Okay, I admit it, I may have dozed off a time or two in those last 90 miles of North Dakota, but now we're in Minnesota. Minnesota has about 2 dozen scenic byways and you know how much we like scenic byways. We happily left the interstate and headed out on the "Lake Country" scenic byway from Detroit Lakes, MN to Lake Itasca SP. Minnesota has something like 15,000 lakes and the mosquitoes that come with them. Anyway, Lake Itasca is where you find the headwaters of the Mississippi River. It's just a little stream flowing out of this big [View Full Entry]

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My thoughts on North Dakota: North Dakota is a very pretty state, lots of farmland, very green, very clean. The people of North Dakota we've met are friendly and all seem enthusiastic about their state. I guess that it shows in how well cared for everything looks. No litter. Neat yards. Neat farms. I guess "tidy" is the word. North Dakotans love their home and they take care of it. How truly nice. We stopped in New Salem to see "New Salem Sue" the world's biggest holstein cow. It was recommended that we stop to see her by more than [View Full Entry]

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Hey, we're in North Dakota. How many of you have ever said that? Hwy 85 north from Belle Fourche, SD, to I-94 in North Dakota is a 175-mile, mostly straight road with rolling prairie on either side from horizon to horizon, broken occasionally by buttes or rocky outcroppings. There are few trees, fewer houses, lots of cattle, sheep, some horses, and a good number of pronghorn antelope. The landscape is dotted now and then with big rolls of hay and the odd oil well pumping away. However, once you get into ND, there are more cultivated fields. We went to [View Full Entry]

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We sure do love Montana. We hate to leave, it's got to be one of our favorite states. The Wyoming plains are a lot like Montana's, but now we're seeing buttes on our left and the Bighorn Mountains on our right as we near Sheridan. Past Sheridan it varies between green and dry all the way to Moorcroft, where we turn north to Devil's Tower Natl Monument. Devil's Tower is very impressive standing up all alone, both close up and from a distance. I asked a park ranger what the yellow flowers are that we see covering hillsides all through [View Full Entry]

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We took the Kings Hill Scenic Byway (Hwy 89) south from Belt, through a beautiful valley, alongside Belt Creek, into Lewis and Clarke NF. It's a lovely drive through the Little Belt Mountains, over Kings Hill Pass, el 7393, past Showdown ski area to White Sulphur Springs where we turn east on Hwy 12. As we head east, it becomes drier, less green, more sage. We've only gone about 1/4 of this trip on interstate highways. In our opinion, if you're not in a hurry, the scenic byways are the way to go. At Billings we got on I-90 east [View Full Entry]

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We decided last night to forgo Canada, so we're heading east to Billings, MT and then down into NE Wyoming to Devils Tower. We'll see from there; we have ideas, but they may change. We hate to leave Glacier NP. Scientists say by 2030 all the glaciers will be gone; that means our great-grandchildren will not get to see Glacier NP as we have. Just east of East Glacier Park, it suddenly turns into plains. Wide open, rolling horse and cattle country. It's windy today and the wind causes the grassland colors to shift and vibrate, giving the impression that [View Full Entry]

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We headed east on US Hwy 2, which skirts the southern part of Glacier National Park. We stopped at Goat Lick Overlook (which was recommended by more than one person.) We actually did see several mountain goats, big and small. We crossed the continental divide (again) at Marias Pass, elevation 5220'. I think before this trip is over, I'm going to have to sit down and count how many times we crossed the continental divide. At East Glacier Park (that's the name of the town) we headed north on state road 49, a winding, climbing road that overlooks the valley [View Full Entry]

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It is 32 miles from West Glacier, MT to Logan Pass, up the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier NP. We made the round-trip drive in only 5 hours and around 150 photographs. The best description I can give of Glacier National Park's scenery is "WOW!" And if the snowy mountains, glaciers, lakes, rivers and waterfalls aren't enough, today we saw a moose enjoying his lunch from the bottom of a pond, bighorn sheep watching all the people that were watching them, a mountain goat totally ignoring the traffic going by or stopping to take his picture near Logan [View Full Entry]

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Photos only [View Full Entry]

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The Salmon River Scenic Byway continues to please. The further north we get, the greener the landscape; this is how I pictured Idaho. We crossed into Wyoming at Lost Trail Pass, elevation 7014'. We turned east on MT 43 to Big Hole National Battlefield and Nez Perce National Historic Site, then retraced our route back to Hwy 93. The drive along 43 was also beautiful with fields of wildflowers, the purple were particularly striking. We crossed the continental divide (twice, going and coming) at Chief Joseph Pass, elevation 7241'. After coming down from Lost Trail Pass, we were again [View Full Entry]

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