Zitella Gates and Justin Dunlap sprint to the finish line in the Freeze Yer Buns run in Twisp. Gates won a prize for best costume in the race. Paul Joseph Brown/P-I

The solitude strikes you first. The dark two-lanes frequented by deer; the fields dotted with cattle and horses; mountains that consume the sky. It's like seeing Montana without having to go there. And then you spot the natural foods market, and an art gallery, and you hear Mozart coming from the Merc Playhouse. In the Methow Valley, the Old West has a New Age feel.

	The Church of God-Zillah has adopted Godzilla, the monster-hero of film fame, as a mascot. The lizard greets church members such as Ben Stoller-Black, above, as they arrive for services. Paul Joseph Brown/P-I

A giant, fire-breathing symbol of destruction has become a force for Christianity in this land of cowboys and cabernet.

Who could have guessed that a monster associated with horror flicks and evil could be converted? Who would have believed that the creature from the sea would rise up on a flatbed trailer and win the hearts of Yakima Valley's children?

Past the cranberry bogs, past the tribal center, far from supermarkets and hospitals and stoplights, a couple of octogenarians live life the way it must have been intended.

They clam with a lantern. They pick their own cranberries. They study wildlife. And when a neighbor calls, they come running.