Red States are Pretty

So, from a motel in Shoshoni, WY, here are some pictures of the pretty scenery on the way here from Washington, through Idaho and Montana.

This is the Columbia Basin in Washington; Christina slipped on a rock and bruised her butt here.


Flaaaaaaaaat.


Hell's Gate, ID. We camped and had a picnic on this river. Hell's Gate is much nicer than it sounds.


Our first rain came in Idaho, but everything was still pretty as we followed the Lewis and Clark Trail along the Clearwater River. Yes, we drove on this road for 77 miles without a single cross-street or gas station.


More of the road.


Gas is so cheap! You can see why one might still vote Republican in Montana.


In the flatter parts of Montana, you can see big mountains in the distance under dramatic clouds. Makes for some easy artsy fartsy photos.


Or artsy fartsy photos with Christina in them!


We drove down a big stretch of highway that was not actually highway but actually gravel, which clanked up under the car, and when a big pickup truck passed us, we got this fun souvenir:


So, now we're in the middle of Wyoming, and the roads here are also majestic, where the Rockies meet the Great Plains (or something like that).




It was so flat here, and we drove into a thunderstorm on the plains. Christina made me take the GPS off the windshield in case we got struck by lightning. Luckily, as I learned from the Electricity! show at the Museum of Science in Boston, the metal frame of the car protects you from lightning!



Also, if you're ever in Cody, WY, go to Mustard's Last Stand, a hot dog place where Christina got a hot dog with RANCH DRESSING and BACON on it. Also, there is elk jerky.