I took a couple of smaller road trips while on my big road trip.
One of the places visited was Great Falls, MT
This was taken near St. Peter’s Mission and Cascade, MT
The Missouri River is flowing just over that first hill.
We also visited Virginia City, MT, which is just northwest of Yellowstone National Park.
That is the Madison Valley as you come over the hill from Virginia City, heading into Ennis, MT.
Now, this is the problem when driving around in scenic country such as Montana is: Unless your sole mission is to take pictures of scenery, and you can travel very slowly, you cannot get all the pictures you want.
For instance, when The Wife and I left Trib’s Place, we took Hwy 12 from Orofino, ID, through the Clearwater River valley and over Lolo, all the way to Helena, MT.
Don’t be mad at me, but we were so wowed by the scenery that not a single photograph was taken.
We were constantly pointing out gorgeous scenery to one another, but stopping to take a photo of even just ten percent of them would have added hours to our travel time. I was constantly getting passed because I was always driving 10mph under the speed limit gawking.
Really, if you get the opportunity to tour this portion of America, don’t let it pass you by.
Also, for any sport tourers, either on two-wheel or four wheel vehicles, the lower Lolo Pass on the Idaho side that is maintained by the USFS rates a 9.5 out of 10 for overall excellence, rivaling anything Europe’s Alpine Mountains have to offer. In fact, I saw a pair of BMW Z4 M Series Roadsters and a pair of M6 Convertibles bustling westward on my way over the pass.
I’ve got a picture from almost the same spot outside Ennis as my desktop background. (My wife and I stayed in Laurin–go from VA city past NV city about 10 miles–for part of our honeymoon)
The real question is: did you stop at the Star Bakery in Nevada City (just down the road from VA city) and have some fried pickles? Possibly the best non-meat food I’ve ever eaten.
Nope. No fried pickles. I’m just not that brave when it comes to my digestive tract, I guess.
Bummer… about 3 different people in Bozeman told us we had to go there. (and not all of them even knew we were planning on going out that way.) Really, really good. And not nearly as weird as they sound. Just be careful, the pickle juices are really hot.
Phil,
I tried fried pickles for the first time just last weekend. I am happy to report that they were perfectly harmless to my 40 year old digestive tract, and pretty tasty.
If you can eat a pickle spear or onion rings you should be okay.
Greg
Not to be a killjoy, guys, but The Wife doesn’t call my time on the throne “The Creation of the Invisible Horror From Beyond the Nameless Void” for no reason.
Let us all just say that I’m doing this more for her than for myself.