Big Sky

"Laws change; people die; the land remains." 
 Abraham Lincoln

Devils Tower in Wyoming is truly amazing landform that inspires even more awe as you approach it from afar because there is strangely nothing else around.  It looks like it landed from outer space.  The accompanying info tells of the three main scientific theories on how it formed and one Native American fable about children that is quite entertaining and more interesting.
Pic 1 = the tower
Pic 2 = Prayer cloths tied to trees from multiple different Native Indian tribes, perhaps during the solstice in June.  Devils Tower is significant to many tribes in the area. 
Pic 3 = Jake looking through the "bye-knock-you-lars" at climbers making the ascent.  Intense!

Doing some online research about the allegedly haunted hotel we stayed at for a night in Billings, MT, we ran across an old episode of Anthony Bourdain's show No Reservations in which he visited Montana. Of course, Kim had to track down the places where he ate, just in case any of them was within a 100 mile radius (do you know how huge Montana is?!) Lo and behold, Bourdain had eaten, and approved of, a food truck called The Fry House in the town of Livingston, which shockingly happened to be right on our route up to Glacier National Park.

​We pulled into a parking lot wedged between train tracks and the ACE Hardware, but the food truck was all closed up, even though it should have been open during lunch on a Friday. Undeterred, Kim called the owner of the truck for an explanation and discovered that he decided, randomly, not to open the truck on the day we wanted to eat there. Bad luck for us, but the owner was just tickled that we were driving across the country and specifically sought out his little establishment in Livingston. Maybe next time, Fry House!

In the Northwest there is a saying that Montana is the “Last, Best place” on earth… I think after a visit to Glacier National Park, you believe they mean this park.

It is one of the most rewarding places you can ever visit.  Seemingly impossible to take a bad picture here. (Although we got lucky with the weather and we went in Autumn when the leaves are changing colors.)

Some Highlights from the park seen in pictures below:
-St. Mary’s Lake is breathtakingly beautiful.
-The black bears you see were spotted on the “Going-to-the-Sun road” that cuts across the park.
-Glacier has 1,000 amazing trails to hike, but the “Highline” trail which takes you across the cliff-side of a mountain range was a favorite.  (Leave from Logan Pass and you can get to the best part right away.)
-Jake re-enacting the Lion King Scene where Mufasa says “Scar! Brother! Help me!” and Scar sarcastically responds, “Long Live the King!” (Kim luckily did not throw me off the cliff, but two other photographers with HUGE tele-photo lenses wanted to.)

A few days spent exploring the park (but not even all the parts we wanted because it's so large) left us incredibly humbled by the vastness and beauty of Mother Nature.

Micro Moment of the Day
Often overlooked and passed by for "greater" pictures, Fungi represent one of the most interesting life forms on planet earth in my opinion.  Not only are they creepy and beautiful at the same time but many fungi form symbiotic relationships with plants and tree roots to help growth of deciduous forests.  I thought this looked like something from Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory--But we didn't eat it!