Pallisade Falls

Our fantastic tour guide Todd took us on a great cross country drive from Lewistown to Bozeman. We past a really cool Wind Farm with at least 100 massive wind turbines, countless ranches, all with no snow until all of a sudden we come over this bump in the road and BAMM! SNOW DRIFTS AND SNOW ALL OVER THE ROAD!! Fortunately it was patchy until we got into the multiple mountain ranges where the road was covered in ice and snow, and no guard rails!!! Anyways, it was fine and Emily was hilarious so excited looking at the mountains, signs and just every little thing along the way! haha. We made a great stir-fry at Todd's, had fun beer (mine was called Face Plant! lol), visited, laughed and played Rummy! This morning we woke feeling sluggish and needing of exercise. After a great breakfast made by Todd and his roommate, we headed for the mountains and Hyalite Canyon. The roads were really icy and narrow and it only worsened as we neared our destination. Actually, in my little front-wheel drive car, we drove up a single track 4x4 road into these amazing frozen falls!!! At one point while we are driving up this road, me, Em, and Todd all start saying something about needing to turn around, or "can we even turn around"? Half a second later, the song on my iPod bursts out, "For God Sakes TURN AROUND!!!" I then start laughing (awkwardly) then say, do ya think that was a sign??" Hmmm, oh crap! There is a truck heading for us and a cliff with 3 foot deep snow on either side!! Thank-you to the truck that backed up for us!! We did however manage to find a spot to pull off the road so they could have gotten by us. Unfortunately by the time I got off the road the guy had already gotten himself stuck!! Em helped him out with my little red plastic shovel and offered some good advice, "why don't you try backing and pushing down the mountain instead of up?" The guy got out. The waterfall was amazing!!! Frozen blue water over the top of this huge cliff towering above us! It was only a short walk before we took our pictures then headed back quickly as the sun was beginning to set...a fear of getting REALLY STUCK also hurried our departure back to the car and down the mountain. The trip out was actually not nearly as nerve racking as the way in! Wheu!! Bozeman is really nice. Very high class stores!! As well as a really big University, looked not too bad! Anyway, we are heading south again tomorrow. We may or may not make it to Moose Jct. or Jackson Hole! ;-) later!