Speechless!

This past Saturday, I traveled to Glacier National Park with my friend Jeremy. We were planning to go in two weeks, however, Jeremy's camping trip got canceled due to blood sucking fiends (mosquitoes), so we went this weekend.

Now, I have gone through the mountains just on Highway 2 to go to Kalispell for my birthday. To me, those mountains were just not as big as I was thinking Majestic Mountains were supposed to be. I was right!

Jeremy and I went through one entrance to the park, only to find out that it was the wrong entrance for what we wanted to do. We planned on driving the "Going to the Sun Road." So, we turned around and drove to St. Mary, where it begins. The first view inside the boundary to the park was beautiful. It was St. Mary Lake surrounded by mountains. Throughout the drive, we frequently stopped for photo-ops. There was construction on the road as well, causing us to wait for several minutes at a time to get through the one-lane road. We got to the continental divide at Logan's Pass and got out to see the sights. There was LOTS of snow up there. I got a couple of pictures standing on the snow.

Taco, Jeremy's dog, accompanied us on this excursion. He is a mini chihuahua! (Pics below!) Taco is a ferocious dog when he wants to be, and a spoiled baby at other times. He was spoiled that day by me! Taco's mission in life is to chase anything that moves. While we were at Logan's pass, Taco caught sight of a ground squirrel. What a sight! He also poses for pictures!

After we left the park, Jeremy showed me a few places of interest on the West side of the mountains; Hungry Horse Dam, a natural spring (got to drink the water!), his sister's house, and his parent's house. I think the most beautiful sight after the park was his parent's log cabin. I was rendered speechless by its beauty! Everything in it is custom made! It has a tree in the middle of it! Not to mention, the black bear on the loft! It was truely a magnificent sight!

On the way home, Jeremy took me to get a Back Room Burger, which is made with Indian Fry Bread and is delicioso! After that, we stopped at the Goat Lick (a place where goats lick rocks for the salt), and took lots of pictures of the goats. Then we hit a hail storm on the road, saw two rainbows side by side and then made it home.

All in all, it was the best day that I've had in quite a few months. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Jeremy and Taco and the MAJESTIC ROCKY MOUNTAINS!

Here are some pictures from the trip!






Jeremy and Taco driving!

Train a few miles outside the park in East Glacier.

St. Mary Lake just inside the park boundary.

Me in the snow at Logan's Pass 6600 ft in elevation!

Jeremy (small) Mountains (BIG)!

The beautiful Taco on the rocks!

The clearest water I have ever seen!

Hungry Horse Dam

The best drinking water... The natural spring.

Baby goat at the Goat Lick!

HS Rodeo

I've been really busy lately trying to experience as much as I can here in Montana and around the community. For my birthday, I went to Kalispell, MT, which is over the mountains west of Shelby. I took lots of great pictures and was amazed at the scenery. As in America the Beautiful, the Rockies are Majestic! The Flathead river is a beautiful sea-green color and runs along the highway to get to Columbia Falls, on the west side of Glacier National Park. Kalispell is in a valley, to which you can turn 360 degrees and see a ring of mountains surrounding the flat land.

Today, I went to the Montana High School Rodeo Qualifier over at the Marias Fairgrounds right outside town. It was just like a regular rodeo, except the competitors were teenagers. I took lots of pictures which will be posted on FB in a bit. I've been to rodeos before, but being at one in Montana was a different experience. Here, you have the surrounding scenery to go with it.

In April????

This was NOT what I wanted to wake up to this morning!

I actually didn't wake up to this, but there was still snow on the ground. This is 7:30 pm after heavy snowfall all day! And it's going to continue tomorrow!

I made it through a Montana winter. I did not want to have to make it through a snowy April in Montana!

Now I gotta dig out my boots again in order to make it to work in the morning...

Sweet Grass Hills

Today I finally went around town to take pictures of small town USA of Shelby, MT. I had time to kill until I went hopping around the Sweet Grass Hills with Victoria and Greg. I posted them on facebook, so I'm sure if you follow me on here, then you are probably on there too! If not, e-mail me and I can send some pics to you. It was cool driving around town today, going places I've never been.


The Sweet Grass Hills are to the North of Shelby, near the Canadian border. You can see them starting just outside of Great Falls. That's one thing I've noticed about North Central Montana. It's very flat in most places where you can see landmarks for miles and miles. The Rockies are easy to see to the West due to the massiveness of them, even though they are 100 miles away!


Now, I didn't go up the mountain, but I got really close to the base in my car. Victoria was sitting beside me in the passenger seat underneath my parka (it was warm in Shelby, so she didn't bring a coat and it was chilly up near the mountain), while Greg was taking pictures with his awesome Nokia professional camera, bending in awkward positions to get the best pictures. I was a little sad and whistful that my OLD digital camera doesn't have a zoom. I'm seriously thinking of buying a nice new one!


We saw many of God's lovely creatures on this ride through the mountains. Many mule deer, antelope, black angus cows, birds, sheep, and geese. We even saw two bald eagles just sitting on top of a hill together.


I now see why my friend Jeremy calls us Flatlanders. The ride past the mountains and back down toward US Highway 2, was FLAT. Shelby has lots of hills around it and is set in a Coulee (a term I just learned today!), while the surrounding area to the east and just north is very flat. This makes it easy to see windfarms that are 30-40 miles away.


I can't wait for my next adventure!


Some pics:




The bustling town of Shelby, MT looking North form atop the hill with West Butte way in the background.






Some Black Angus cow babies I couldn't resist!



This is West Butte. It's pronounced 'beaut' as in beaut-i-ful not butt!

Planet Earth

Yesterday, I attempted to go skiing for the first time in my life. It was a disaster!!!! I didn't even make it to the bunny hill. Oh, well. Skiing is not for me!

After skiing, I went to my friend Jeremy's house to watch Planet Earth. It was incredible! There was this freaky bird that looked like a neon monster when it was puffed up. Being able to see predators on the hunt was facinating. Although I do not like hyenas, it was kind of cool how they have strategies while hunting.

p.d.

It's 71 degrees outside right now! This weather is unbelieveable! I've actually had my windows open to the breeze for the past 3 days. Lana is loving it, unless she gets her long claws caught in the screen! I really should trim those.

One thing out in abundance are prairie dogs. Yes, prairie dogs. It actually a sport here in Montana... Gopher hunting! the p.d.'s are all over. They are fast little buggers too.

Cacti

I took some pictures today that I wanted to share with you, but I seem to have misplaced my transfer cord.

Anyway, everyone at the alternative school went for a walk today for PE class. This walk started at the school, went through the campgrounds near Lake Shel-loole, up the dam next to the water, up another hill to a dirt trail, winding down a non-trail near a fence line, up another hill that was rather MUDDY, then down the road back to the school. First, I'm not used to walking long distances anymore. Second, the hills here are steeper than anywhere I've been before. Third, it was MUDDY. While trying to walk up the last hill, I had to try to claw my way up it because my sneakers have no tread in the MUD. Unsuccessfully, I slipped and fell down the hill on my backside in the MUD. I went down the hill and tried to walk along the fence line that was at the bottom. There was ice and MUD. About 1/3 of the way through, I fell again in the MUD. At this point, I was half under the fence line. Instead of trying to fight my way through the MUD again, I slid on through under the fence line and walked on the flat ground.

I'm glad I live so close to the school because I went home to clean up and change. Now I have scrapes and stuff on my hands and legs!

Boy was it fun!

P.S. I had my first experience with cacti today. I didn't even know that cacti grew in Montana!