Sound of Music Trail View - East Missoula, Montana

My advance apologies for the catchy ditty about to be stuck in your head, but this photo view point really IS called The Sound of Music Trail.... 

(And the surrounding Missoula hills were, indeed, alive with the sound of music as hundreds of people of many area churches united to pray and praise over our city at summer's end!) 

Spring Training View, Lolo Peak - Missoula, Montana

Best ever spring training view: Snow-capped Lolo Peak and its lower elevation neighbours. (Go PaddleHeads!) 

Best Game Day View Ever - Washington-Grizzly Stadium, Missoula, Montana

The true fans are early to another gorgeous home game day at U of Montana Washington-Grizzly Stadium, playing Weber State. Go Griz!

Looking Beyond The Window - Lolo, Montana

"A German theologian once said that any number of things can serve as a window to God, to what he called 'the ultimate.' 

Humans, of ccourse, tend to be pane worshipers; we just stare at the window instead of the view. 

But anything that lets you look beyond the window to the divine—a kind act, a surprise, a coincidence—is a way of communicating with something bigger than we are."

 — Kate Braestrup, Minister and Author of Beginner's Grace 

Clouds On Purpose - Missoula, Montana

Rain, glorious rain! - after days and days of cloudy skies and not watering the lawn because it OUGHT to rain...finally the clouds have found their purpose. (Which I know is much more than simultaneously saving our lawn and water bill, but aren't we the fortunate ones?!)

"I am convinced that the jealous, the angry, the bitter and the egotistical are the first to race to the top of mountains. A confident person enjoys the journey, the people they meet along the way and sees life not as a competition. They reach the summit last because they know God isn’t at the top waiting for them. He is down below helping his followers to understand that the view is glorious where ever you stand."

 - Shannon L. Alders

Gibbon Falls - Yellowstone National Park

"Rainy hugged her and said, 'Love is the only river I know whose current flows both ways.' " 

- William Kent Krueger, Northwest Angle, p. 272

(Unlike this roaring one-way segment of the Gibbon River cascading over Gibbon Falls in Yellowstone National Park.)

View To Mount Jumbo - Missoula, Montana

The not-quite-almost-there switchback features a new-ish bench for anyone wanting a wee break to enjoy this view from Mount Sentinel across to Mount Jumbo and its iconic 'L'. No shame in pausing to take in the grand scenery.

Mountain View-Through - St. Ignatius, Montana

"We see the world through the lens of all our experiences; that is a fundamental part of the human condition." -Madeleine M. Kunin

High Water Mark - Glacial Lake Missoula, Missoula, Montana

4200 feet above sea level makes for a great Missoula Valley view. This high water marker for Glacial Lake Missoula was a great excuse to pause and ponder: how many years ago was our present view underwater? did anyone care about lakefront lots back then?  who drew the short straw to schlep this huge stone marker up the mountain?

Thanks to the Ice Age Floods Institute for placing these hefty conversation starters.

Click the text links to get a few answers and perhaps provoke additional pondering.

Good Dog + View, Missoula, Montana

A hilltop view + a good dog to share it = life is good.

Maybe they’re counting the individual tree silhouettes on the far mountaintop. 
127...128...129.....
Or perhaps watching the busy-ness of tiny ant cars in the city streets below.
Anyway you spend it, pausing to take in a wide, far view makes way for restful thoughts and flights of fancy.
Indulge.

Closer To Apogee, Missoula, Montana

" 'The Scarlet Pimpernel, Mademoiselle,' he said at last, 'is the name of a humble English wayside flower; but it is also the name chosen to hide the identity of the best and bravest man in all the world, so that he may better succeed in accomplishing the noble task he has set himself to do.' " -Baroness Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Ch. 4

Blodgett Overlook Trail, View to the West, Hamilton, Montana

 

 “Every view from up here was mighty.”
 - “Dancing At the Rascal Fair” by Ivan Doig,  p. 278 

Farm With A View, Victor, Montana

Spring means yard work - raking, mowing, tidying planting beds - also known as “a great exercise opportunity”. I actually prefer exercise with a built in purpose: a walk that includes conversation with a friend or a useful destination like the library or post office, yard work that yields a visibly completed task, weight lifting while listening to an informative ebook. An extra objective makes for stronger motivation to put down my current book and get moving.

Streaming View, Victor, Montana

Sunday found me driving down the Bitterroot Valley to work at our little house before showing it to a potential buyer. The roadside views were gloriously distracting; thankfully, I had time to stop and capture some of what caught my attention.

Classic Montana Farm Scene

Long-time friends of my husband own one of the last multi-generational family ranches in the Missoula valley. The views are quintessential Montana & always provide for me the same calm as gazing out over the ocean or Alberta‘s prairies.
(Although I did have to jig around a bit to crop out the newer housing a couple rolling hills over.)