I had intended to get this posted ohhh say back in September when we took this trip but I seem to be running behind and forgetting lots of stuff lately....like doctor's appointments.
Mom and I went to Montana in September to attend the wedding of Lindsey McDole, who is the daughter of our dear friend and co worker, Susan. It was amazing! I don't think we knew exactly what we were getting into but the adventure was great. Our trip started out a little crazy with missing a connection in Denver and spending the entire day in the airport only to go spend the night and catch the first flight in the morning. When we finally made it to Bozeman, MT we kissed our luggage hello, since we hadn't seen it since the day before, jumped in our rental car and drove towards Yellowstone.
This is a picture of the Roosevelt Arch, the top of the arch is inscribed with a quote from the Organic Act of 1872, the legislation which created Yellowstone, which reads "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People."
The cornerstone of the arch was laid in 1903 by Roosevelt (Grant was president when the park was established).
Just a few miles inside the park we stopped at Fort Yellowstone to eat our lunch and take in the scenery. The buildings were amazing. This area was once a US Army Base but now serves as the Admin headquarters for Yellowstone. It's actually really nice that all the buildings are still in use. There is nothing that kills a building faster than roping it off for tours instead of letting it be used. One little note: the grass here is so soft and lush. I wanted to just lay down on it.
Since our plans from the day before were slashed, we had no time line, we were just driving along enjoying the scenery when we saw a sign that said Old Faithful - 30 Miles. So what the heck, we were that close we might as well drive on down. We got there just in time to see it just finish it's blowing up. This was the best picture I could get. It was only going off every 90 minutes or so we weren't waiting around for it to erupt again. I find it really amazing there is no barrier to the geyser. If I wanted to run right up to it, I could. Of course I would be burned something fierce.
Please take note of our clothes, we had been wearing these since the day before, but hey no problem.
We saw so much wildlife in Yellowstone I was amazed. We saw more wildlife there in a day than we did in a week in Alaska, kind of shocking. We always knew that if people were stopped on the road there must be something big. One of the times we were slowly rolling along we came up to this guy.
I actually dared to turn around and said "say cheese"!!! he was scary up close!
On a side note, because we had taken time to go to Old Faithful we were needing to make up some time and I was trying to go a little faster only after we got out of Yellowstone did I read the max speed at all times is 45....ummm yeah I kind of exceeded that and it explains the nasty looks.
After we left Yellowstone we had to go through this mountain area called the Beartooth Pass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Tooth_Pass) It is filled with steep roads and switch backs. It was crazy scary and yet again we had no idea that we were headed towards that. I highly recommend looking at the wikipedia entry. After we made it through there we came to Red Lodge. I think it's one of the cutest towns I have ever been in.
The bed and breakfast we were staying in was in Roscoe, MT. I thought the GPS was wrong when we got off the highway and there was one street with a restaurant, our b and b, and a post office. I think there were about 3 or 4 houses scattered around. I have a picture of the Grizzly Bear Bar and Grill, which is the best thing ever and when there are only about 15 people in the whole town, just about anything goes. But the one great picture I have is the river running behind the B and B. It was so beautiful and the sound was so peaceful.
The entire reason we went on this trip...the marriage of Lindsey and Ben.
I don't think there has been a more pretty or perfect wedding. It actually took place on the river that runs behind their cabin in the town of Fish Tail. Wow, is all I can say.
I just had to share the "Big Sky" at the reception. The reception was amazing and everyone had so much fun. All I can say is that it got cold fast...
The band was amazing and lucky for us, we got to see the groom playing a little fiddle. Seriously I could be a country girl up there real fast...except did I mention it got cold real quick?
One last picture of the view from Susan's cabin. There is no country as beautiful as Montana that is for sure.
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