Go West Young People

I'm writing this blog post as Brent is making waffles with Emily in their cute little kitchen, in their cute little house, nestled within the mountains of Hamilton, MT. We arrived here yesterday afternoon exhausted yet exhilarated after 3 days of driving, hiking, sightseeing, camping, and being in a general continuous state of ridiculous excitement. :)

We caravanned the first day and a half with Toby and Rachel, friends from Minneapolis who are moving across the country to Los Angeles. The combination of their fully loaded yellow hatchback Focus and our Kia with the 'fart for inner peace' sticker on the back fit perfectly into the scenery as we all headed west. Of course we made sure to stop at the fabulous Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD as well as the infamous Wall Drug, where we loaded up on 5 cent coffee and greasy country breakfast fare.

We rolled into the Badlands of South Dakota as rainclouds prevailed and the sun tried desperately to peek through. For an area that receives only 16 inches of rain a year, it was pretty crazy that it rained as we entered the national park as well as throughout the night, fortunately letting up for a few hours as the sun fell west (and we set up camp, ate a banana bread dinner, and toasted with pulls of Toby's Scotch). The rainclouds provided fantastic lighting in the evening, and we were lucky to wake up to a beautifully clear sky just in time to watch the sun rise in the morning.

We took the scenic route out of the badlands in the morning and headed for the black hills. We really wanted to get a good hike in, not only for the breathtaking views but also for the exercise our restless legs needed after so much time in the car. We decided to hike Harney Peak in Custer State Park, the highest point between the Rocky Mountains out west and the Pyrenees in Europe. The hike was supposed to take the 'average' person 4-6 hours, but since we are so hard core (and in a rush to get on to Billings to spend the night) we basically sprinted up the mountain in an just over an hour. The 360 degree views from the top are too beautiful for description. :) We hurried down for a quick dip in Sylvan Lake at the bottom of the peak and then parted ways with Toby and Rachel after weaving through Needles Highway. They ventured south to Fort Collins while we stopped to grab meat, cheese, crackers, and energy drinks in Rapid City for a very romantic on-the-road dinner into Wyoming.

Alas we were unable to chase down the sun and as it faded away our drive became darker and darker, almost as if we were driving into an endless void...

Eventually our energy drinks wore off, and knowing we weren't going to make it to Billings that night, we cut over into Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming to find a place to set up our tent until the sun came up. (Somehow wiser heads were able to prevail over the options of setting up camp at a rest area or a truck stop on the side of the road.) We ended up camping at a scenic overlook in the Bighorn mountains. Blame it on the after-effects of RockStar and Monster Java, our inability to see anything around us, or the shocking silence of the forest, but we both became consumed by paranoia as we lay in the tent. Brent's imagination was conjuring up wild animal slaughterings, while Katie's kept flashing images of wonky-eyed, toothless 'mountain people' hungry for the next naive tourist.  Every chipmunk produced a monstrous footstep, every wind gust the sound of a large animal moving through the brush. But we slept...

And woke to the sun rising over the vastness of Wyoming, feeling just a bit silly about what our imaginations had been able to conjure up. On the road again by 6:30am, we continued driving through beautiful landscapes of mountains and tall pine trees, small towns, ranches, through the tip of Wyoming and into the big sky of Montana. We arrived in Hamilton yesterday afternoon and are staying with Brent's friend Emily from high school and her husband Austin.

Taking a shower last night (after only two days on the road) was glorious. Walking to the brew-pub down the road, Bitterroot Brewery, and filling a growler of the local nut brown ale was glorious as well. But most glorious of all had to be waking up in the Bitterroot valley, cozily nestled in the rockies, with mountain views all around. We hung out at Austin's family's ranch last night, hiked up to a peak overlooking the canyon today, and spent the evening in downtown hamilton eating pizza and drinking good brew with great people trying to convince us to move here (note: we saw an apartment downtown for $425/month!).

Tomorrow we will be accompanying Emily and Austin up further into the mountains to a cabin their family rented for the night. We'll head out early Saturday morning, Seattle bound, to meet up with Katie's friend Jeana. We will try not to spend our entire paycheck on salmon and scallops, but if we return to the Midwest prematurely...you'll understand, right?

Ok. Time to wrap this post up. Here are some more pics for your viewing pleasure:

Please stay tuned for more travel adventures! Lotsa luv & hugs from the wild wild west. ;)

~B&K~