Tuesday, 27 May 2008

• USA Summer Road Trip 2008 Day 1 - Montana - Of living skies and dead trees

  Duration: 15 days (May 9th to 23rd)
  Distance: 9000km/5560miles

  I've never ever traveled in the USA, and this is the longest the road trip I've ever taken by far. I went by myself, with my camera and MINI Cooper :P
  

  
  

  
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  From the left: My left hand, my trusty tomtom GPS, the MINI's tachometer (with cruise control light on), a Honda civic on Hwy 2 south, from Calgary to the USA border, the dinner plate sized speedo reading 120km/h. And at the top, my right hand and my camera.

  
  Cardston, Albeta, saw this little tiny tank parked near a museum and couldn't refuse a cute photo op :P I mean, come on, it's hardly any bigger than my MINI!

  
  My first encounter with a USA border! It was way easier than I thought, the guy asked me like 3 questions "Where are you from, where are you going, why are you going" and "have a nice trip!" I thought they were gonna search the car and all that, but I guess, you can't carry a very big bomb in a MINI anyway yeah?

  
  Montana's licence plates says "Big Sky Country" and it's true, the sky is so vast and wide, so active, it made me feel a little tinier than usual, I just felt like melting into the landscape :) The weather patterns are so vivid, you can see sunshine in one corner of the sky and rain clouds in the other.

  Here is an artistic interpretation of one of the sights at Glacier National Park, Montana. To someone from Alberta, it's honestly not that exciting. But still, I love the tall snow covered Rocky Mountains, the lively clouds, the tingling streams and the wide open spaces.

  
  The rocky mountain so strong and tall
  A timeless tower standing above all
  I could only stand and stare in awe
  Nature's greatness makes me feels real small :)

  
  Due to the poor lighting of the cloudy day, here's another "artistic" interpretation type photo :P Nature's awesome mountains makes my MINI feel small too... but that's okay, it is "mini" afterall! (<- hah, that rhymes with the poem!?)

  
  A hundred elks gather all around
  Eating straws still dry and brown
  Lifting their heads to every suspicious sound
  Only to go back to eating and tilting their heads down :P

  Wahaha I write poems about everything, I love it :D Sorrrrrrrrryyyyy

  There was a whole herd of these in Glacier National Park, just at the foothills of the mountains. They were generally quite disinterested in me, so I tried kicking dirt and rocks to get their attention to get some slightly more interesting photos. Didn't really work out tho...

  
  I got some nice ass shots, however! mmmmmm

  
  A white scarf around its neck
  A black cape on its back
  Just standing there, all laid back
  Carrying the world on its back

  
  Going out of Glacier National Park, I saw forests which were burned down years ago. Like a thousand used up match sticks standing from frozen ground. A strangely grim sight. Like a peaceful graveyard.

  They grew together
  And that's how they died
  Living or dying together
  Not up to them to decide...

  
  Bony fingers...

  
  And up and around the hill, within 10 minutes I found these pretty horses in a field (no, they're not wild) with the mountain as the backdrop. A touch of sunlight breaking through the thin clouds helped give the scene an outer worldly glow :)
  

  
  A horse wearing a cow costume? Haha. I could just imagine it being made fun of on halloween "Hey buddy, wearing your cow costume again?!"

  God, I'm so lame with my jokes... ok, on with the pics then!

  
  The sun was already starting to set, since I started the day late at about 2pm or so. The Montana clouds were giving me something to see again, with breaks in the sky so the sun lights up the ground in patches. The early summer grasslands were still brown/yellow in many parts, setting up pretty contrasts with the sweetly blue skies.

  
  And here's an "artistic" interpretation of the road and the sky. It was really awesome to see the rain clouds leaving trails, connecting with the ground with their rainy tentacles :) I see scenes like this often in Calgary, but I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing it anywhere.

  
  The rain clouds blocking your way ahead
  You stare, disappointedly shaking your head
  But all you needed was to turn around instead
  The sun's still shining over your lovely head :)

  This picture was taken minutes and hardly any distance at all from the last one. Amazing change isn't it?

  
  I love all the details in the clouds. The little rivers in the sky, with lumps and bumps and so much texture. Even the simplest of things can have their intricate sides :)

  
  Never fazed
  Stony faced
  Bright was its gaze     
  Steady always

  
  Hehe, I crazily ran up the hill to get away from the MINI, so I could make it even "minier" looking in the picture :D

  
  I wish to touch the sky
  Feel its softness not with my eyes
  But with my fingers I'd try
  Feel the wonders of the clouds untied

  
  And then it snowed...
  it was actually quite windy and cold, I was almost shivering taking pics outside. And as the sun set, as the sky darkened, as the snow flew, I drove the MINI to my first stop at Choteau, Montana on my half worn summer tires, hoping the ground won't ice up, hoping I won't fall asleep and hit the ditch :P

  Next trip update: dunno when, probably in 3-4 days on my days off. It'll be central/southern Montana, with my adventures in abandoned mines and other goodies :)  

   

  Trip stats for day 1: 500km
  Burgers eaten: 1
  Almost fell asleep driving: quite a few times after dark
  Speeding: lots :P
  Slept in motel: first time ever!

  
  

  Go back to previous road trip entries....
  Day 1: Montana
  Day 2: West Yellowstone
  Day 3: Yellowstone National Park 1
  Day 3: Yellowstone National Park 2
  Day 4: Yellowstone/Salt Lake City
  Day 5: Salt Lake City
  Day 5: Arches National Park
  Day 5: Canyonlands National Park
  Day 6: Capitol Reefs National Park
  Day 6: Bryce Canyon National Park
  Day 7: Cedar Breaks National Monument / Zion National Park
  Day 7: Nevada desert and Death Valley
  Day 8: Central California and Giant Sequoia National Monument
  Day 8: Monterey California sunset
  Day 9: San Francisco Sunrise panoramas and wallpaper
  Day 9: San Francisco downtown Part 1 of 2
  Day 9: San Francisco downtown Part 2 of 2
  Day 10: Alcatraz, San Francisco
  Day 11: California Coastal Redwoods
  Day 11: Northern California Coasts
  Day 12: Oregon and Washington
  Day 12: Wayne's house
  Day 13: Pike Place Market, Seattle
  Day 13: Vancouver sunset and night shots
  Day 14: Interior BC and Squilax Hostel
  Day 15: Suqilax Hostel and Alberta

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