Day 6 - Way over yonder

Our next stop after Denver was Bozeman, Montana.  Our faithful TomTom directed us through the eastern half of Wyoming.  Some people might associate Wyoming with Yellowstone National Park, as it covers a good fourth of the state.  But for others, Wyoming might conjure up images of old western films starring Clint Eastwood– it is “Forever West”, after all.  Here's a fun fact about western films – during the peak of their popularity, film makers found the cost of filming in places like Wyoming and South Dakota (badlands)to become astronomical.  In order to economize their expenses, they actually filmed many of these western films in a small town on the south east coast of Spain called Almería because it has the same landscape but the cost to film there was ridiculously cheaper.

Wyoming's terrain was dry, rocky, flat, hilly and at times very mountainous.  There was the occasional green vegetation scarcely littered over the land.  

 
Houses and civilization were few and far between (although much more common than in Kansas).

 The further north we traveled, the more mountainous the terrain became.  

Big Horn Mountains

 Montana was much greener than Wyoming.  The landscape revealed leafy green trees and shrubbery with the occasional lake or river.

Montana’s name is no coincidence as it is derived from the Latin term for 'mountainous'.  There was a point in our journey in southern Montana when the Absaroka Mountain range was directly in front of us.  

Absaroka Mountains

The majestic peaks of the Absaroka mountains declared their 11,000 plus foot summit.  In daylight they are quite impressive.  When the sun sets behind their massive peaks, they are magnificent.