We packed up and were out by 9 am. We had a long drive with 309 miles and stopped twice. The scenery was beautiful even though muted by the smoky haze on the mountains. We checked our route several times against the wildfires that were creating the smoke and luckily our route going through the valley and staying in Ruby Valley (I wonder why we stayed here?) is free of fires with no closures. There are all kinds of interactive online maps that show where and how big the fires are, it’s helpful. I found an article that mentioned smokejumpers while looking into it! We had just watched a movie before we left with Angelina Jolie as a smoke jumper giving a new appreciation for this profession. In the movie, she jumps in a river and holds her breath while the fire goes over her…I think it’s similar to finding a ditch in a tornado maybe? Or jumping the shark…who knows.
Things we did:
- Ate fruit loops (vacation sugar cereal I promised Ruby when we got to Glacier)
- Drive, drivey, drive, drive!
- Saw trains moving on the side of the mountain – I just think this is magical for some reason
- More fields of yellow canola flowers
- Passed some awesome little lakes down 83 in Montana that looked like VBO Rentals in the future? along Placid Lake and Salmon Lake especially looked picturesque and like there is a lodge in the middle of Salmon lake perhaps? Something to look into.
- Used my new USB mobile car heating pad on my neck!
- Smokey smoke haze over the mountains (at times it looked like South Dakota flat fields again because the smoke was covering so much of the mountains in the distance)
- Train crossings (Anna’s in love!)
- Saw rivers and mountains
- Drove through small towns and along cliffs
- Saw “Our Lady of the Rockies” atop the Continental Divide in Butte, MT (This was another biggest ball of string kind of moment)
- Saw a runaway truck ramp going down a 6% grade. Trucks per limited to 25 miles per hour.
- Played on the playground
- Did laundry
- Ate grilled cheese and tomato soup
- Had Oreos and milk for dessert and Elsa ate so much for dinner that dessert threw her over the edge and she threw up and fell asleep in our bed. (She seems fine today)
- We booked a one-nighter in the north CO mountains and a 3 nighter in Gunnison CO where I will get to see my high school friend Kim and her family!! <3
