Getting into the Swing of Things

I'm going to do this post over several days.  There'll be lots more photos.

We did our first yoga class in over a year.  It was great to be back, hard work because I'm so out of yoga-shape, but worth it.  We'll go back again at least twice next week.

Our location is perfect, only a block and a half from one end of Main St.  Lots & lots of restaurants of all kinds within walking distance.  One difference in Bozeman since 2008...it's alot more crowded.  Parking is difficult.  Main St. is only wide enough for two lanes in each direction.  That means no room for a middle lane for left turns.  The inside lanes both ways move very slowly.  Lesson: Stay off Main St.  Remedy...one block north & south of Main St. are one-way streets that move faster.  That's the way to go thru Main St.  (Our GPS hasn't learned this so we adjust.)

Our still relaxed agenda for the rest of today is for me visit a PC museum.  (Susanne not interested)  Back in 2008 it was small but it traced the history of the microprocessor & the various computing devices that used them...Apple I (I met Steve Jobs at a computer fair in Atlantic City in 1976, he was pushing it.  He was alot more accessible then.) to the TRS-80, Kaypro and on up.

Judging from their website, they've expanded their scope greatly.  Click HERE to go there.

Just got back from the museum.  An amazing history of computing along with robotics & artificial intelligence, both added since my last visit.

Lots of what is now really primitive gear is on display.  Here's a Univac system delivered to the Apollo 11 program in 1964 at cost then of $85,000.  It had 32 kilobytes (yes, kilobytes) of memory.  The system weighed 1,000 lbs.

Now fast forward 20 years to 1984 and my first computer, the Kaypro 4.   It had 64 kilobytes of memory, cost $2,100 & weighed 22 lbs.  Oh yes, it had a built-in modem with the whopping speed of 300 baud.  You could read the text as it came across the screen.

On the way to the museum I went down Willson Ave. which must've been the very high rent district 100 or more years ago.  It is loaded with Victorian mansions a la Prescott.

Susanne really loves sunsets and mountains.  Since we haven't left town yet, what she's shot so far isn't that great.  She hopes to improve, starting with this evening.

Both are from within the city limits of Bozeman.

A local beer:

We drove into the mountains for our walleye dinner.  Even the GPS says we're between ridges.

The road runs along the Gallatin River, a big, rushing stream.  Kayakers & rafters abound, but not when I stop to take a shot.

No sun just sucks the zing out of a landscape photo.

But it came out for a moment during dinner, so I rushed to the parking lot & took these.  I'm not that happy with them cuz there's too much civilization that I can't crop out.

The walleye, BTW, was not that great.  It has a distinctive but very, very subtle flavor.  Done right (lightly breaded, pan fried...just like Mom used to make) it's fabulous.  Our creative chef covered it with a lobster(!) sauce.  Should've asked for it on the side.  Even the photo didn't come out right.

But I digress.

The drive back was cloudy, but what the heck, let's show the shots anyway.  These taken by Susanne thru the windshield.

How about the last one in monochrome.

A photography note:  Susanne has the better camera with photo-enhancement features built in and she's more of a shutter bug than me.  So many of the pics are hers.

Friday morning, we left for Livingston, a town about 30 miles by the Interstate.  But alot more interesting by another route thru the mountains.

The last bit of winter snow.

Big sky country.  It just is.  You see it, you feel it.

From meadows to mountains.

The road not taken...into the woods.

Livingston, at last.  This is a railway station from back in the days when they knew how to build them.  It has sort of a European feel to it.

Although we're in Montana & Yellowstone NP is in Wyoming, this part of Montana is the northern gateway to Yellowstone.  And in these part, vintage tourist buses have been pressed back into service.  The color code is yellow for Yellowstone (of course!) & red for Glacier.

A hotel lobby reminiscent of the Hassayampa Inn in Prescott.  BTW, if you don't have an animal projecting from your wall or fireplace, you ain't Montana!

We stopped for lunch at this great little place, counter service but table delivery.  We were fortunate to have a celebrity among us...Superboy along with mom & little brother.

At these places, you usually get a number on a tall holder so the runner can find you.  Not here.  Everyone gets a green bottle, ours with a duck.

OK, enough for this post.  Tonight we're going to the local synagogue for Friday night services with live music & a pot luck afterwards.

Tomorrow?  Haven't figured that out yet.  There's a festival on Main St.  The Museum of the West at Montana State University/Bozeman beckons.  We'll work it out in the morn.

Oh yes, we swapped out our rental car for a Chrysler 300, much bigger/better.  We're from California now.