I remember it like it was yesterday. I would lay down in the fields of wildflowers humming the tune of my favorite song at the time. As a 10 year old girl on the acres of land surrounding the home of my best friend, I would drift away into a fairy tale land of my dreams. Their home was situated on top of a hill, surrounded by acres upon acres of wildflowers and corn fields. His parents worked on a horse ranch that was located at the bottom of the hill. He and I would sometimes take a pair of horses and ride them through the surrounding hills on summer days. And I would hum…over and over….again and again….the same song every day.

“Home, home on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day

How often at night when the heavens are bright
With the light from the glittering stars
Have I stood there amazed and asked as I gazed
If their glory exceeds that of ours”

I am not really sure why I loved that song so much when I was a kid. And quite frankly, I don’t even know how I knew it. But I loved that song, and I would sing it all the time as I ran through those fields, rode those horses, and continued dreaming of living in a place like the song talked about.

Ever since I met my boyfriend, Adam, he has been reminiscing about the time he spent in Montana during his military days. He loves it there. He bragged about the mountains and the beauty and the weather and the splendor and….blah blah blah. I eventually started tuning him out, thinking “it can’t possibly be THAT great.”

I just got back from spending a week in Montana, and I have a confession to make: I was wrong. As a matter of fact, I was terribly wrong. Words can do the beauty of this place no justice. And though I will try to show you a glimpse of the splendor of those majestic mountains and plains via photos, I assure you that even the photos do the “Treasure state” no justice.

This past week I have had the tune of an old familiar song running through my head….home on the range…and it’s true, the skies were not cloudy all day. Well, except when the gorgeous snow POURED down on us and covered those majestic mountains 🙂

At the entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

Um…yeah…..gorgeous, right?

Mammoth hot springs

Isn’t he handsome? 😉

I was so in love with these trees. Don’t they look so cool?

While there, we saw a TON of Bison…

…at one point I got out of the car (a big no-no) because I wanted to get a straight on shot. As soon as I stepped out of the car and snapped this shot, this Bison turned around and started glaring at me. I quickly took my position back in the car. 🙂

I liked this straight road a lot. I like him even more. 🙂

This picture alone makes me want to shoot a wedding in Bozeman, Montana! I made sure I handed out business cards while there. How awesome would it be to shoot a typical western mountain-view wedding in Montana?

These buildings reminded me of an old western movie. I didn’t want to go into any saloons out of fear of getting shot down by the town renegade who could draw a gun from his side as quick as a flash. Ironically enough, the guy who served us was from Boston.

And now onto the hiking part of the trip. At the base of the mountain it was 50 degrees and sunny, so we only wore jeans and tennis shoes. Little did we know that it had snowed a ton the night before, and the mountains were covered. We ended up trudging through about 8 inches of fresh powder. By the time we got back down, our feet and legs were soaked. It was totally worth it.

Our trail.

I had a crush on this little guy. He let me get so close! I only had my 50mm lens with me, so I had no option but to get close.

The guys coming around the bend

See that guy ice climbing on the frozen waterfall? I waned to be him. Maybe next time…

Again…I would LOVE to shoot a wedding in Bozeman or Big Sky, Montana. It is just so beautiful and I can imagine how spectacular the wedding photos would be.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of Montana!