'Mmmm Montana Mountains

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Howdy Y’All,

On Thursday, we left Jackson Hole, a town situate a few miles from Teton National Park, beginning the next leg of our trip towards Yellowstone National Park. We were looking forward to the visit although we began to get a feeling that it might differ from our expectations. At this time of the year, it is extremely busy in the vicinity of the Park, which complicates accommodation issues, too. We managed to obtain a room in Bozeman, Montana. ‘Bozeman!’ you might exclaim. We certainly did. It is a sizeable ski town some 100 miles north of Wyoming. We got the second last room in the motel. We wonder why the recession has not reached these states. Perhaps, recessions move very slowly, we are thinking.


Clearly, we did not spend much time in Yellowstone, less than a day. Suffice to say, they receive 3 million visitors a year. On Thursday, it appeared most of them arrived unexpectedly. We decided to make space for two more after watching ‘Old Faithful’ blow his top.





The good news is that as we move north, we feel a better level of acceptance. ‘Why?’ you may ask. It seems that our stylish hats are well received, especially in Montana. It's ‘hello Pardner’ here and ‘hello Pardner’ there. We still feel that to be really part of society, the hat must narrow somewhat in the middle. It needs the streamline ‘cowboy-look’. Our editor says the problem might be a swollen head. We are thankful for her advice. Each night, we wrap an ice-pack around the swollen-head, hoping that it will enable the hat to sit well.


Today, we visited an incredible mountain range. We hiked to the highest Peak, Sacajawea, of the Bridger Mountains. It was spectacular, especially for us as it had the features we enjoy. We commenced in the forest, broke through the tree line, played in the snow—freezing hands and sweating arms simultaneously—and then remained on a narrow exposed ledge all the way to the peak. The hike was six miles with an elevation gain of over two thousand feet—it seemed like most of the gain occurred in the last few yards. We are wondering if there are more than 12 inches to the foot in Montana. By the way, by area, it is the fourth largest state after Alaska, Texas and California. There is a single telephone area code for the whole state. Less than a million people inhabit it although it’s well populated with bears. The last point is pertinent as two grizzlies were spotted close by today. We are thinking we know why there are so few people in the state while there is a growing, well fed grizzly population.



At the peak, we had a 360-degree view that was amazing. It is wonderful to be able to look down on the other mountain ranges—well look down only because of height advantage. As always, we have much respect for every mountain. While sitting and staring at the views, we saw a great pair of legs…for climbing. Actually, it was four of them. An inquisitive big horn sheep joined us at the peak. We were pondering about climbing like a goat. Then we remembered what happens to them at Yom Kippur and Pesach and decided we were more fortunate, even with only boots.


We walked down with a young couple, two or three years older than us who are retired teachers. We had wonderful conversations. They invited us to visit them in Hawaii. Last week we were invited to Brooklyn. We need the black hat as we mentioned then and now a Hawaiian outfit. Our editor says, ‘Should she buy tickets.’ We said, without hesitation, “Book ‘em, Jenno.” Our budget is now strained. Next week, if asked, we can only afford to meet nudists who live close by.


So Long, Pardners,
Jenni and Jeffrey