Day four of our journey began in Miles City and a beautiful morning. The storm clouds looked fantastic and made for great photos. As we headed across on I-94 I spotted a sign for the Little Big Horn battleground, so we made our first detour of the day. The signs were not very accurate, but due to another u-turn we soon came upon it. One thing my cousin and I both noticed was how solemn people seemed to be there.
As we came into Billings my cousin asked if I had even been inside a Cabela’s Sporting Goods store. As I had not, he insisted that we go in one and urged me to bring my camera. Very cools displays and great taxidermy. After leaving there we headed to Red Lodge which is at the foot of the Beartooth mountains. We stopped at Sam’s Taproom for a sampler plate of their brews and I was not disappointed. Very nice beers indeed.
After leaving the meteor crater we headed towards the Painted Desert. The Painted Desert is the entry to Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park. Since the day was drawing to a close and I have visited several petrified forests in the past, I decided that we would skip this one and just enjoy the beauty of the Painted Desert. I have seen it from the opposite side, but it was nowhere near as nice as this.
After photographing the Painted Desert we headed on to Springerville, where we enjoyed a great meal at the Safire Restaurant & Lounge. They make most of the food fresh so it was quite welcome and delicious.
Our last day in Utah, we decided that we would go ahead and venture into Arches National Park. We had visited it last year, but Tanya’s storage drive failed and she lost a significant number of the photos she took. Since there was a threat or rain, the clouds were moving in; and while clouds can add an interesting perspective to photos, they also dampen the bright colors that might otherwise be available. Tanya said she just wanted to drive to the first arch, then we could leave. About three hours later we decided we really should head out before it started raining.
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