Cabin in the woods

We're up north, in the state of Montana for a week's holiday.  Things are different around here.  Everyone's a cowboy, in the literal sense.  The entire state slopes up from the east, over the continental divide, and onwards into the north Rockies.  Above it is Canada.  These are the borderlands.  I'm beginning to understand the US obsession with "big" and "small" government.  When you live here, and your nearest neighbour is two miles down a dirt track and over a mountain range, you don't give much time to what people in Washington DC tell you to do.

As you can see, I'm finding it hard being 40 miles from the nearest Starbucks.  After a lengthy delay in Denver we arrived in Billings, picked up a car and drove west.  This state is large.  L-A-R-G-E.  Montana is "Big Sky Country" and, while I imagine the sky is probably the same size everywhere, it certainly feels...spread out.  We drove five hours, uphill, to Missoula and then turned right into a cavernous glacial valley.  Another right took us into the Mission Mountains, and that's where we found our cabin.

It's a gorgeous little place, made from reclaimed materials and sitting in its own wooded glade.  I think there are other people about - I've heard banjos being played at night - but it certainly feels secluded.  It was meant to have the Internet but it's not working!!  Perhaps we need to make supplications to the local forest spirits.  While we're here we intend to do lots of outdoorsy adventurous things, the first being to find a coffee shop with wi-fi to upload this.



Hannah, bored.

But why? Denver Airport offers all the ingredients for a happy life.

Lunch stop on the way from Billings to our cabin.  This is Matt's Place, the oldest drive-in in Montana, which serves both types of food (burgers and fries).  That's our cholesterol intake for the entire holiday taken care of.



The road to our cabin.

Here it is!  Pretty cute, hey?

Hannah surveys the grounds.

 We need to come back in the winter so I can play with this.

Looking out from inside.

We stopped by the local supermarket (15 miles away) to pick up supplies.  We now have a chicken on a stick.  If only it would stop squawking.

Reward: $10 for baby, $20 for dog.

Moon over Montana.

Moonlight through the pines.  Without the sound of the I-680 and the BART, things are a little spooky.