Idaho, Montana, & Yellowstone National Park

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We passed briefly through Idaho, the narrow northern part of the state, on our way to Montana. Montana, nicknamed The Big Sky State, does seem to have a big sky. Even with the snowy Rocky Mountains, the land appears to be so open, natural, and sparsely populated that everything seems to be a bit bigger. Due to its bigness, we split our drive to Yellowstone up by staying a night in Bozeman, a particularly cute town with a really nice, big library and a big SuperWalmart with a nice big parking lot. So that's where we spent our time...and our night.

The next morning we awoke to find ourselves in a van covered with snow! Now we had done our research and already knew that Yellowstone is still mostly closed even at the end of April due to snow, but still we wondered what the day ahead would hold for us. We were delighted to find that the snow made the drive to Yellowstone absolutely beautiful! We got to see more “Christmas Tree” covered mountains and winding streams of clear blue and green water. Driving through the park we saw bison strolling down the snow-plowed roads ahead of us, and many more bison as well as elk in the snow covered fields and hills. Fortunately the open road took us to Old Faithful and the Paint Pots so we were still able to see two of the most well-known sights. This land of steaming geysers, molten mud and vibrantly-colored boiling springs is a wonder amidst many feet of snow!

Campgrounds and lodges in Yellowstone were still closed so we couldn't linger longer. We learned that the road outside of the east entrance was still covered in 20 some feet of snow and wouldn't open until mid May! Plan B, drive to Billings for a night before we continue our trek. Good thing they have a Super Walmart too ; )

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