I flew in from LA late on the 22 and decided to take off for Montana the next day. I did laundry in the morning and was out of the door by 11:00am. I drove my Honda with the hopes of getting to the farm in a straight shot. I enjoyed the drive through the gorge, but when I hit Spokane, I hit rush hour and construction. It took me an hour to get through the city. I stopped in Coeur 'd Alene for some Thai food and kept driving. I decided at the Montana border, that I probably didn't want to get home at 2am, so I called my cousin and was able to stay on Nate's couch. It was nice to catch up with him, as I hadn't seen him for 2 summers, and it was a brief visit then.
I woke up early the next morning, said farewell to the cuz, and then took off for the farm. I was greeted by Dad, John and Gabe. We talked for a little while and then tried to get some work done. I grabbed a weed eater to help beautify the yard. That afternoon, we drove to my uncle's farm and met up with some aunts and uncles and a few cousins. We walked out to the reservoir which was full due to the spring rains, and left the yard after a short visit.
The next day, my cousin Dylan came over and John, Gabe, Dylan and I mowed and beautified the entire yard.
That day, more family came by for visiting and laughter.
John and I on Saturday were on a mission to go to Great Falls to pick up pants for me, 3 friends from the airport, get me a haircut and get some printing done. We were able to pick up the pants for $4 at a thrift store quickly and we were sure something else would go wrong, for how right that turned out. The next task was trying to find a barber open in Great falls on a Saturday. We searched with my phone and drove by 5 places that were all closed. Finally we found one near a grocery store that was open. John was able to do some grocery shopping as I got my hair cut by a surly old man who swore about his granddaughter and schools. Very interesting. We were set up nicely to go pick up the friends from the airport(from Baltimore and Atlanta), and were able to take them to the sip and dip, dinner at McKenzie River Pizza and a view of the Great Falls flowing full force before we took off for the Fort Benton celebration.
We pulled into Fort Benton and found Gabe quickly. I had friends from high school there and was able to meet up with many old friends. It was nice to spend some time with a crowd and watch fireworks.
The next day was my sister's reception in our yard. We had a beautiful day, but the wind was a dampener of spirits. There were about 100 relatives and towns people that came out for a potluck, visiting and games. The hit was cross-country croquet, with hills and trees laid out as obstacles. My father showed John and Gabe the table that he was making for their new home and we had a great family photo, complete with cousins from the Czech republic.
The next day, we took tables and chairs back to town and toured Geraldine with the East coast guests. We then made our way out to my uncle's farm for a tour of the prairie. We took two truck loads of family and guests to seashell hill, our reservoir, teepee rings, and the Missouri River Breaks. A group of 7 of us went on a hike in the breaks. We were able to see many prairie flowers, a rattlesnake, sandstone (with active erosion) and almost stepped on a grouse.
We returned to the yard for a barbeque and more merriment. On the ride home, I saw something I had never experienced in all the 18 years I had lived in the country. As we drove, 9 owls took off from the side of road and flew in front of us. I had seen only 2 or 3 ever, and not on the same road on the same night. It was quite the experience. That night a few of us went out late and watched the sky. We were able to see many satellites (including a bright one I think was the ISS) and each of us saw at least one meteor.
On Tuesday, we took two truckloads (13 people) to climb the mountain in our backyard, Square Butte. The hike has no trail, and climbs about 1 mile fairly steeply.
We all made it to the top and made it down, though some of us were short of water on the return. We were able to see one mountain goat on the top.
We met the rest of our family at the Square Butte Country Club. We returned home in time for a thunder show and some wind, as we went to expel some gun cartridges at old bottles. Some of the people from Baltimore had no experience with guns and were able to shoot a few different rifles. The storm missed us and was able to give us a wicked backdrop for the evening. We packed up that evening for Glacier and we left the next morning.
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