In the morning after I journaled, I went out for a walk on the property and was amazed to see how many more flowers have bloomed just in the last couple of days. Several of the cacti look like they are about to burst open with flowers, I really hope it happens before I leave on the 13th.
Looking out the kitchen window I saw a brown furry animal sitting on a wooden box in the backyard. Erin did some googling and we zoomed in with the camera as much as possible, and still couldn’t figure out what it was-badger, wolverine, vole, large prairie dog??
Lisa and I drove the Beartooth Highway heading up into the mountains through Montana, and then eventually back down into Wyoming. It is a spectacular drive, I am not surprised that Charles Kuralt called it one of the most scenic drives in the United States. We went from 5500 feet above sea level at Cody to almost 11,000 feet at the top of Beartooth Pass Summit. There wasn’t as much snow as I thought there would be, but the views were incredible. Our first stop on the trip was at the top of Sunlight Basin an area we had both been to on our way back from our separate trips to Yellowstone, but it had been raining on those days, so the views weren’t as spectacular as they were this morning when it was a beautiful, sunny day. Further on we passed an area with a few cabins and noticed that one had a Book Exchange out front, and next to it was a Dog Exchange – love it!
Not long after we turned onto the Beartooth Highway, we stopped near a bridge over a roaring waterfall, the water was rushing down over the rocks at an impressive rate, it was very, very powerful.
As we drove higher into the mountains, we kept pulling off to the side to take photos as the views just kept getting bigger and wider. It was incredible, our only regret was that our cell phone cameras could not take in the almost 360° views in front of us. We eventually reach the summit, where a very sweet man on a gorgeous red Indian motorcycle took our picture with the summit sign. The road leading up to the summit and then back down is very, very windy with lots of sharp curve and some pretty steep drop offs, it reminded me a bit of the drive out to Stinson Beach on Highway 1, though the views were more of what I imagine the Swiss Alps are like.
After stopping a few more times for pictures, we descended down into the valley to the adorable little town of Red Lodge, Montana. We picked up sandwiches at the local market and sat in a park to eat, checking out the adorable historic houses all around. There were beautiful driftwood sculptures of animals outside some of the businesses, and a fair number of art galleries. Since it was Monday a lot of places were closed, but I was able to check out the Depot Gallery, which had a huge variety of artwork at very reasonable prices. I was glad that I don’t have anywhere to put up art so I wasn’t tempted to buy anything.
On our way out of town we stopped at Hellroaring Ice Cream, I got huckleberry fudge ice cream, which was a lovely sweet and tart combination. The skies were getting ominously dark as the usual mid afternoon rain clouds threatened so we decided it was time to head back to Cody. What a wonderful way to spend the day.
After dinner, I sat outside and watched a baby bunny hop around the front yard and later a beautiful, fiery sunset.
