Day One: To Kalispell, MT

God is brilliant when he goes to excess.  I've always heard that moderation is the key to a happy life.  Could be that we as humans aren't savvy enough to know when going overboard is just right.  Today I've seen a lot of God's heavy handed creation.  For instance...when God made the Columbia River Gorge green, he made it so green, almost blue!  But that could have simply been the blanket of thick blue fog tucked into the Gorge's corners this morning.  The fog looked like periwinkle polar fleece.

Then there was gold.  I came out from under the covers to find that once past the Cascades the land is rolling hills leading to plains of grasses so shimmering in the new sun that King Tut himself would be jealous.  The gold turned into a choppy jute carpet in southeastern Washington knotted and twisted with short, crunchy, combustible-looking shrubbery.  Max quickly discovered these low-lying shrubs had stickers on them.

I was overwhelmed by a gorgeous area called Coeur d'Alene just inside the Idaho border.  Beautiful sparkling cobalt water and the cleanest, best designed rest stop I've ever seen.  Max and I got out and played under beautiful cedars on a carpet of thick, green grass.

From there, the drive into Montana was incredible.  The topography changed from chubby nannies sleeping against St. Bernards, to giant angular eagles taking flight from their downy nests of evergreen trees.  Rock formations came one after another, each more beautiful than the last.  

Tonight, though, the most startling display I've seen in a great while.  God peppered the sky here in Kalispell with more stars than there are numbers.  Max and I went for a nice walk after arriving and settling in to very comfortable quarters.  It was nearly pitch black outside.  The air is the perfect temperature...that of summer being challenged by fall with a sprinkle of higher altitude thrown in.  The stars twinkled like they knew they were being watched and wanted to put on a show.  I'm lucky to have been in the audience. 

Clearly excess—but wonderfully so.