It's alot of work shooting many pics, then downloading them to the laptop, writing the text & uploading the chosen images to the blog.
Making it seem even more difficult is our recent move to smartphones. It is so simple to upload the shots to Facebook and tap out a comment.
No, I do not want to encourage my blog folks to become my FB friends. I have a quota (already full) and don't want to enlarge it. My FB account is much, much more than what my travel blog would be.
I could create a FB group maybe called Steve's Travel Blog and encourage you to go there. But it requires ongoing administration, approving new members being the easy part. It's the ongoing review of comments & group member's posts that I don't want to have to do.
It may turn out that this blog has run its course & will just end.
So I'm in a quandary that hasn't been resolved yet.
Just giving you a heads up.
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We had a smooth, uneventful trip up. This year, instead of renting a car (to save mileage on our already aging vehicles) we drove our new Toyota Highlander (bye-bye Tundra, you were a good, loyal friend for many years). It drove like a dream.
The first day, Scottsdale to Beaver, UT was mostly state highways above Flagstaff. Flagstaff to Page is a straight run through desolate desert with colorful red cliffs most of the way. The terrain got a bit friendlier after Kanab, UT.
Beaver is a nice little town; stayed at the same Best Western motel as the previous two years.
The second day is alot easier, Interstate 15 all the way to the next stop, Idaho Falls. Our motel was right across the street from the falls, not high, but runs along the road for maybe a half mile. Turns out it's man-made, a hydroelectric project done in the '80's. The falls were always there, just human-rebuilt to produce electricity.
Our last morning heading into Bozeman was back to local highways, with a drive along the western edge of Yellowstone National Park, along the Gallatin River in Gallatin Canyon. It's a rushing stream flowing north with wading fisherman trying their luck. That was yesterday.
Gallatin is a very popular name in these parts...Bozeman is the seat of Gallatin Country. We have Meriwether Lewis to thank for this. Albert Gattatin was Thomas Jefferson's Secretary of Treasury along with James Madison, Jefferson's Secretary of State. These three gentlemen played a role in authorizing & financing the Lewis and Clark expedition to find the source of the Missouri River. Lewis honored these men by naming the three rivers that joined to form the Missouri after them.
Turns out, the Jefferson isn't much of a river. The Madison is a major, major fly fishing stream with the Gallatin not far behind.
The weather was great as we arrived in town, but turned stormy by mid-day beginning with a humdinger lightning & thunderstorm (rare back in AZ) and continuing off & on into today.
Not much to photograph except the side of this trash collection truck.
Today was gloomy with rain & thunder showers on & off most of the day. Same forecast for tomorrow, July 4th, so that may nix our sojourn to Ennis. We'll do our early morning yoga, then see what develops.
We did do Main Street today with a few pics.
A sky crane in a small Montana town is always a good sign. In this case, the construction of a new building on one of the two adjacent commercial sites that experienced a terrible gas explosion in 2009, one person killed.
How bad was the explosion? Here's a photo from the local paper's archives. Yes, it was in winter, March.
Buildings repurposed...this corner store was a bakery, now a jewelry store. The most obvious are the former bank buildings. I'll post a few shots later.
For the tourists there are lots of souvenir signs, many about Montana and others...life advice, like this one.
July 4th. The weather continues chilly & gloomy so we passed on spending the day in Ennis but had a great early morning yoga class. The teacher lets us spread our mats in the back of the yoga room and do our own thing. So Susanne does her Yin Deep Stretch and I continue my Ashtanga Mysore practice.
Every region has a culture. I love the Montana outdoor way of life. Had I discovered this wonderful place a few decades ago, I might've bought a summer condo here. I understand what Ted Turner & Craig Barrett (retired CEO of Intel) love about this state. Of course, they have ranches & huge land holdings. We have our rented Garaj Mahal.
If you're at all outdoorsy, you'd love the mag "Outside Bozeman", here's their website:
Outside Bozeman
And here's a poem from the current issue.
Meadow, by HG Moser
The gift of a mountain meadow
deep into summer
at rest by a winding brook
almost silent
a mayfly skitters over the surface
leaving her eggs
a mule deer observes from a
distant hummock
my presence a temporary curiosity
Awakened from drowsiness
by a foraging squirrel anxious
on leaving the pine grove
something we share with the
waning sun
There's another longer, even lovelier poem I'll save for a later post.
OK, not much in the photo department but I think I'll send this post on its way.
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