Gardiner, Montana: lost and found

From Billings P and I drove into the mountains for several hours to our destination right on the border of Montana and Wyoming, the town of Gardiner. We stopped quite often to take pictures, explore the changing landscape, and enjoy the 87 degree afternoon before arriving in the colder mountain town. These are pictures from the highway:



Beside myself with a new-found enthusiasm for mountains, we arrived in Gardiner just before sunset (and just before the freezing rain) all charged-up and ready to take on the town. It was still warm, our Comfort Inn was so reasonably priced and had an actual wooden interior (we later were proven correct on all the stories we had heard about prices for... well, everything once you enter Yellowstone), and we still had full hearts and bellies left over from Billings. Our curiosity and excitement brought us out int the surrounding town for a long walk.

There is another town to the south west that also has a gateway to Yellowstone in Wyoming called West Yellowstone that we saw the next day while leaving, but that down was overwhelming in it's tourist-y-ness. The town of Gardiner was small, nestled in the mountains, and more of an RV park/ greasy spoon type town. If P was smitten enough to think about living in Billings, it was Gardiner that charmed me (and still haunts my dreams, I say, with contented sighs).



It was this afternoon I shot a video that was posted here a couple weeks ago (I was probably catching you up with Iowa at the time) where you can hear my fading voice, although at the time I didn't feel sick at all. After the video and these pictures were taken, the winds picked up fast... clouds moved over the mountains... and within no time it was raining a cold, cold rain. At this point in the trip, however, I was so charmed and in awe that even looking back on this part of the trip puts a twinkle in my eye. I may have lost my voice there, but felt incredibly awake and alive. Thank you, Montana!