Our Green America


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Driving Through Montana posted 6/9/09 by Julia
We left Glacier today, partly wishing we could do more there, but partly wishing to sleep in a warm bed instead. Last night was cold, real cold, and even though we have sleeping bags graded for 25 degrees or less it was hard for us to sleep comfortably. We struck camp, had some peanut butter and jelly for breakfast and drove back up to Lake McDonald one more time to get some pictures. We skipped stones on the lake’s perfectly clear water. The stones that made up the bank were all ground smooth flat by glacial forces and some were the perfect weight for skipping. Our route was south and east, through Kalispell, Missoula, Deer Lodge, Butte and finally to Bozeman. Montana is big. It feels bigger than Texas and that’s really big. Maybe it’s the sky, maybe it’s the sweeping valleys or the graceful mountains. Maybe it just feels more like a gentle giant than the in-your-face endlessness of the west Texas’ flat country. Or maybe it’s because you can actually see how weather works. How the clouds build up against mountainous barriers, how winds twist some into icy tendrils high in the sky, and how they clump together and grow over time, sweeping over the land. In the evening, our backs were to the west (an orientation that we are still getting used to after all this time going west and then north) and I could see the sunset in the rearview. An orange sun through dark blue clouds. Bright coral light from the sunset lit the rolling hills in front of us as we arrived in Bozeman.		Tonight, we are staying at the Bozeman Backpackers Hostel, a small place in a quiet residential neighborhood. Hopefully, tomorrow we can find Natasha in Yellowstone, but if not, I’m sure we’ll see some awesome stuff anyway and possibly find ways to get around the other tourists.

We left Glacier today, partly wishing we could do more there, but partly wishing to sleep in a warm bed instead. Last night was cold, real cold, and even though we have sleeping bags graded for 25 degrees or less it was hard for us to sleep comfortably. We struck camp, had some peanut butter and jelly for breakfast and drove back up to Lake McDonald one more time to get some pictures. We skipped stones on the lake’s perfectly clear water. The stones that made up the bank were all ground smooth flat by glacial forces and some were the perfect weight for skipping.

Our route was south and east, through Kalispell, Missoula, Deer Lodge, Butte and finally to Bozeman. Montana is big. It feels bigger than Texas and that’s really big. Maybe it’s the sky, maybe it’s the sweeping valleys or the graceful mountains. Maybe it just feels more like a gentle giant than the in-your-face endlessness of the west Texas’ flat country. Or maybe it’s because you can actually see how weather works. How the clouds build up against mountainous barriers, how winds twist some into icy tendrils high in the sky, and how they clump together and grow over time, sweeping over the land. In the evening, our backs were to the west (an orientation that we are still getting used to after all this time going west and then north) and I could see the sunset in the rearview. An orange sun through dark blue clouds. Bright coral light from the sunset lit the rolling hills in front of us as we arrived in Bozeman.