Photographs simply cannot capture the beauty of national treasures like the Badlands of South Dakota, Grand Tetons and "Big Sky" country of Montana - where a sudden summer thunderstorm provided an added bonus of a double rainbow just prior to sunset.

Still, we make a feeble effort in sharing a few digital images from the first half of a two-week "Out West" adventure.

We promise a more complete photo album in the Indy next week.