The Aquamarine Waters of Memory

Iconic view

Lights in the Lake McDonald Lodge, taken from below with my camera set on a table

...a more traditional viewpoint

the aquamarine waters of McDonald Creek

Just some more shots of Glacier Park in the summer of 2009. These were all taken in late June/early July. This summer we'll be leaving on the 18th of June and stay in Coram until the 25th, when we'll be going to Hamilton for the celebration of my Great Aunt's 100th birthday.

I remember spending childhood time there, both in the long exotic days of summer, and the crisp week of Christmas break. The cousins had 10-speeds and we'd ride all over the quiet tree-lined streets of Hamilton. I always thought it a bit glamorous and strange to see at the end of every avenue these great blue mountains rising up over the town in the summer haze, these Bitterroots that shelter the valley and make it wondrous, after having spent most of my life out on the high plains. I felt somehow protected in Hamilton, less exposed.

Aunt Emmy always called the Bitterroot valley the Banana Belt of Montana, and indeed it was. I envied the flowers and the cherries and apples until I came to Oregon and discovered my own Banana Belt here in the Columbia Basin.

I remind myself of that when I think I want to live in Montana again--which I do, in my heart of hearts, but with the option of taking the winter off and heading for a warmer clime, or not having to go ANYWHERE for the duration of the cold months but my own studio and maybe the grocery store. That all means I'd have to be fabulously wealthy...