I am building a house at Josephine Crossing, an environmentally friendly community in Billings that was named the 2007 Northwest Energy Star Development of the Year. This album will chronicle my experience building my first house.

Rory and I escaped Billings for a day and drove to Devils Tower National Monument in northeastern Wyoming via the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations.

Enhanced versions of some of my favorite photos, roughly organized by distance from my home in Billings, Montana.

I'll be updating this album periodically to be a selection of my favorite photos from my other albums. I've loosely divided them up into progressive distance from Billings: the Beartooth Wilderness, Yellowstone and the Tetons, Glacier National Park, other Montana and US photos, Canada, and finally photos from France and England. Enjoy.

Some of my favorite photos in black and white

Ben, Rory, Zach and I reunited at Rory's house for some Warren Miller Ski Bum Red wine, some Warren Miller movies, and general merriment. Buddha and Zach provided the entertainment.

I spent five days in Denver at the annual conference of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. Janese Carstens, our education specialist at the residency, also attended, and proved to be a most excellent dining companion. We were able to meet up with my old friend Eric while we were there.

The Montana Family Medicine Residency celebrated the announcement of our incoming 2009-2010 residents at the home of Dr. Sharon Mulvehill.

I was a speaker at the Big Mountain Medical Ski Conference in Whitefish, Montana. Even better was sharing a condo with my old residency buddies--Cameron, Emily, Jennell and Kirsten--seeing lots of other alumni, and celebrating Leah and Tim's daughter's baptism. Oh yeah, and winning the ski race!

I won the Montana Meth Project's Dream Ski Getaway to Big Sky. The biggest perk of the trip: skiing at the Yellowstone Club with ski film pioneer Warren Miller as my personal ski guide. I was able to take along 3 guests ; Rory, Ben and Zach accompanied me on the trip.

Photos from a trip to Santa Fe to attend a colposcopy training course. After the course ended, I was able to get out of town and experience Pecos National Historic Park.

Some beautiful winter sunsets over Billings

Mom and Dad came to Billings the weekend before Christmas. On the 23rd, we drove to Paradise Valley for three nights at Chico Hot Springs. On Christmas Eve we drove through Yellowstone to Cooke City and back. On Christmas Day we had a makeshift festive lunch in the room, with Rory's fondue for dessert. This was the first trip to Yellowstone for my parents' new puppy, Sophie.

The annual pub crawl, from Pug Mahone's to Montana Brew Pub, Hooligan's, Walker's and the Railyard.

Because my Kia Sorento, Bowie, was threatening to explode and was spending more time in the shop than on the road, I traded it in for a Nissan Murano. Meet Snow Patrol, named not only for the first band I listened to in it, but also for its inaugural adventure to Yellowstone with Mom, Dad and Maggie . . . through the October blizzard that dumped 2 feet of snow on Billings and 42 inches of snow on Red Lodge. Fortunately, Paradise Valley only got 2 inches, and Yellowstone less than 6 inches, so we ended up quite lucky. And Snow Patrol handled the roads just fine.

An afternoon visit with my cousins Jennifer and Bryce.

Julie turned 50 at Blu in Norman, and was surrounded by a lot of love and laughter!

Mom, Dad, Rory and I went to the Tulsa Zoo for a day. I especially enjoyed photographing the flamingoes, bears, tigers, and the new baby chimpanzees.

A trip to Woolaroc, the former ranch home and showplace of Phillips 66 founder Frank Phillips, with one of the finest collections of Western and Indian art in North America.

Rory and I flew to Oklahoma to visit Mom and Dad and attend Julie's 50th Birthday Party. After landing in Tulsa, we went to Casa Bonita for lunch, and then toured the Oklahoma Aquarium.

Glacier National Park has been called the Crown of the Continent. The Land of Shining Mountains. The Blackfeet referred to the area as Mistukisz-Ikanaz(iaw), Mountains of Crystal, and also the Backbone of the World. Rory, Zach and I spent a Saturday hiking 25 miles of the Backbone of the World, from Logan Pass to Lake McDonald, walking across the Continental Divide, four mountain passes and the impressive Sperry Glacier. This has been a dream hike of mine for several years. And Glacier lived up to its names.

I spent the Fourth of July weekend in the Yellowstone Backcountry, my first multiple-night hike. I brought along my friend Tyler, and Rory brought along his friend Aaron. I finished being on call at 7AM, and then we drove to Gardiner, left Rory's car at the end of the trail, and drove to Mammoth, where we watched a safety video and talked with the backcountry ranger. That first day we hiked 4.7 miles to our Hellroaring campsite. On Saturday we hiked 9.9 miles to our campsite in the Black Canyon. It was another 5.1 miles in to Gardiner on Sunday. The official total according to the map was 19.7 miles, but the last day was a bit more than 5.1 miles, judging by the trailside mile markers. It was my first extended trip with my new camera, so there are lots of photos . . . just don't miss the rattlesnake photos at the end of the set!

This was my first outing with my new Nikon D300. Prior to the MFMR Graduation, Leah and I went to Pompey's Pillar (on the Lewis and Clark Trail), Worden for lunch, and then Pictograph Cave State Park.