Left Montana Behind

We’re sad to leave Montana. Here are a few impressions we have of this lovely state. Its reputation as a trout fishing mecca is well-deserved; it’s full of rivers and streams and most of them are full of trout and accessible. And the all-around scenic beauty, as I believe you saw in the photos of Jack’s fishing spots throughout this blog, is jaw-dropping. It really is Big Sky Country. Public land in the form of parks and recreation areas is available all over the state—and it certainly helps that Yellowstone is here. It also wins points for not having any general state sales tax, which makes buying stuff a lot cheaper. The weather has been wonderful for most of our month here—sunny days, low humidity, and cool, bordering on cold, nights (but hearing about the short summers and long, cold winters with snow piling up would make us think twice about living here year-round). We found that folks were friendly and laid back. The state has hardly any population centers that merit being called a “city” so traffic is light. Gambling is legal in this state, and every gas station is also a casino, usually with video poker, keno, and video slot machines. Casinos are EVERYWHERE. (Not saying that’s a good thing, but I guess it helps with the no state sales tax.) And where else can you find a cattle guard at every interstate on/off ramp?? Montana definitely makes our “Top Ten States” list!  I predict that we’ll be back!

We’re now heading for Canyon, Texas to visit our granddaughter Jennifer and her boyfriend Austin. We’re avoiding interstates as much as possible, looking for more scenic routes so we can still enjoy the western scenery. Leaving Dillon, Montana, we dropped down into Idaho. We passed right by the Camas National Wildlife Reserve, so I [Carol] scheduled a stop to see if we could add some birds to our lifelist. Unfortunately we arrived in an atypical rainstorm, which made birding a little difficult, but we did drive around the wildlife viewing route and managed to spot a few birds: Swainson’s hawks, ruddy ducks (with their amazing blue bills), American coots (lots of them) and a big flock of white-faced ibis. The latter were lifer birds for us, so that made it worthwhile.

Leaving there, we took a scenic route that followed the Snake River and took us into Wyoming near Jackson Hole. When I was in college the first time (WAY back when) I always wanted to visit Jackson Hole because it was considered a very “cool” place—very Wild West, remote and outdoorsy. By that time, Boulder and Aspen, which had been the cool places, were starting to be considered too commercialized and Jackson Hole was more authentic. I badgered Jack into driving the extra 13 miles up to Jackson, just to see it and say I’d been there. (Jackson Hole is the name of the valley that the town Jackson is in.) Unfortunately, Jackson is no longer cool—it’s very congested and commercialized now. We managed to drive through congested roads to the heart of the old western town. You can see where it USED to be cool, but is just overrun with stores and people and strip malls now. We did see the big arches made of antlers that mark the four corners of the green park in the center of old town. THAT was cool. And we did manage a tiny glimpse of the Tetons from town—nice to see them once again.

The Snake River in a beautiful canyon.

Jackson, Wyoming. Hard to believe this used to be a "cool" place.

No place to park so Jack snapped this photo of the arch made of antlers as we squeezed our way through the traffic.

Back on our route, we took another scenic byway that followed the Green River south through Wyoming. At one point, we drove through a pretty valley and saw lots of white stuff on the hills and on the side of the road. We were trying to figure out whether it was sand, salt or what and finally we pulled over to investigate. It was hail, piled up on the side of the highway and covering the ground in places. We’d obviously just missed the hailstorm.

"What is that on the hill and the roadside?" Jack asked as we drove by.

Why, look, it's pea-sized hail.

Today we mostly stayed on I-80 and got across Wyoming and into Colorado on our way down into Texas. It seemed like we crossed the Continental Divide about three times! Jack said “hi” to some rivers that he’d fished previously, back in 2006 when we were out here. We saw a few antelope, some with babies. One thing we’ve noticed when driving on the western plains is how it seems there are always storms “out there” somewhere—the sky is so big and you can see it raining and storming far away, but you rarely get rained on. (However, tonight when we pulled into our KOA campsite, we did get rained on… but we’re nice and snug in our little van.)

The sky on the plains always looks like it's raining somewhere else.