Greetings from Butte, Montana!

I’m reminded of the line from a wonderful song of praise, “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news!” 

I bring you news from the awe-inspiring mountains of the great American northwest.  Awe-inspiring in no way adequately describes the vastness of the Rocky Mountains as they rise to 13,000 feet in the Grand Tetons into the magnificent 2.2 million acres of Yellowstone National Park.

Yesterday, we traveled into Yellowstone via the western gate and headed for famous Old Faithful.  As we rounded the curve into the coach park, our driver played “How Great Thou Art” and there was not a dry eye in the entire bus.  What strikes me is the hauntingly beautiful immenseness (is that a word?) of this country - miles of sagebrush, pines, sheer cliff walls and geothermal underground springs that erupt throughout the park.  We were fortunate enough to have lunch just in time to see Old Faithful be faithful and shoot more than 50 feet in the air.  We returned for the evening to a quaint western village - West Yellowstone just outside the park entrance.  I had the most delightful black forest mocha java you’ll ever imagine! 

Today we re-entered the park and headed for the Yellowstone canyon from which the park gets its name.  Not as grand as the canyon of the same name, but breathtaking nonetheless - cliffs of yellow and red stone rising out of the Yellowstone river several thousand feet in the air.  The air is crisp and cool, and once used to the 8000 feet plus elevation - breathing in the fresh clean air is a spiritual experience.

We saw bison and elk - one who decided to stroll across the road totally oblivious to the rows of cars and buses that stopped to gawk and snap pictures.  The bald eagle and her eaglets where not at home when we passed her large nest near the top of a lonesome pine on the flatlands at the foot of the mountains that run through every part of this glorious land. 

We left the park through the north entrance and had lunch in another quaint western village - Gardner, Montana and I indulged in a wonderful concoction of chocolate ice cream with some unknown bits of ’something’ running through it - scrumptous!

On to Butte, Montana, once home to the Anaconda copper mine and queen of the northwestern region of the U.S.  Tonight’s hotel returns us to civilization (has elevators) and wireless internet in all the rooms.

This afternoon on the coach, our driver shared a National Geographic video of the Lewis & Clark expedition from the Missouri River across the great northwest in search of the Missouri’s headwaters and the Pacific Ocean.  I was struck by the courage, diligence to the task and the stamina of these men and the one Shoshone woman who guided them much of the way.  I marvel at the story of the discovery of this magnificent part of the great USA, and the shear human will of these men and one woman who braved all that nature could throw their way to press on to the goal.  It forever changed our great nation.   By the way, the woman (Sagachwea?) was pregnant when she left with Lewis & Clark and delivered her baby on route!  She’s in my book of “women of excellence”.

As I’ve grown more chronologically mature, I’ve become more aware of how fortunate I am to be an American!  To live in a nation that grants me the freedom to travel at will.  While we have our challenges, we still have the greatest experiment in democracy and freedom the world has ever known.  We have a nation rich in resources and not the least of those resources is its people.  

I may be wrong, but I think as we move into and through the 2nd half of the journey, we become more aware of what we have as free people.  I know I do.  It started several years before 9/11 and grows stronger each year.  It took a giant leap forward traveling through the magnificence of our great northwest and imagining what it took to make this part of the ‘new world’ accessible to a fledging democracy fresh from the battle for independence - the United States of America!   Long may she live and long may her flag wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Tomorrow we head for Washington state and Spokane as we inch closer to Vancouver, BC and Holland America’s inside passage cruise to Alaska with embarkation on Saturday.  Keep us in prayer for continued safety and MANY THANKS to Kathy and Peg for keeping the Blog fresh and alive and exciting with great info for us all!

Hopefully tomorrow’s hotel will have internet access as well and I can share a little about tomorrow’s journey!

Until then, it has been lovely putting our feet on the mountains and bringing good news from there to each of you!

Have an awesome evening!

  Linda