Day Four. Half a week's time into the road trip and tonight we rest in Missoula, Montana. This town is reported to be the cultural center of Montana and is home to University of Montana.
Today was not such a good day for sightseeing. Overnight snow fell, covering the ground with a couple inches of the white stuff and, as we found out later in today's drive, fifteen feet of snow in Yellow Stone National Park which was our "point of interest" for today. We decided not to venture into the park under advisement from two baristas that we bought the midday coffee from. Instead we determined that driving an extra hundred or so miles was the better choice. So, we find ourselves a day ahead of our previous tentative schedule, and we will be arriving in Seattle, or rather just little north of the city, tomorrow.

Breakfast's companion, Irish tea with a new addition: maple sugar, sugar made from maple syrup. This morning was the last of the muffins mom made before departure. From tomorrow on, oat meal!

Though we didn't stop by any national parks, monuments, or historical buildings today, the scenery as we drove by was amazing. The soil here is red because of iron content. 

Last night's snowfall as we drove out of Gillette, South Dakota.

Slowly, the landscape changed from grassy rolling hills to the forested, expansive mountains of Montana.

The coffee shop were we acquired today's caffeine fix. The two baristas that manned the coffee bar were the ones who thankfully told us of the blizzard  conditions in Yellow Stone National Park, saving us many hours that we would have spent stuck in snow.

The river Lewis and Clark traveled down during their expedition west.

There was hardly anybody on the roads with us. Most of the time we sped along by ourselves in the great wilderness.

The areas with snowfall were intermittent; for several miles there would be no sign of anything reminiscent of winter months, and then stretches where tree branches were bending with the weight of the snow.

This is where we ended the day, finally getting to eat vegetables!! The name of this establishment is Sean Kelly's The Stone… Although the spelling is different, those names sound familiar? 

It rained for the better part of today. The sky was grey and the ground wet; occasionally, though, the sun would break through and shine a little. Hopefully tomorrow will bring with it more pleasant weather conditions. We'll be entering the state of Washington some time in the afternoon probably, and will reach the destination of this road trip: the West Coast.

じゃあね！