MONTANA - Big Sky Country !

There is just no way to convey the vastness of the countryside views of Montana in photos. You can only see what the lens is showing you and not the peripheral vision that you are taking in as you shoot the shot. But....for what it's worth, here's some Big Sky Montana photos....

Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park, Montana

Katie...wondering when we're going to keep paddling

As the clouds burn off...Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park, Montana

In the morning...ready to take off in the kayak...Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park, Montana

Helena, Montana sunset

Reed Point sunset, Montana

5 miles from the Canadian border..in northern Montana

"We ready to get going"? 

So peaceful and calm....

As the clouds disappear...

Heading north to Great Falls, Montana

Kayaking outside of Bozeman...looking at the mountains north of Yellowstone.

Bridger Ski area north of Bozeman, Montana

Big Sky country

Half block from our RV spot...

Great subject for a painting

Sunset over our RV park in Reed Point, Montana

These are just samples of the many many vistas we've seen over the past month as we traveled around Montana. You can see why it's called "Big Sky Country".

This is why we like the West so much. As the song says, "I like those WIDE OPEN SPACES!".





Our journey so far....16 stops in red. The dark stars are the stop yet to come.

steve/kim/katie

Washington State...kayaking !

So...here's our journey so far....Baker City, Kenniwick, Tucannon, Clarkston, Spokane, Republic, Trist, Anacortes, Soap Lake, Coeure D'Alene, Libby.

We have been doing some kayaking along the way. Very relaxing way to spend a half-day...out on the water....with spectacular views!

Getting Katie ready to go with her fancy life vest.

Ahh....this is the life.

Yes, I know, the water if crooked....only because the lake got a bit rough.

You doing okay back there Dad?

Coming back to the dock on a lovely morning.

Mr. Kayak

Here's our Katie when she gets bored. I put a shirt over her to protect her from the sun.

If you look closely, you'll see a deer and her baby. One of the serendipitys of our kayaking.

In central Washington among the scabbed out basalt rocks carved away by the ice floods. 

These are the views we love to see when we're kayaking.

...and these.

It started to get choppy. You can see our "wheels" wheels folded up in front.

...and here's how the kayak looks when the wheels are attached. It makes it so easy to get to the water (with all our gear inside as an added bonus).

Katie likes to get in as quick as possible so we make sure we are leaving her behind.

Okay, what's the holdup !!??

...down to the lake we go!

Hope you liked this one.

We started to post events on Twitter at @lastricks. If you have twitter, check it out.

https://twitter.com/lastricks

steve/kim/katie

Washington's Magnificent Cascade Mountains

We cannot believe our eyes !!

We traveled over Highway 20 from east to west on the North Cascades Highway on our way to the city of Anacortes (north of Seattle) for a week. We pulled over at the Washington Pass Overlook and got blown away !

 

The road up to where we are standing is in the bottom left.

Down the road about 20 miles we pulled over again to the Diablo Dam Overlook...another amazing site.

This explains why the lake is such a vibrant blue-green color.

Going up to the Summit(s) was easy but coming down.....eeey gads! First off, we're about 33,000 pounds and we tow a Ram 1500 pickup truck behind us so we pick up speed rather quickly on the downhills. Then, every other turn was a 35 mph or 30 mph or 25 mph....which meant LOTS of braking. By the time we got done, we had spent over 5 1/2 hours to go 148 miles! Talk about exhausted.

But, it was sure a gorgeous road.....now...we get to do it in reverse in a week!

The obligatory Cute Photo of Katie...this time in our kayak while paddling around a mountain lake. We bought her a life vest of her own...and a SPF white shirt to protect her from the sun.

See you next entry!

steve/kim/katie

Gorgeous, Gorgeous Eastern Washington !

What beautiful, amazing countryside. We cannot believe how green and lovely it all looks. We find ourselves pulling over (sometimes without a turnout. "You watch behind me to make sure no cars are coming, while I jump out and take a photo")

.

Green, green, green

...at sunset...so golden

This would make a nice painting

There is a terrific, informative train depot in Dayon, which is about 17 miles from our spot. Besides having historic displays inside, it has a very nice statue outside showing a train man, checking the time on his watch. Kind of looks like Tom Hanks in The Polar Express, don't you think?

Love the cute dog peeking around the corner.

Tom Hanks...right?

Of course, we stopped to try out the local fare. Ended up at a Brew Pub that served HUGE portions of food.

Kim's been having a yen for Nachos !

German Chili Hot Dog for me...had to eat it with a knife and fork!

Me...me ....me...me...

...always so much more to share but... next time.

steve/kim/katie