Montana...Day five

From the land of big skies and small snowmen:

This is the snowman pic I promised...kinda puny, but isn't he cute?  The snow was a little too powdery for a big guy.

I suppose I've gotten caught up with my blogs now. It's the end of the fifth day here in Montana and that means tomorrow is our last full day here. The seventh day, like the first, will be mostly a travel day. Don't you just hate it when the vacation ends? I can breathe a sigh of relief on days one through five because I don't have to think that I'm leaving soon, but on day six I realize that "tomorrow" is our last day and that makes me sad. I will admit that I will be glad to be home to see my little girl and to have things back to normal (even though I was glad to get away). Vacation is great, but only for so long. I think all of you can relate to that.

Tuesday

Today was a lazy day for me. We got up early and went over to Papa's and ate a great breakfast: homemade french toast from homemade potato bread, pure maple syrup, and bacon! Yummy! Unfortunately for me, however, I couldn't keep my eyes open. I suppose I had bad dreams, or maybe it was all the snoring coming from my congested husband. I couldn't even think straight because I was so tired. So, instead of going on another trek across Montana, this time to the west, I opted to stay in the condo and rest. Boy was it well needed!! I didn't realize how tired I was until I slept for nearly 4 additional hours! I woke up about an hour and a half before the crew came back. (Perfect timing)

What the rest of the rest of them did:

First of all, circling back to day one, we rented a car when we arrived. We asked for a car that could seat eight but when the men got there to rent the car, the biggest one they had was a Jeep Commander. There was plenty of room for eight if three of us were smaller than 90 pounds. The very back row of seats must have been planned for children. The seats were comfortable, but the floor was so close to the bottoms of the seats that our knees, when seated, were level with our shoulders. That meant that the short folks got to sit in the back most of the time. (Which was fine unless we had eight) Most of the time there were only six (two in front, three in middle, two in back) But when Papa and Deedee were in the car, we'd be very cramped and it wouldn't be ideal for a trek...

SOOOOO, all that to say, today we got a new car. It was a Ford Expedition. Now this sucker is HUGE. It fit eight full grown adults with much comfort! If any of you out there are looking for a nice vehicle with plenty of space....there you go. When the back row was set up for seating, there was only a little room in the rear for storage, but it was OK because we just needed traveling space. 

After they got the new car, they took me back to the condo and headed west. They took a route towards the Continental Divide. They made it practically all the way there, but there came a huge snow storm so they thought it wise to retreat before it became too much to safely get back to the valley. The picture below is of a hotel they saw on the other side of the mountains...I thought it was pretty clever.

After everyone had a chance to get changed up and rested for about an hour or so, we went to Norma Weeks' home.  It was beautiful and had it not been too dark, I would have made some photos of her house.  Norma invited the group for dinner tonight when we came to services on Sunday morning.  When we arrived she had nearly everything ready to eat so we basically said hello and sat down to eat.  She had some of the best food I've ever eaten, but what was the most fun was her company.  She is just a sweet lady.  She lost her husband about a year ago and we were one of the few people whom she had opened her home up to since his death.  That made Papa and Deedee feel very special that she had invited her family.   I think it made us all feel honored to be there.  The picture below is of Mrs. Norma and of Deedee Gray.  Doesn't Norma have just a beautiful smile...

This is a picture that was hanging in Norma's hallway.  She had several more pictures, but I had to make a picture of the next photograph because something in her face made me smile.  I had to take this memory back with me.  This is her senior picture...isn't she gorgeous!?

Another thing in her home was a small bear that was stuffed.  I am sure this will be the closest I will get to a real bear...live or dead.  I think this was purchased, not killed, by her family at some point.  

This was in an enormous family room with many other formerly living animals.  There were birds, an owl, an elk head, a fox, a squirrel, and a lynx.  These were all part of a outdoorsy theme going on in the room.  There were guns upon guns upon guns displayed on the walls, hunting and fishing paraphernalia, framed prints with beautiful Montana landscapes, it was great!  Oh, and don't forget the pool table.  (The ping-pong table was in a another room, for those ping-pong lovers out there)  I mean, this house was enormous!  While we were eating dinner, there were even several deer creeping up to the house to see what was going on in there. Apparently, Mrs. Norma feeds them.  :)  

This is Norma's cat, Samantha. She was so cuddly and sweet.  I couldn't get enough of her.  I love cats, but Brian is VERY allergic.  He merely touched Samantha for a few seconds and his eyes started watering and getting itchy.  Maybe one day he'll get rid of that allergy, until then we are a dog-only household.

I sit tonight thinking about what we are going to do tomorrow.  It's late, but I'm up blogging anyway.  I had some regular coffee at Norma's tonight so I'm not tired just yet. I think we are going to go try to find the Moose.  We are all interested in seeing one, except for Carol.  She doesn't seem to care if se sees one at all.  She says she'd feel safer seeing one in pictures! LOL! As for my list, it is still incomplete, but I'm quickly checking it off.  We aren't able to go to Yellowstone because of the distance, nor Glacier Park because of the season, so that portion of my list will not be completed this vacation.  Maybe when we come back... (crossing fingers)

I hope you all are well and happy.  Please keep us in your prayers as we travel home on Thursday.  We'll arrive back home around midnight, Friday morning.  

Love from "The Big Sky"

~K~