Mountains Here, Mountains There

Mountains, mountains, everywhere! We are not IN the mountains yet but snow covered peaks, beginning with the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming became visible within our first hour of leaving Gillette. I will not begin to tell you which ones are which. Much of the drive is a blur...no it's not the wine, just the miles covered.  First of all I want to say that pronghorns DO outnumber people in Wyoming. They were everywhere on the hillsides in Wyoming, sometimes grazing alongside cattle, which were mostly black angus. Since I was driving the first 2 hours I don't have the mountain pictures I would like. I think I nearly gave Chris a heart attack a couple times when I tried to take pictures as I was driving!

Then around Sheridan,  Wyoming I needed a bathroom break and there was a sign that indicated a Visitor Center at the next exit. We took the exit but the Visitor Center was not opened until May 1 AND there was no entrance back onto I 90 W. This was one of those unfortunate - fortunate incidents because we drove about ten miles, first we saw this fabulous HUGE Tom turkey in the middle of the road (Chris captured those pictures and I will add them later) then through the teeny tiny town of Story (maybe a population of 50) which has BEAUTIFUL homes (probably for vacation) and then there was this little viewpoint just before we returned to I90 and I followed the call of nature.

And took this picture:
There are mountains off to the right if you look closely.

Then we started to notice the little things that you don't see from the car. Like this bubbling spring:

And the bones of these decaying pronghorn antelope:

And springtime flowers starting to bloom:

Later in the drive it was Chris' turn to clamor for a restroom and this time, in Montana now, it was a bona fide rest stop and we had a great view of the Crazy Mountains.

We arrived in our destination Livingston, MT at about 2:00. I think yesterday's time change put us ahead by at least an hour in leaving this morning. We were on the road before 8:00! Livingston is such a well preserved old west town and it is all surrounded by mountains.

We had a great dinner at The Sport. I ordered prime rib and it was so juicy and delicious. I am not usually a red meat eater but I figured with all the angus cattle around, this should be the place to order beef.

This is where we are staying tonight. Our first choice was a Quality Inn that is behind this Motel, but it was full. There is a wrestling tournament in town tonight and they took most of the Q Inn rooms. The manager at the Q Inn actually recommended this place and it is a real 'FIND'. It is all western and knotty pine and wildlife decor. 

Tonight it is raining and about 55 degrees outside. It's feeling more like Seattle each mile west.