Altoona Ridge Lodge Montana

Brrrr! Just a bit of a change of scenery & weather! It was duuuumping at the Altoona Lodge! Minus 15 degrees, what a perfect time to strap on snowshoes & see if the bears were hibernating - apparently they were having hot chocolates back at the lodge! Smart animals, only humans would go out in weather like this!

Denison & Andrea von Maur are the happy proud outdoor owners of this paradise! And they sure know how to run the place like pros! This place is a 'must visit' for everyone, no matter what level of activity you enjoy. It is amazing, comfortable, beautiful beyond words & just all around wow!

Hiking in Montana

Vive l'Amérique!

So amazing to be in the wilderness in Montana. It is very different from the Alps. First of all you hike around with something called 'bear spray'. Which you are supposed to spray the entire bottle at a bear that wants to get a little too friendly with you.... hope that never happens...

The alpine flowers were all bursting at the time and it was interesting to see how different the same variety of plant was. Their arnica is a bit different to ours, but still recognizable. And the trees are amazing! The areas that have had fires are fascinating too. I still think the sky is different to ours, somehow it is not the same color...any ideas??

Spring in the Swiss Alps

Still lots of snow to walk around on! It can be worthwhile to take snowshoes in some places.

But what is fun is walking in the snow and going down to the valleys below where the flowers are bursting! In between you may find a few marmots fattening up for the winter to come...and sunning themselves on the rare limestone of Verbier.

Orchis fields above Martigny

After a few days of rain we went out and got the perfect day to wander around in wild orchid fields! Simply amazing & beautiful!

 

We saw lots of lizards & even the shy green lizard was out. The walk through the grapevines was pretty & it is interesting to feel the changes in heat in this region.