The Rockies

At 4 something this morning, Regis woke me to remind me I wanted to see the sun rise on Devil’s Tower.  I had a hard time sleeping last night, so I’m pretty sure I finally fell asleep at 4 something minus 1 minute.  I can’t say that I cared when Regis woke me, so he went out by himself while I slowly got myself moving.  He caught this picture with the warm light from the sun rise bouncing off Devil’s Tower and the rocks beneath. It’s a shame I missed the live view!

As a result of Regis’ enthusiasm, we got a very early start.  There was very little traffic and we got to drive on some nice roads as we headed out of Wyoming into Montana.  I fell in love.  The scenery was beautiful and I never saw so many Pronghorns in my life.  We saw hundreds of them.  We also saw deer and a beautiful fox.

As we headed west through Montana, the snow capped Rockies rose in the distance both to the southwest and the west.  How could I have forgotten how big they are?  We haven’t seen them in a few years and we were both flabbergasted.  They are huge.  These are all part of the Rockies.  We are seeing the Absaroka Range (a segment of the Rockies) to the Southwest which is on the Montana and Wyoming border.   It is between us and Yellowstone National Park which is one of my many favorite places.

The Yellowstone River is 2/10 of a foot below flood stage.  The last time we went through here it was hot and dry in August.  Now, the mountains have snow on them, the vegetation is lush and beautiful, and the river is overflowing it’s banks in places.  It looks different.  The river is gorgeous, but that is easy for me to say since I don’t live next to it and have to worry about flooding.