Big Skies...Wild Breezes

Sorry...offer closed.

 WWO #4

Inspired by our recent journey to Big Sky country (and a very easy tutorial), I created this fun and sassy siggy tag to satisfy the cowgirl in me...or you. It features the artwork of the one and only Popeye Wong. If you'd like to request one of these tags, please remember:

name change only

place your request as a comment below

if you want your tag e-mailed to a non-AOL address, please use the following format-> userid at internetserviceprovider dot com This will prevent spammers from harvesting your e-mail address...unless of course you love spam

tags will be e-mailed within three days of your request

offer closes Monday, August 13 at 9:00 p.m.

Thank you for looking!!!

MEET ME IN MONTANA

There's just something about Montana...it's not the beautiful open skyscape or the endless pastoral landscape that goes on and on forever. I think it's the people and the way they re-define the words customer service.

I'll explain.

The day before our vacation began, the power windows in our Dodge quit. The warranty period is over and only two loan payments remain on the truck so naturally this is bound to happen. Sam calls our local Dodge dealer Friday afternoon, they hem and haw and tell him the earliest they can have a looksee at the truck is Tuesday; no good since we'll be in Montana by then.

Saturday morning we hit the road, with our sights on Missoula, and Sam jokingly observes we may end up with a new truck by day's end (he's not happy with his at the moment). Sam has family in Missoula...a couple of cousins...who are expecting us and time with them is always a parh-tay! They have three Harleys (Road Kings...sweeeeet!) and a honey of a Mustang in their garage. One cousin works inthe automotive industry and upon hearing of our troubles makes a quick call to his buddy at the local Dodge dealer, who explains service isn't open on Saturday, and they are booked solid on Monday but if we bring the truck in first thing he'll see what can be done.  Long story short, Sam heads to the Dodge business before 8 a.m., and by 11:30 the truck is back with windows working perfectly. And our local Dodge dealer just lost two very loyal customers.


Valley carved by glaciers. View from Going to the Sun Road.

We spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at Glacier National Park (beautiful!) and Tuesday night a nasty storm hit the area. It was so bad the Weather Service issued tornado warnings. The skies opened up, rain and hail poured down, thunder and lightening kept us up, and one family decided in the middle of the storm that it was a good time to pack everything up on hit the road...in the middle of the night. When we went to bed this family was scrambling around their campsite getting their trailer loaded and hitched...they were gone by midnight. Don't know where they thought they were going since the only road from the park headed right into the storm.

Going to The Sun Road

This sweet little baby mountain goat doesn't like being on this on this metal trail.

Glacier is site of the famous Going to the Sun Road, and man what a drive that was!!! If you go to any National Park in the future, make it Glacier and travel this road. It was amazing! Unfortunately, nearby wildfires made for very hazy photos (insert frowney face here) but nontheless the scenery was spectacular. Glacier is filled with waterfalls, around every corner water cascades down the mountains in the distance, and even alongside, and then under the Road.  TIP: Take a bottle of hand sanitizer with you if you travel on Going to the Sun Road as not all the rest rooms were equiped with hand soap.

On the lookout...could it be another spy? <grin>

Sunset on Lake Pend Oreille

Our campsite neighbors.

Thursday and Friday we stayed at Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho at the Beyond Hope RV Resort, located on a game preserve and there were deer...everywhere. Sam and I took a little nap in our lawn chairs outside our trailer Friday afternoon and we woke to find two bucks and a doe casually grazing less than three feet away from us. I didn't dare more so as not to spook them, but I soooo wanted to get up and grab my camera. Some didn't look healthy at all which may be due in large part to their grass only diet, which has little nutritional value for deer. They require bushy vegetation and moss, which wasn't readily available in the area. But I was fortunate to capture some of my favorite photos during our stay there.  This was my first visit to the Lake and it provided many beautiful opportunities for some spectacular photos.

Buck in velvet. When I framed this shot, he was looking straight ahead; snap, he's moved.I'm not happy with how I framed this (cutting off his rump) but I was focusing on his antler's and getting close enough to pick up the velvet texture.

Pend Oreille wetlands north of East Hope, Idaho.

That's all for now. It's late...more later.

Tags: vacation, Montana, Dodge, trucks, Glacier National Park, Going to the Sun Road, thunderstorm, Idaho, Lake Pend Oreille, deer, wildlife,