So I was finally able to get the pictures from our trip up on Picasa. There’s an entire album there called “The Oregon Trail” with mostly pictures from Montana. Here are a few favorites:
We drove into a number of beautiful sunsets on our way out west.
Ray was the best Yellowstone guide in all Montana.
Ray and Laura in Yellowstone.
So much contrast in one place.
It's called Yellowstone for a reason.
We saw four elk just as big as this one, all in the same place.
There were litterally heards and heards of bison throughout Yellowstone.
Driving back to Ray's.
Ray and Judy's place was really fantastic.
Driving through the mountains makes ten hours go by really fast. I highly recommend it.
What I'm doing right now, in our new home in Portland.
Today, we went down to Yellowstone for a day trip with Ray. It was pretty amazing. The drive down from Bozeman is about an hour or so, and it’s incredible how nice an hour drive can be when you’ve got such amazing scenery around you. The mountains are spectacular around here, but also for most of the way up there were this beautiful streams running along the road. The streams were running through the snow, half frozen, with these amazing shades of blues. Really a wonderful drive.
Yellowstone was pretty incredible as well. There was an amazing amount of wildlife. We saw bison, mule deer, elk, coyotes, bird and eagles. Really beautiful animals. We also so these hot springs, the Mammoth Hot Spring (I believe?), that were really out of this world. It was like we were on Mars or something. There are these pools of water coming through all of the snow and ice and steaming from the heat they produce. Seriously you could feel the temperature change from different parts of the path depending on how close you were to the water. I really need to post pictures. It was great to be able to hang out with Ray for the day. He really does know a great deal about Yellowstone and Montana and has been the perfect guide for our trip. It amazes me how much her reminds me of my dad and other Zimney men in the family. Laura pointed out how much we all talk with our hands. Not just gestures, but the way the gestures are made. I guess we curl our fingers a lot when we gesture. Pretty neat to witness the family traits so externally like that.
Tonight we finally got to see Biz and met Judy’s son Chris. It’s been great catching up with this part of the family. I feel like due to the age differences (Ray is maybe 8 years older than my dad(?); biz is 11 years older than me), but I feel like the age differences along with locations has really put a rift in seeing these guys very often. I’ve honestly never really had a relationship with them at all. So, it’s really nice to be able to take this time to put some effort towards becoming a closer family.
Okay… I need to sleep now. Barely staying awake as I write this.