Big Sky!

We are in Montana! Our first stopover was in Billings, after a long, long drive through South Dakota (stopped at Corn Palace, saw the Badlands in the distance because we stayed on I90-W...but we'll return for them later...), through the Northeast corner of Wyoming, and then into Montana on US-212 which after a foreverlong drive caught back up with I90-W and took us to Billings about an hour later. I saw our first "real" wildlife - antelope and a bird I thought might be a road runner, but likely was not, as they do not live as far north at Montana apparently. It did, however, look very much like one, whatever it was.

On our way down 212, we saw a dark, threatening cloud hanging over the landscape a bit ahead of us and to the South. It was nearly an hour later though that we caught up with it, had a few raindrops and thought it was over. However, as we started to approach some of our first mountain passes, we saw that the storm was much larger than we thought and extended over the valley and hills. Again, about an hour away from the storm activity itself, we saw lightening striking down from the clouds into the hills and fields and as we climbed higher and higher, it of course got closer and closer. It was probably the closest I've been to lightening (except for the time it struck in front of Roomie and I while we were walking back from classes in Florence).

Once we got through the storm, probably an hour or two from Billings, we finally ran back into sunshine streaming through the few clouds remaining on the horizon. As we approached Billings, the trees and hills were just brilliant with light - it seemed a positive sign - but symbols aside, it was just gorgeous. I can see why Montana is called Big Sky...even with the mountain ranges, the landscape is far more filled with clouds, sunshine and sky than anything else. If I looked slightly above the road when driving, I almost could imagine that I was flying, because all I could see was sky.

The next day we made it to Missoula in about 5 hours or so - another long drive through mountains, fields and valleys. One notable sight: A sign advertising the "Testicle Festival." I had to assume it  was referring to Rocky Mountain Oysters, and it turns out that it was. Once we were about 45 minutes from Missoula, entering the County, it was hard to imagine a major town was ahead. Even 10 minutes from Missoula, you might not suspect anything if it weren't for billboards advertising hotels and restaurants. We entered Missoula through the mountains and it wasn't until we were actually within city limits that we could tell we had arrived.


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So far we've explored downtown a bit, trying new restaurants and driving around the University district looking for a home. We've got quite a few to look at, but many of those are through property management companies which we were hoping to avoid. It may also be difficult working with them right now as it is a long holiday weekend and we want a place by the end of the weekend if possible! I think we do have three through landlords themselves which are at the top of our list right now. Once we find something, we will settle in a bit and then head for San Francisco!