Full Promise, Central Montana Rainbow

Reason # 41: Why I Love Montana Road Trips

High Wired, Missoula, Montana

"Clouds on clouds, in volumes driven,
Curtain round the vault of heaven."
~Thomas Love Peacock, English novelist, poet, and official of the East India Company (1785-1866)

Boundary Stones, Missoula, Montana

"I realized I couldn't be a journalist because I like to take a side, to have an opinion and a point a view; I liked to step across the imaginary boundary of the objective view that the journalist is supposed to have and be involved." 
- Annie Leibovitz, Photographer

Distant Hills, Florence, Montana

Ruminating on today’s photo for a quote idea, I vaguely recollected that something somewhere including “distant hills.”
Enter Google to the rescue.

Six results down I read, “The distant hills call to me. Their rolling waves seduce my heart.” and thought, “Aha! That’s it - perfect!”. 

So, I clicked the link - and busted out laughing as I continued to read:

“...Oh, how I want to graze in their lush valleys. 
Oh, how I want to run down their green slopes.
Alas, I cannot.
Damn the electric fence! Damn the electric fence!
Oh, how we long to run with a wilder herd.
Alas, we cannot.”

If you’ve lived in farm or ranch country, I’m betting you laughed, too.

A little deeper digging revealed the true source of that Far Side-esque quote: none other than that wry genius, Gary Larson. Check out his cartoon here and the pieces will all come together.

On a serious note, the "...rolling waves seduce my heart..." is pretty close to what I feel as we drive toward these velvety undulating hills south of Missoula, Montana.

Look Again, Missoula, Montana

I spy with my little eye, something that is … graceful and wary.

Yet another reason why Missoula's downtown river  walk is among my very favourites.

Springfall, Missoula, Montana

“I thought I had forgotten,
But it all came back again
To-night with the first spring thunder
In a rush of rain…

Thunder gripping the earth
And lightning scrawled on the sky…”

From “Spring Rain” by Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)
Read more about this author, the entire poem, and more of her poetry
here.

Late Spring Snowcap, Bitterroot Valley, Montana

Recent spring rains = new snow in the mountains, to cap off the lingering snow pack.

We’re glad for any extra precipitation that soaked in deep, and hope it makes a difference come August forest fire season.

Zoom in to better see the cottonwood fluff wafted above the meadow in echo to snowflakes higher up.

French Connection: Le Mont Saint-Michel to Missoula, Montana

Very rarely do I waver from Montana-only photos, but today’s exception is a case of maternal indulgence. 

Well, technically, Wicked StepMaternal indulgence (Apples Not Included). 

The Delightful Child texted what she termed “My best picture so far” of Le Mont Saint-Michel, and said I could use it as my “1 a day“. And did not harrass me for my Facebook avoidance, where I could have seen it by now. 
In full-on Delightful mode, Child has a formidable ability to make me think, “Aaaaw! How sweet!” and unwittingly provoke me to give her extra gas money or take her out to lunch even though she hasn‘t asked for a single thing. 
She is a bonus blessing beyond any I ever thought would grace my life. (Yes, I just dabbed my eyes, unashamedly.)

The way I see it, a picture sent from France to a Montana recipient by a Montana girl in the company of a small horde of other Montana students is infused with enough of our great state to qualify for Montana1aday.

Amusez-vous!