Summer 2019, Part I: Mid May, but Mostly Montana

So this was an eventful summer & rather than try & choose only a dozen pictures from each section or break it into a huge number of sections, I have elected to post my idea of a reasonable number of pictures here & just share a top 5 to 10 on Facebook.  Now let the real post begin...

As usual, my summer started by going to camp, but I've already shared those pictures on Facebook here, so we'll start with Montana.  I went as a representative of Sum Improv--my campus' improv comedy troupe--to an improv festival at the University of Montana.  The familiar view of the tarmac at Dane County Regional Airport in Madision, Wisconsin, was especially pretty as I waited in the early morning for my flight:

Today as we flew, I got to see what I thought was a very cool sight: a river of fog over the water's valley before the sun rose high enough to burn it all away:

Eventually we landed in Denver, Colorado:

But I soon left to fly towards Bozeman, Montana.  Here's a view of the lovely Gallatin Mountains (I think) as we came in for the approach:

& thus I finally arrived at the University.  Their mascot is a bobcat:

We spent four three days practicing, performing, & hanging out, mostly in this space right here:

But eventually the show went on no longer & I snapped this last view of the campus as we headed towards the afterparty:

Also while I was there we got to go to the Museum of the Rockies.  Among other things, they had an awesome temporary exhibit on Genghis Khan, so here are some of the highlights:

According to the exhibit,
the Mongols invented the
passport. Here's one from
1311.

10,000-year-old axe head

A hilt wrapped in ray skin. 

 


They also had this big map of the Silk Road, which flourished under the Khanate & which, to me, was somewhat significant considering where my summer was going....

Anyway, they had tons of other cool stuff besides the temporary exhibit, like this old water wagon from the 19th Century:

Also this Maiasaura fossil that went to space on Spacelab 2 in 1985:

Lastly, this picture doesn't have much to do with anything, except that she was with the local Montana improv group & wanted to practice her presentation & I thought this opening slide was quite good:

But after all this, I took in my last view of the Montanan mountains as I was driven to the airport at 7 A.M. on my 25th birthday to head home after a very packed early May...

& returned at last to the foothills I call home:

Well, after a brief detour to San Diego airport to pick up my bag because standby flying meant that my bag landed in SAN while I flew to ONT several hours later.  But on the plus side, I got to see this funny statue in the San Diego airport:

The next day, we were driving around & I got this cute picture of our cat Misty:

& thus, after nearly 20 flights & nights spent in all 4 CUS time zones, a very full & fulfilling first few weeks of summer came to an end.

LINKS:
Pictures from camp: https://www.facebook.com/seth.vidrio.3/posts/459980257877986