At about 3:20 AM on January 3, I left home with my son Jay to pick up my mother and drive up to my brother-in-law and sister's place in Montana. Despite reservations about driving through the speed trap called Idaho again, I did, and in fact I made reservations in advance to spend that night in Pocatello, Idaho, about four hours from our final destination. That puts off the hardest part of the drive through West Yellowstone until morning.
The drive up was pleasant enough, and Jay took the wheel several times to allow me to rest in the back seat, even catching a few zzzz's. It isn't a short drive, but if you look at the photos, I think you'll agree it is worth it. What a change from Southern California congestion.
A few days before starting the drive to Montana, my wife and I were watching a "Tonight Show" re-run in which Dustin Hoffman said that once he had been skiing and taken a collossal fall, landing spread eagle, face down in the snow. He said that it occurred to him that at that moment he could just as easily have been laying face down in the exact same position in the sand of Hawaii, and he never went skiing again. 
If he had skied on the uncrowded slopes of the gorgeous Big Sky State, he might still be a skier. Here are a few photos to help you understand.
Just in case you think the conditions must be bad to be this empty, the last photo shows that in the ungroomed part of the run we could ski in 10 inches of fresh powder. By the last day, Jay was staying almost exclusively in the powder and skiing it quite well.
