BajaNomad - Big Sky Country

Big Sky Country

DianaT - 10-12-2011 at 09:43 PM

Talking about his love of the West, Wallace Stegner wrote, " You have to get over the color green; you have to quit associating beauty with gardens and lawns; you have to get used to inhuman scale"

He went on to write, "The western landscape is of the wildest variety and contains every sort of topography and landforms, even most of those familiar from farther east. Bits of East and Middle West are buried here and there in the West, but no physical part of the true West is buried in the East. the West is short-grass plains, alpine mountains, geyser basins, plateaus and mesas and canyons and cliffs, salinas and sinks, sagebrush and Joshua tree and saguaro ....."

And he continues so beautifully describing why we love the west. We have traveled across this nation and have seen many beautiful places, but we are always happy once we return to the west.

These are just a few of our pix from the summer of 2011 celebrating the Big Sky Country of Montana where our son lives and where we love to visit.

Seems appropriate to end this with the picture of a very happy wet Maggie Mae. She has no idea that she has cancer and we are committed to making all of her remaining time as joyful as possible. Her vet hopes for up to two years.---Montana and Bahia Asuncion are her really happy places.

[Edited on 10-13-2011 by DianaT]

Paula - 10-12-2011 at 10:15 PM

Oh! So beautiful Diane! The first one made me think of approaching Harlowtown, though it could be so many places. And later I may have seen the Missions, or maybe not...

Montana is my other happy place.

So sorry to hear of Maggie Mae's illness, I hope she has some lovely days.

dtbushpilot - 10-12-2011 at 10:26 PM

Nice Diane, thanks for posting......dt

Cypress - 10-13-2011 at 06:06 AM

DianaT, Thanks.

Diver - 10-13-2011 at 06:37 AM

As I scrolled through your photos, I thought "How great that Maggie is healthy and happy again".

Then your last note .....
Very sad for you, John and Tom that her days may be limited.

Russ - 10-13-2011 at 07:26 AM

WOW !

DianaT - 10-13-2011 at 08:27 AM

Thanks---Big Sky Country is a wonderful place.

Paula, the first pix was taken on a back road near Choteau. But as you say, lots of places in Montana look just like that. On the day we visited the Bison, we visited that beautiful mission on the Flathead Reservation---may post a couple of pix as it is so different and beautiful.

Maggie---she is on a new chemo routine and we are still hopeful for at least a couple more years. Fortunately, she is not sick at all and is still loving life.

On edit----Paula, the light just went on---you were referring to the Mission Mountains and yes you do see them. :light:

[Edited on 10-13-2011 by DianaT]

tripledigitken - 10-13-2011 at 08:46 AM

Diane,

Looks like you had a great time, thanks for posting the beautiful photos.

Ken

TMW - 10-13-2011 at 09:32 AM

Great pictures. We were thru Montana in September and it is a very beautiful place as your pictures show.

vandenberg - 10-13-2011 at 10:08 AM

Nice pictures Diane,

To know why it is called the big sky country, you have to travel it extensively. You do get that feeling in some of your pictures. The sky seems larger and more intense than in other states. No idea why, but when you get that feeling you know whence the name.

[Edited on 10-13-2011 by vandenberg]

wessongroup - 10-13-2011 at 10:22 AM

Thanks much ... some really excellent shots...

DianaT - 10-13-2011 at 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by vandenberg
Nice pictures Diane,

To know why it is called the big sky country, you have to travel it extensively. You do get that feeling in some of your pictures. The sky seems larger and more intense than in other states. No idea why, but when you get that feeling you know whence the name.

[Edited on 10-13-2011 by vandenberg]

Thank you---
As you say, it is a feeling and I am not sure it can be captured in a photo----and I agree that it is like no other place and it does leave one wondering why.

Paula - 10-13-2011 at 10:26 AM

Ed, you have it backwards. The sky looks bigger because we call it big sky country.

Baja12valve - 10-13-2011 at 11:42 AM

You read "Big Sky Country" on the State license plates, but it has no meaning..... until you go there. My wife and I toured the state on our bicycles. We found it to be just amazing, we loved it. Mosquitoes were nasty though, especially in the Bitterroot Valley because they were getting ready to cut hay.

Oso - 10-13-2011 at 04:54 PM

Haven't been there since I was 17, fighting forest fires and working on the Northern Pacific, but I remember the sky really did look bigger. I guess it was the absence of pollution.

DianaT - 10-13-2011 at 05:17 PM

All this talk about the Big Sky Feeling, and I failed to include one of my favorite sky pix from that trip!

vandenberg - 10-13-2011 at 06:11 PM

Thing is, I traveled through it several times coming from Alberta. Not much pollution there, especially coming from the Red Deer region. Have relations in a small farming town there.
But , for some reason, the sky doesn't look the same as Montana's. So latitude doesn't explain it either.

DianaT - 10-13-2011 at 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by vandenberg
Thing is, I traveled through it several times coming from Alberta. Not much pollution there, especially coming from the Red Deer region. Have relations in a small farming town there.
But , for some reason, the sky doesn't look the same as Montana's. So latitude doesn't explain it either.

Cypress - 10-14-2011 at 02:27 PM

I agree about the "Big Sky" thing. Living in the mountains, the sun sets and the temps drop. Throw a couple of sticks of wood in the heater, kick back and enjoy. It's already snowing in the high country.

daveB - 10-15-2011 at 11:49 AM

Text and photos are wonderful! They're a reminder for me of years ago and a time when on a family trip from British Columbia had us stop in the heat of the day just off a Montana highway dotted with dead rabbits. From the car we took a short walk downhill to view the remains of a farmhouse where my grandparents, aunt, uncle and father had lived for a short time many, many years before. This was Big Sky country for sure. I only recall the bricks left from the chimney, strewn where gravity had left them. In 1914 my father's older brother left to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force to help fight the First World War, and at war's end the family moved north to Alberta.
Later that day in 1960 we drove on, watching an electrical storm miles away, and made it into Saskatchewan.

Pompano - 10-15-2011 at 12:15 PM

Great and beeyootiful photos of Montana, Diane T...I was borne about 100 ft from the Montana/N. Dakota line and can say that the scenery was then and still is..much better on the Montana side. :yes:

I just drove most of Big Sky Country again 3 days ago ...for about the umpteenth-hundreth time. Started at the extreme NE corner (Plentywood area) by way of NW ND, got on the Highline Hwy to Choteau, Browning & Glacier, backtracked down to Sun River (Great Falls), Glendive, Miles City, Billings, Bozeman, down the Gallatin Hwy to Ellis, then West Yellowstone, passed thru the birthplace of tv? in Ripley, Idaho and rocketed I-15 in the Utah, Nevada, California heat wave all the way down here to San Diego...where it finally cooled off.

Montana is always By Far the most scenic part of my rambling trips! Thanks for all those beautiful photos and memories. Kudos!

baitcast - 10-16-2011 at 06:19 AM

I seldom drop in here but I,m glad I did this time,lived in the area for many years and agree its Very Big and beautiful,never got out of the mountains to see the plains,but that was alright because the fishing was off the chart.

Super shots,THX a bunch.
Rob

Great shots!

mcfez - 10-16-2011 at 07:43 AM

That looks like Fish Creek located about 30 miles west of Missoula off Interstate 90! Was it?

Blue Ribbon and what a great area. We used to go up there each year with our guild.

[Edited on 10-16-2011 by mcfez]

durrelllrobert - 10-16-2011 at 08:45 AM

Yes, the "Big Sky" portions of Montana are wondereful and we drive through it every year on our way to Edmonton Alberta. However, Butte MT where i was born and lived until my parents had the good sense to move to San Diego when I was 14, was ,and still is more or less one ugly, cold f****** place. :lol:

DianaT - 10-16-2011 at 04:24 PM

Thanks everyone for your comment, personal thoughts and memories of the Big Sky Country. Be it mountains or the plains, it just is a special place.

McFez, we were on Fish Creek a few afternoons, and at least one of the pix is from there. The fishing was not good until after we left. With the late and heavy rains this year, the streams were still too cloudy and running to high and fast. However, for me, I don't care if I catch a fish or not. I just like being there!

Que Bellisimo!

El Vergel - 10-18-2011 at 07:26 AM

Wow! I've been to this neck of the woods and find it incredibly beautiful. Thank you so much for the share. GREAT pics!

DianaT - 10-19-2011 at 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by El Vergel
Wow! I've been to this neck of the woods and find it incredibly beautiful. Thank you so much for the share. GREAT pics!

GRACIAS and we hope to return again part of next summer and will probably take a lot more pics!.

Pompano - 10-21-2011 at 11:10 AM

Hi DianeT..from Montana's Big Easy and now the Missouri Breaks. Just passing through Big Sky Montana again for the second time in two weeks. ?

The scenery along my route is just like your photos....inspiring and simply beautiful.

Simple? Naw...Grandiose? Yes...

Not making very good time....cuz there is one photo-op after another. Oh well, things could be lot worse for a camera-bug.

Fishing tomorrow along the Gallatin....or wherever the trail takes me.

DianaT - 10-21-2011 at 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pompano
Hi DianeT..from Montana's Big Easy and now the Missouri Breaks. Just passing through Big Sky Montana again for the second time in two weeks. ?

The scenery along my route is just like your photos....inspiring and simply beautiful.

Simple? Naw...Grandiose? Yes...

Not making very good time....cuz there is one photo-op after another. Oh well, things could be lot worse for a camera-bug.

Fishing tomorrow along the Gallatin....or wherever the trail takes me.

I wish there was a green face---that would be me right now, green with envy. Well not completely because we are now in Baja and well, that is also great---this time of the year is the best in Asuncion. :yes:

Love that statement, wherever the trail takes me----that is only way to travel!

Have a great time and hope to see some of your photos!

Diana

BornFisher - 10-21-2011 at 11:51 AM

Diana-- your trip reports are always great. Thanks for the pics and report. That fawn must be just a few days old?

DianaT - 10-21-2011 at 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BornFisher
Diana-- your trip reports are always great. Thanks for the pics and report. That fawn must be just a few days old?

Thank you.

That fawn was brand new --- we couldn't believe it. We were driving around the outskirts of Missoula and saw mama in the field of tall grass. She did not move and looked a little stressed. We did not realize what was happening.

We continued up the hill to look at some homes and returned about 20 minutes later and she had given birth! We did not stay around as we did not want to make mama nervous, but what a treat for us to see such a brand new fawn.

Then again, she might have not been that nervous. The deer wander all over Missoula and not everyone there is so fond of them as they do enjoy feeding in the gardens. :biggrin:

mcfez - 11-15-2011 at 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DianaT
Thanks everyone for your comment, personal thoughts and memories of the Big Sky Country. Be it mountains or the plains, it just is a special place.

McFez, we were on Fish Creek a few afternoons, and at least one of the pix is from there. The fishing was not good until after we left. With the late and heavy rains this year, the streams were still too cloudy and running to high and fast. However, for me, I don't care if I catch a fish or not. I just like being there!

"I don't care if I catch a fish or not. I just like being there"!
Yes......

I lost a my power stairs on the RV.....TWICE...going up that dirt road. Worth every penny!

Keep your photo essays coming...you got the best here at the BN

baja1943 - 11-15-2011 at 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mcfez

I lost a my power stairs on the RV.....TWICE...going up that dirt road. Worth every penny!

Are you handicapped?

DianaT - 11-15-2011 at 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mcfez

Quote:

Thanks again--you are far too kind. ---I would love to just keep traveling. :yes:

[Edited on 11-16-2011 by DianaT]