Posts filed under Montana

Big Sky Country

The Crazies
 

Flashback Friday

Montana

    They don't call it big sky country for nothing. The past years we have been celebrating Christmas in Bozeman, Montana, and this year is not going to be any different. Two years ago we actually drove, but it was the worst decision ever. The views on the way there was beautiful, but on the way back, terrifying.

 
 

    We got caught in a snowstorm, a really bad one. Where every 18-wheeler blew by us and blew up a cloud of fresh snow around us, leaving nothing but a complete whiteout over and over again. Until we decided that this will not work, and we spent a second night on the road, at a motel in the middle of nowhere. Which also happened to be the worst motel in history. The day after was ice cold, but beautiful.

 
 

Where are you guys celebrating Christmas?

Happy Christmas everyone!

 
Other Posts in the "flashback friday" category
In The Rearview Mirror 2020 pt. 4
In The Rearview Mirror 2020 pt. 3
In The Rearview Mirror 2020 pt. 2
In The Rearview Mirror 2020 pt. 1
In The Rearview Mirror 2019 pt. 4
In The Rearview Mirror 2019 pt. 3
In The Rearview Mirror 2019 pt. 2
In The Rearview Mirror 2019 pt. 1
Among Towers and Castles - Quaint Princeton University
The Ultimate Roadtrip pt.5
Posted on December 23, 2016 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Flashback Friday, Montana and tagged Christmas Montana Big Sky Country roadtrip road trip Winter travels Winter Adventures Elsewhere Rocky Mountains Snowstorm.

A Very Dark Fall?

 

Fall   

    This fall has been very very different for me. This year I moved from the woods in Alaska to Madison, Wisconsin. It took a while for me to find a job, but I did, I found a job after a few months which was probably the best thing that happened to me this year, well except receiving the green card this spring. Then fall happened, I got hit by a car while biking, I survived obviously, but my bike got a pretty bad hit and I am still waiting to get the bike back form the bike shop. Then Trump won, which was such a sad evening, W got so upset and sad that he cried and wondered what we were going to do. And then, mom died. 

 
 

Sadness  

    When I am sad I always listen to this Swedish singer songwriter, Lars Winnerbäck. He puts words on your feelings, when you can't. I have been listening to music a lot these past days, wanting to find some music for moms funeral. It still feels so unreal, I think the problem here is that I am here in the US, and I haven't had mom living right next to me, right here, the past 7 years, so I feel a bit detached to the whole situation. I haven't seen my mom in real life since September 2014, which is very very sad under these circumstances. I am just so happy I got a chance to show her my Alaska not only once, but twice!

 
 

Sweden and Alaska   

    If I had all the money and time in the world I would have gone home to Sweden several times a year, but back when I lived in Alaska it was so hard to find cheap tickets to go that far, and with W's family being in MT it was easy to get there instead. It was impossible to go home in the summertime, because of my fieldwork and research. This summer I was alone for more than a month while W was doing research in Yellowstone, I talked to mom almost every day, and now I wish I had gone home to Sweden, but I didn't have the money to do that. And now, we thought about going to Sweden for Christmas, not that it would have helped anyway, but still. 

 
 

Winter

    The winter has not arrived in Madison, WI yet, we had about 70 degrees F (21C) the other day, today however it's right around freezing. Maybe we will get some snow soon. Fairbanks already has cold temperatures and snow of course, so does Sweden to a certain extent, well, at least they had snow, because my mom was so excited about the snow that she sent me pics. I guess we will see how much snow Sweden has in less than 2 weeks. 

 
 

Real Winter

    I really miss snow, aurora, and skiing right now, but I am very very happy I was not alone in my dry cabin when I got the news about my mom. I do hope we will receive some snow here pretty soon though, I love wearing warm sweaters, dresses and tights during cold weather. There is a reason why most of my clothes consist of synthetic down and fleece material or merino or SmartWool. 

 
 

    Do you like wintertime? Or do you just like every single season the same?

 
Posted on November 21, 2016 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Alaska, Madison Life, Montana, The great wide open, Wisconsin and tagged 2016_2 Madison Alaska Winter Fall Snow Wisconsin2.

The World is at Your Fingertips

White Mountains, Alaska

 

Adventure Tuesday

Our life is our greatest adventure

    I often stop and think about how lucky I feel. Sure, there are times when I feel sad and lonely, because living in a different country does affect you in some way. But then I think about everything I get to experience over here, everything I get to see. Obviously I have my family on this side of the ocean now too which helps a lot. It's like a balance between your past, present and future. Sacrifice does come into play there too a lot, or is it a sacrifice, or just a way of life, a decision? I have seen so much, so many places that are on a lot of peoples bucketlists, and yet I crave more. I want to see more, I want to be in nature all the time. 

 

Cross-country skiing in Yellowstone National Park

 

Adventure    

    I can't wait to go on another adventure, even though we have been traveling quite a bit lately. Every time we go somewhere and see new and cool places I always fall back on Alaska and Montana. Who knows where we will move in the future, it probably wont be Alaska, but I keep comparing every place to Alaska and Montana. Those two states are the heart of this country to me, that is where I can see myself settle down and adventure on. 

 
 

Colorado    

    Not too long ago we went to Colorado, only for a few days, but we did do some adventuring there too of course.

 
 

Hiking in Colorado

    Even though we had only gotten a few hours sleep, got on a plane and then drove for four hours we still managed to get out for a hike. 

 

Colorado, what a beautiful place.

 

    We definitely want to go back there, and we have a few friends who lives there now so that will most likely happen in the future! Who knows, maybe Colorado will fall into that list of mine too, the possibilities are endless and completely open I suppose.

 
 

    If you could pick a place to settle down, where would that be? Or maybe you already found your dream home?

 
Posted on November 1, 2016 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Adventure Tuesday, Montana, The great wide open, Yellowstone, Alaska and tagged Elsewhere Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park Alaska White Mountains 2016_2 Home Adventuring Dream Home Future Fall Adventures Winter Adventures Adventure Mountains Dreams Summer Adventures Wintertime Life in Alaska 2016.