Vanilla Sky

Montana. Big Sky Country. Home of the famous Moose Drool beer. Possibly the only place in the US of A I'd consider living based on the scenery alone.

I can't imagine taking a drive in the middle of winter through a mountain range is a good idea at the best of times but this year it was a simple pleasure. Clear roads, bright sun, good music and a truck full of dogs. Good times.

Here's little Cedric, he's got his suitcase and is navigating the way home. He's been my little travelling buddy this past year or so, he had some Raimi snot on his hat for some time but it's cleaned off now.

The Gates of the Mountains. Not sure what they look like. Possibly some Lord of the Rings Kings of Old statues that have stood guard for a millenia. Or it's just a turn of phrase that makes you think grandios but are disappointed when you realize they're just rocks.

A tree all effed up from the weather or fire or whatever. If you can't tell at this point I was taking photos as I drove. Yes I was alone. Make of that what you will. No time to stop. Gotta get home. Precious cargo and all that.

A twisty bit. One of the twisty bits. It got really twisty shortly after this part. The speed limit is 75 miles per hour but when they say slow to 45 for a bendy part ... they're not just being conservatively cautious. There were no 'Don't take pictures of the bendy bits as you drive" signs so I figured I was a-okay.

This is my favorite and most anticipated part of the drive. Even though I name my dogs after movies, one day, when I get to 'L', I'm going to name a puppy "Little Prickly Pear Creek". How cute is that? It's hard to see the sign but it names the creek 100 feet below the bridge.

I think this is the Missouri River. I saw a sign. What the Missouri is doing meandering through Montana is beyond me ... perhaps it got lost. It looks to be a slow sort of river so maybe it was having trouble learning the States.

Montana of the movies looks just like Montana in real life. Weird that. Scrubland, prairie, mountians ... coolness. You can see the prairies coming up in the distance. Suffice it to say I did not photograph a lot of the boring flatness.

As much as I complain about humanity's ability to screw up pretty much anything it touches, sometimes the mark of man results in a visual delight. It looks like someone heated up a butter knife and cut out a space for the road right through a hill. Destructive ... but effective.

Speaking of butterknives ... someone chopped off the top of this mountain. Definitely this is something to do with glaciers and time and a whole lot of dirt and rocks ending up somewhere far far away.

So that is part one of Montana. There's more boring brown pictures on the way and I'll add in the mix a few of Miss Misery herself since she is the star of the show until proven otherwise.