it's my favorite state yet, seriously. I never thought I could love a state like I love Michigan, but this is a different kind of love; it's new, fresh, exciting, even manlier :) We've been here for two days, and need to move on to Spokane, WA, moving closer to Seattle to see...... THE VISH!!!! I'm quite excited, but definitely enjoying all of the journey along the way.
Take it back to Thursday, we woke up in Buffalo, WY and it was a "light" travel day (no more than 5 hours on the road) so we took our time getting up and ready to go, for the first time since we left last Sunday! I went outside and did yoga and meditated next to a little stream, at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains: it was totally amazing! It was just what I needed to reset and recharge after all the driving (and sitting!) we've done all week. Since I didn't have a yoga mat, it might have looked like, to the casual observer, that I was rolling around in the dirt, which I kind of was. I still am shaking dirt out of my 'do, hahaha.
Once we hit the road, we headed to the site of where the Battle of Little Bighorn (aka Custer's Last Stand) took place. As neat as it was to see such a historic place and to learn a lot more about it, the whole area had a powerful, sad energy about it, since over 300 people (Custer's men and Native Americans) died on that hill (definitely wouldn't want to visit at night!). Also, to learn more about why the Native Americans were fighting so hard, (to keep their land and not move onto reservations), with so many people (1,500 people versus Custer's 200 men), a war we all know they eventually lost, was really something to think about. The way the whole situation was portrayed at the site, in the exhibit there, definitely is told from the side of the victors (even though Custer didn't win the battle, USA won the war).
One of the cool things about the site was that there was a memorial dedicated to all of the Native Americans, from five different tribes, who fought and died there as well, though it was erected many a year after the memorials for the fallen American soldiers. At least there's one at all. Overall, it there was a lot of processing to do over the course of the day.
We were both quite mellow when we left; the day proceeded in a rather melancholic fashion after our visit to Little Bighorn. Even the music that was playing on random from the playlist was melancholic (the Kinks, Modest Mouse, Pavement, Radiohead, Talking Heads, Neil Young, etc.), and seemed to match the Montana landscape. It was still very beautiful, especially with the Crazy Mountains in the background (you can read more about how they earned their name here: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=28947). We even saw some genuine cowboys on the side of the road, riding on horseback and rounding up cows: who knew!?!
We arrived in Bozeman in the late afternoon. Bozeman is unique and very beautiful because it sits in a large valley, with mountains on all sides, 360 degrees around. We were stoked to get to stay in such a beautiful place! Also, Montana State University is located in Bozeman, so there were good places to eat. We decided to head to the Montana Ale Works for dinner and we were not disappointed.
It was a huge place, and we still had to wait about 15 minutes for a table, on a Thursday, so we kind of knew it was going to be awesome :) The beer list was long and extensive, and one neat thing about the physical restaurant was that there was an actual tap room with glass windows, so you could look inside and see all of the kegs and the wine cellar; it wasn't hidden down in the basement or a backroom somewhere. I hadn't ever seen that before! Neat-o! For dinner, I sampled a few IPA's and ate a portabello burger with jalapeno relish and avocado on top: it could definitely give Kuma's a run for their money :) Dad also had a burger, meat-style, decked with smoky cheese and bacon; he wasn't complaining, either.
Yet, our time in Bozeman was short lived because we had to hit the road Friday morning and go to Yellowstone National Park! It was nice to get there early because there was still frost on the ground where the sun hadn't hit it yet. At one point, we pulled over on the side of the road to take some pictures and I found a secluded spot to melt some frost, lol. Makes me long for Sadhana Forest!
Anyhow, we saw tons of stuff at Yellowstone! Plenty of hot springs, Old Faithful erupting, multiple waterfalls, tons of trees, valleys, mountains, lakes, rivers, whew! I've never really seen mountains that big in America, so I probably took way too many photos, like a kid in a candy store with no self control, haha. Whenever you get out of the car at Yellowstone, it smells kind of sulfury, from the hot springs. I liked it, even though it's not necessarily a popular scent, lol. Guess I'm just nasty like that!
Since it's super late in the season, there isn't much open in the park, like snack shacks and comfort stations, so there was a lot of snacking in the car and peeing in the wilderness for these two birds. At one point, while making sandwiches in the car, my pants met an unfortunate incident with a half bottle of mustard, lol, typical, clumsy me!
After driving the Grand Loop at Yellowstone and stopping for photo ops all along the way, we were pooped and ready to head out. We stayed at a little town in Montanan called Ennis, about 70 miles northwest of Yellowstone. After a little research on Thursday, I had found a cozy little lodge for us to stay at (my darling brother's amazing discount only works on weekday evenings, so we'll stay at off-the-beaten-path places on the weekends) in Ennis, called the Rainbow River Lodge. It's so cute! It reminds me of the Great Outdoors, with all the exposed wood and the bedspreads that have different types of fish named on them, haha. Also, the owners seems like really nice, awesome people, Ed and Jeannie Williams. If you're ever out this way in Montana, you should totally stay here! What a warm environment :)
Speaking of the Great Outdoors, even the place we ate at last night reminded me of that movie, from the log cabin interior and exterior, to Dad eating the prime rib and only leaving the gristle and fat on the plate. I tried to tell him that "He ain't finished, yet" but he wasn't in the mood to play along and eat all of it. Gross. Also at the Sportsman Lodge (despite the sound of it the food was amazing and they even had cloth napkins), I swore I saw my friend's step-dad, who I know goes bow-hunting in Montana every year, but I was shy and it might not have been him, though what a coincidence that would have been! I'll have to ask him about it...
When we arrived back from eating, i had these great Latinos of sitting outside with a beer under the stars and blogging, but the wind was literally blowing like 60 mph, creating a rather cool climate outside, haha. I probably would have blown away, for real. And froze to death. instead, we hung out inside, listening to the wind howl and watching cheesy tv. I love Halloween season for cheesy movies and tv specials!
Now, it's time to hit the dusty trail to Idaho and Washington! I'll write again from the west coast, woo hoo! California, here we come!!!
Take it back to Thursday, we woke up in Buffalo, WY and it was a "light" travel day (no more than 5 hours on the road) so we took our time getting up and ready to go, for the first time since we left last Sunday! I went outside and did yoga and meditated next to a little stream, at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains: it was totally amazing! It was just what I needed to reset and recharge after all the driving (and sitting!) we've done all week. Since I didn't have a yoga mat, it might have looked like, to the casual observer, that I was rolling around in the dirt, which I kind of was. I still am shaking dirt out of my 'do, hahaha.
Once we hit the road, we headed to the site of where the Battle of Little Bighorn (aka Custer's Last Stand) took place. As neat as it was to see such a historic place and to learn a lot more about it, the whole area had a powerful, sad energy about it, since over 300 people (Custer's men and Native Americans) died on that hill (definitely wouldn't want to visit at night!). Also, to learn more about why the Native Americans were fighting so hard, (to keep their land and not move onto reservations), with so many people (1,500 people versus Custer's 200 men), a war we all know they eventually lost, was really something to think about. The way the whole situation was portrayed at the site, in the exhibit there, definitely is told from the side of the victors (even though Custer didn't win the battle, USA won the war).
One of the cool things about the site was that there was a memorial dedicated to all of the Native Americans, from five different tribes, who fought and died there as well, though it was erected many a year after the memorials for the fallen American soldiers. At least there's one at all. Overall, it there was a lot of processing to do over the course of the day.
We were both quite mellow when we left; the day proceeded in a rather melancholic fashion after our visit to Little Bighorn. Even the music that was playing on random from the playlist was melancholic (the Kinks, Modest Mouse, Pavement, Radiohead, Talking Heads, Neil Young, etc.), and seemed to match the Montana landscape. It was still very beautiful, especially with the Crazy Mountains in the background (you can read more about how they earned their name here: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=28947). We even saw some genuine cowboys on the side of the road, riding on horseback and rounding up cows: who knew!?!
We arrived in Bozeman in the late afternoon. Bozeman is unique and very beautiful because it sits in a large valley, with mountains on all sides, 360 degrees around. We were stoked to get to stay in such a beautiful place! Also, Montana State University is located in Bozeman, so there were good places to eat. We decided to head to the Montana Ale Works for dinner and we were not disappointed.
It was a huge place, and we still had to wait about 15 minutes for a table, on a Thursday, so we kind of knew it was going to be awesome :) The beer list was long and extensive, and one neat thing about the physical restaurant was that there was an actual tap room with glass windows, so you could look inside and see all of the kegs and the wine cellar; it wasn't hidden down in the basement or a backroom somewhere. I hadn't ever seen that before! Neat-o! For dinner, I sampled a few IPA's and ate a portabello burger with jalapeno relish and avocado on top: it could definitely give Kuma's a run for their money :) Dad also had a burger, meat-style, decked with smoky cheese and bacon; he wasn't complaining, either.
Yet, our time in Bozeman was short lived because we had to hit the road Friday morning and go to Yellowstone National Park! It was nice to get there early because there was still frost on the ground where the sun hadn't hit it yet. At one point, we pulled over on the side of the road to take some pictures and I found a secluded spot to melt some frost, lol. Makes me long for Sadhana Forest!
Anyhow, we saw tons of stuff at Yellowstone! Plenty of hot springs, Old Faithful erupting, multiple waterfalls, tons of trees, valleys, mountains, lakes, rivers, whew! I've never really seen mountains that big in America, so I probably took way too many photos, like a kid in a candy store with no self control, haha. Whenever you get out of the car at Yellowstone, it smells kind of sulfury, from the hot springs. I liked it, even though it's not necessarily a popular scent, lol. Guess I'm just nasty like that!
Since it's super late in the season, there isn't much open in the park, like snack shacks and comfort stations, so there was a lot of snacking in the car and peeing in the wilderness for these two birds. At one point, while making sandwiches in the car, my pants met an unfortunate incident with a half bottle of mustard, lol, typical, clumsy me!
After driving the Grand Loop at Yellowstone and stopping for photo ops all along the way, we were pooped and ready to head out. We stayed at a little town in Montanan called Ennis, about 70 miles northwest of Yellowstone. After a little research on Thursday, I had found a cozy little lodge for us to stay at (my darling brother's amazing discount only works on weekday evenings, so we'll stay at off-the-beaten-path places on the weekends) in Ennis, called the Rainbow River Lodge. It's so cute! It reminds me of the Great Outdoors, with all the exposed wood and the bedspreads that have different types of fish named on them, haha. Also, the owners seems like really nice, awesome people, Ed and Jeannie Williams. If you're ever out this way in Montana, you should totally stay here! What a warm environment :)
Speaking of the Great Outdoors, even the place we ate at last night reminded me of that movie, from the log cabin interior and exterior, to Dad eating the prime rib and only leaving the gristle and fat on the plate. I tried to tell him that "He ain't finished, yet" but he wasn't in the mood to play along and eat all of it. Gross. Also at the Sportsman Lodge (despite the sound of it the food was amazing and they even had cloth napkins), I swore I saw my friend's step-dad, who I know goes bow-hunting in Montana every year, but I was shy and it might not have been him, though what a coincidence that would have been! I'll have to ask him about it...
When we arrived back from eating, i had these great Latinos of sitting outside with a beer under the stars and blogging, but the wind was literally blowing like 60 mph, creating a rather cool climate outside, haha. I probably would have blown away, for real. And froze to death. instead, we hung out inside, listening to the wind howl and watching cheesy tv. I love Halloween season for cheesy movies and tv specials!
Now, it's time to hit the dusty trail to Idaho and Washington! I'll write again from the west coast, woo hoo! California, here we come!!!
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