Heading to Seattle

[HorseyBoy]

^ Hot as hell here, too! But at least the teppanyaki is good.
San Juan Island was beautiful, as was North Yellowstone. We’ve seen enough animals now for me to be allowed back into a guitar store. All I have to do is find one.

[jerms]

i think there are a couple shops in missoula

[fernieite]

Into Montana now, heading towards Glacier National Park. Will try to get some photos up soon.
Just had a surreal but pleasant dinner at a teppanyaki place in Great Falls (everyone goes to Montana for the teppanyaki, right?) with members of a nearby Hutterite colony (apparently they have their own show on National Geographic called “American Colony”). Very personable and funny folk. Dude beside me was hilarious, too, knocking back glasses of wine and cracking localised sheep-shagging jokes:
“What do they call a sheep caught in a fence in Wyoming?”
“I don’t know, Mr Hutterite - what do they call a sheep caught in a fence in Wyoming?”
“Mountin’ time.”
Feels like I’m a LONG way from Seattle.

First of all - what a great day you guys must have had with all that beautiful gear and cool company! Wow - must have been fantastic!

Glacier park is incredibly beautiful. Logan Pass is the highest road in the USA, I think? When I lived in Fernie, BC (hence my name) I used to ride my CBR929RR Fireblade down through Montana and through Glacier park on day trips. I don't know if there's a speed limit now, but back then (1997 - 2004) we were allowed to go whatever we deemed was "safe and prudent". Well, I kinda went fast when the road was unoccupied....

[HorseyBoy]

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Yellowstone hike above.
Driving through Glacier now, listening to Al Casey (thanks, psycho*daisies!) and trying not to hit any moose.
Bonus menu pic for Doc Holliday. The Huckleberry margaritas are also great.

[chankgeez]

[HorseyBoy]

In Missoula tonight, which looks like a cool little town, but here's a pic of Grenelle Lake at Many Glacier a few days back:

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On our way to Missoula we stopped at Swan Lake and did a five-mile hike with llamas, which was wild and crazy fun. Wilder still, we also had our second and third run-ins with bears just off of trails.
On the way up with the llamas we spotted a couple of grizzly bear cubs not far from the trail and then spotted their mother beside them. You don't want to get between a mama bear and her cubs, so I was relieved they were all together. Our guide pulled out her bear spray and the llamas got a little skittish, but the bears pretty much ignored us and we slowly walked on by.
Those bears had gone when we trekked back, but when we were almost at the end of the trail, on the other side of the river, two of our llamas froze and looked at the same spot. I followed their eyes and saw a lot of movement behind a bush, followed by a big brown shape that looked at us, turned, then ran away up the mountainside. It was another grizzly. Freaked the shit out of my llama.
That was our third bear encounter for this trip. A few days back, hiking to Virginia Falls in Glacier, we saw a young black bear crossing the trail in front of us. Again, we gave it some space, made some noise and it slowly wandered off. That was a really busy trail so I was surprised a bear would be anywhere near it.
All worked out well, but man, that's a lot of bears for the one trip.

[2guests]

Seeing bears in the wild is "fun"...in a good way. Especially, when they also have cubs. Did you get any pics of the bears?

That was a really busy trail so I was surprised a bear would be anywhere near it.

The busy trails are where all the food is!

[HorseyBoy]

^ No pics, unfortunately. As soon as we saw the bears, I just kept my eyes on them and my kids. And my llama. And my wife. Awesome to see them in the wild, but the last thing I thought about was taking photos. We all felt really calm and safe but at the same time we weren’t too keen to hang around.

[innerflight]

Kids, Llama then wife its probably best not to let your good lady read that

[HorseyBoy]

Kids, Llama then wife its probably best not to let your good lady read that

Only because I know she can look after herself, inner!
Last day in Idaho. Haven’t seen a cloud all week.

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Bye, America. Always a pleasure.