Visitors

When we walked back up to the cabin after breakfast this morning some bison were hanging out nearby (note the fire hydrant). They are very beautiful when frost covered.

Correction - Minus 43

Well it can't get too much colder, can it?

Minus 30

Yikes!

Ski Legs

Did our first ski. Took a short trip outback towards one of the original wolf pens. Followed the bison tracks when we could. Had to break trail otherwise. Made the mistake of going down one downward sloping meadow between rows of trees. Looked like a gentle ski run. Unfortunately all the snow blew in there so breaking trail was a bit challenging. The edges were better.

Snow

A nice amount of snow fell over the last few days. At least a foot. Shoveling the light powder is pretty easy. Temperature had been warm, but this morning it's sunny, windy and cold. Beautiful with the morning light and new snow.

Heard a wolf yesterday. Low plaintive howl while night was falling.

Bison Jam

We made it to the Lamar Buffalo ranch yesterday afternoon and were greeted (appropriately enough) by a Bison jam. Luckily the bison eventually decided to move off of the road and we were able to complete the last mile of our journey.

Across the wide Missouri...

We made it to Billings, Montana. Today we head out to the Buffalo Ranch in Yellowstone.

Getting out of Charlottesville was the hardest part weather wise. Here is the car already to be loaded with all our stuff. We just needed to dig it out first. The record snow in Charlottesville helped us get into a winter mood, on not. Fortunately, this was the most snow we saw between our front door and Billings.

Visited the families on the way with stops in Saratoga Springs, NY, Chicago, IL, and LaCrosse, WI. It was good to see everyone.

A lot of wildlife along I-90. First there were the cats east of the Mississippi. Then deer, pheasant, antelope, eagles, coyote, and we think a bobcat. Eagles were enjoying the numerous road kill deer. We were struck by how the landscape really becomes "western" after crossing the Missouri even though we usually think of the Mississippi as being the east-west boundary line. It's also amazing how much sparsely populated land there is between LaCrosse and Billings.

We spent yesterday in Billings buying way more food than we ever buy at one time. There's a very nice food coop in downtown and we even became Albertson's preferred customers. Dave is now the proud owner of a pair German wool pants from the Army surplus store. We finished the day off with a trip to Carter's Brewing-one of two good brewpubs within walking distance of our motel.