What I Learned in Big Sky Country

Lesson # 1 – Do Not Eat Chinese Food in Twin Falls, Idaho

It is inevitable that you will learn lessons on the road…some are just harder than others.

Lesson #2 – We Don’t Fit In Well to the Bar Scene in Montana

The bar that we went to in West Yellowstone, Montana would have been an ideal location to film Road House 3: Return of the Swayze (Believe it or not, there already was a Road House 2). Most of the guys were in full rodeo gear. The women looked like they were the inspiration for Friday Night Light’s Tyra Collette. Beers were $1.75. Somehow, we stumbled into a local bar in a tourist town.

If I was a fiction writer, I would have a great story involving pitchers of beer, local girls, bar brawls & reconciliation. Unfortunately, reality isn’t as exciting. For some reason, we chose this locale to have our deepest group conversation of the trip. Instead of the merits of Miller vs. Coors, we ended up talking about the power of language, societal double standards, and when it is appropriate or necessary to intervene in the problems of others. Sigh…the problem with having smart and introspective friends is that it sometimes gets in the way of a good time.

Lesson # 3 – It is Easy to Become Spoiled

Yellowstone National Park is everything it is cracked up to be. Any photograph you take here is a postcard worthy picture. What I found the most amazing is how numerous and different the landscapes are throughout the park. Depending on where you were, you could see mountains or plains, canyons or lakes, geysers or waterfalls. It was like walking through one of those Six Flags parks, where you can travel from the medieval Europe to ancient Japan in the matter of a few city blocks.

After driving through so much beauty in such a short time, you can’t help but take it for granted. When we first drove into the park, we’d stop to take photos for five minutes every time we saw an elk. We nearly had an epileptic fit the first time we saw a buffalo. By our second day in the park, we were much too seasoned for that. We barely slowed down if we passed a herd of bison. We openly mocked the tourists who held up traffic to take a photo of a deer on the side of the road. This didn’t just apply to wildlife. A 300-foot waterfall seemed insignificant when we had seen a 400-foot one yesterday. It was hard to get worked up about a giant multi-colored canyon when we had seen the GRAND Canyon the week before. Leaving Yellowstone, it was official. We had become travel snobs.

What I’m Listening To: Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? – She & Him, Throw the Jew Down the Well – Borat, Dressed to Digress – Boy Crisis

Next Stop: Denver, CO