Top of the World

Yesterday we went to the top of the world! At least that's how it seemed to us. We went for the drive that was supposed to be wonderful and at the beginning of it we saw a sign for Chief Joseph scenic drive. We figured it would loop around and we could do both drives. It worked out great except that it more than doubled the miles driven and time it took. It was late when we got back last night but well worth the time! Both drives were awesome and I would hate to have missed those sights.

We saw just about every type of terrain from arid, flat to lush green (irrigated) fields to high, HIGH mountains! We were above the snow line and the clouds! Yesterday was the first day I didn't take jackets along and the first time we needed them. Oh well, we just toughed it out and made our snowballs really fast and jumped back in the car.

You can see by the windy GPS road that it was quite a drive up the mountain (actually we climbed two mountains). What you can't tell by the GPS is the altitude we gained by each switch back! We wound up at 10,947 feet according to the sign at the top of the mountain. Our GPS read 10,940 but that's close enough. My picture was taken just before we saw the sign.

In the little town of Cooke City we decided to get some lunch. There was a BBQ restaurant with tables and chairs outside so Mindy and I sat down and Bill went inside to order. There was a screen door to go through and two dogs inside that lived there! We ordered brisket sandwiches and the cook came out the screen door to the BBQ grill outside and fixed our lunches. They were delicious! I have never heard of dogs being allowed inside a restaurant but I figure the health department hasn't been around lately! Especially since road construction started just outside of town and went all the way through town and out the other side! We didn't attach Mindy's leash to the table, thinking about Marley running off with the table in the movie! Of course, Mindy would

never do that, especially since we bought her a hot dog!

It was getting dark on the trip back and we saw this amazing buck grazing by the road. I took several pictures but they

are all a little fuzzy. I'm posting it anyway because he was so beautiful. Then we saw three does grazing in the yards where rangers live (I guess that's who lives in those houses close to Mammoth com

plex). We also saw lots of buffalo and two black bears. I didn't get pictures of either bear. Blast! One was little and down in

a gully too far away to get a picture. The other was much bigger but belly deep in grass and when we stopped to try for a picture a ranger came along and told us we would have to get off the road. There was no place close enough to get off the road and still see the bear so we moved on with wonder

ful pictures in our heads but none in the camera.

We passed the 3,000 mark for this trip. It's gone so fast and we have seen so much! Tomorrow we will move to Great Falls and spend a few days. Then on the Glacier!