We have partied across Montana DS style and lived!
Dharma is on a plane bound for the East Coast. Bonnie is about to pick up her hubby and head to Yellowstone for four marvelous days. Rena and I have just come to life back at the motel and are about to pack out, get breakfast and head for the hot springs. After that, Rena has to hit the road for home--rather longer trip than usual due to road construction, unfortunately. I will probably head for the ranch as well and then COLLAPSE for a day lol.
Folks, I had no idea it was possible to have this much fun in so short a time!!! We gotta start our planning for next year's party NOW so that we can accomodate more or your schedules!!
Photos and fun stories will trickle in over a few days, because Bonnie took most of the pictures (though Rena got quite a few too) and since she's still on the road, it'll take time for her to get back to her computer and upload photos.
For now the brief summary of the trip:
Bonnie and Dharma missed their connecting flight in Atlanta because their flight out of Newark was delayed. So it took them alllll day to get out here. Planned arrival was 1:00 and wound up being after 9:00. NOT fun for them. I was already on the road to the airport when word arrived, so I got to spend the day playing by myself. No problem, I can amuse myself very well out here LOL. I went house hunting and shopping :-D.
We found each other FINALLY, got a late supper, got to motel and had a short night. Day one was provisions run and small shopping stop in Three Forks, followed by Boulder Hot Springs and road trip to Butte, with evening dinner back at Lahood, a yummy steak house not far from Lewis and Clark Caverns. Rena arrived in time to catch her breath a bit and go out for steak, having suffered through road construction hell all the way across Idaho :-(.
Day Two was Frontier Days (town fair) in Whitehall, where we shopped a bunch and met many local folks. Dharma got her picture taken with a bona fide rodeo celebrity and a bona fide rancher, much to her delight. It was purely hilarious to see her flirt with these guys and how much they enjoyed it. Then we road tripped to Bozeman, where it was ******G HOT, but the looking around and shopping was great. We had lunch at a rather new Mexican place that was MARVELOUS.
Back onto I-90 we went, intending to get back to Whitehall in time for the Frontier Days rodeo. Weather intervened in the form of a large wet thunderstorm which may well have rained out the rodeo--haven't found out for sure yet. But we ascertained that IF we got there and IF it was on, we'd have to walk through mud to sit on soaking wet bleachers. So we said screw that and did sightseeing--went through Missouri Headwaters State Park, which is gorgeous even in the rain.
I decided to trail through a couple of county roads (aka gravel/dirt roads) and show the ladies some pretty country. We were rewarded with fantastic views not just of land, but of cloudscapes and rainbows! As we got back to a paved road, I recalled my sister had mentioned a yummy steak house at Toston ( a wide spot in the road), the Land of Magic. So I followed my nose and found it sure enough. FANTASTIC steak in a lovely location with terrific service, couldn't ask for better.
The weather cleared just right to offer a lovely sunset.
Day Three was the great Virginia City road trip, which is always fun. VC provides a perfect combination of history, funky shopping, entertainment and people watching. We didn't stay quite as long as planned cuz we were getting TIRED, and Dharma's 6 AM plane departure was looming. But it was great fun. The road trip back to the motel was beautiful, a perfect weather day, and ended with dinner at the Cattlemans Cafe, with some of the best fried chicken I've ever tasted.
I gotta quit here and pack out of the motel, so more to follow.....
Ya'll sure did have a fun trip! I hope I can make it next year, switched :)
Nik | 36 | 5'3"| HW 305 | SW 286.3 | CW 234.2 | GW 180 | Surgery Comparison Chart
Samaro is my 
