Cookn Travels: A sliver of Wyoming and a WHOLE LOT of Montana!!

Devil's Tower, Little Big Horn National Monument,

and Montana landscapes

Week Two of the Cook Cross Country Crusade takes us even further west into Big Sky Country....

Devil's Tower National Memorial:

We packed up camp in South Dakota on June 17 and headed further west into the north east corner of Wyoming to visit Devil's tower. Yes, I now want to watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind again, and the only aliens we encountered were the ones that have been tagging along on this whole trip!

Our first glimpse of Devil's Tower was from 15 miles away...

....and got even more magnificent the closer we got. See all those dark clouds? Yes, it was cold and wet at this stop! While all our friends in PA were experiencing 90 degree heat, it was 54 here!

In the next series of pictures, look for the orange dot...that would be Brodey. He was once again climbing, this time on the boulders. Did not matter to him that it was cold and raining. He was determined to see how high he could go, which was to the tree line. Past that he would have needed a permit. I think if we would have allowed him, he would have given it a try!

Can you see him? Look really close at the middle of the tree line.

Brodey took this selfie at the top of his climb.

Of course as soon as we left the park the sky cleared. These were taken from about 3 miles away.

And we're off! This time into Montana to finish the first leg of our 2 day journey to Glacier National Park. Can I just say that Montana is one BIG state! Oh, and make sure you have a full tank of gasoline before you take the "quicker, shorter" road through Montana. No, we didn't run out of gas but we were about 10 miles short of doing just that! Luckily we found the one gas station for a hundred miles, the nicest lady working, and a vending machine that sold frozen milkshakes that just hit the spot!

We almost missed this sign, so Doug pulled off the road and I ran back to snap the picture!

We were on this road for what seemed like forever and while I was looking on the map to see if we would ever find civilization again, I noticed we were going to go right past another national monument. Yes, I did get the first, "Do we have to get out of the car?" from at least 1 kid.

Little Big Horn National Monument:

Established in 1879 but in 1991, the U.S. Congress and President Bush, changed the name of the battlefield from Custer Battlefield National Monument to Little Bighorn National Monument and ordered the erection of a memorial to the American Indians who fought for their families, land, and culture.

The Indian Memorial:

June 18, Travel Day through Montana:

We spent the night in Billings, MT and left early to travel even more through this humongous state; this time we were better prepared and filled up with gas several times along the way. There is a reason they nicknamed this state Big Sky Country, because you can see forever and the sky just seems to be never ending. The Rocky Mountains kept us company most of the way, we could see them in the distance all the way to Glacier National Park, where we finally got to enjoy them up close. We are staying 4 nights in St. Mary's, MT on the east side. We are 1 mile from the entrance to the park. Can't wait to start exploring tomorrow!