teh fortune cookie

Montana was a low key, mostly laid-back trip. See my photo set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pipsyrules/sets/72157624378286254/with/4745355916/

The only things that caused me anxiety were the airplane rides and not being able to find lodging in Yellowstone…But everything turned out fine in the end, as it always does.

J’s dad is amazingly handy around the house. I have such a deep respect for him. He’s not your “stereotypical”  farmer. A side hobby of his is turning unique items into ordinary things like this lamp made from an old school fire extinguisher!

His nearest neighbor is around 3-5 miles away, but he is still very well connected to the world via Satellite Internet. It may be spotty, but at least it’s Internet! This “farmer” has high-tech machinery like a tractor w/GPS, air conditioning, and automatic driving (look, no hands!).

There are sprayers that can rotate 360 degrees or whatever you set it at to ensure that your crops are getting their water and nutrients, among other things. He also owns his own huge semi-trailer trucks. The thought never even crossed my mind that an individual would own one — or many.

Growing up in suburbia never really pushed me to learn where my gas came from except, “Where’s the nearest gas station?” Ever think about having gas brought to you every “once in awhile” and storing it until your next “fill up” — on your own land? You have to have your own pump for all the equipment you own.  You’re not gonna drive a tractor for miles on end on a two-lane, narrow road.

Growing up in suburbia never taught me the answers to, “What really happens to my sewage?” A designated area in the ground, a few hundred feet from the house. “What should I do with my garbage?” Burn it as needed. “Where does my water come from and how does it get purified?” Water well. “What happens if my water well is broken / something exploded?” Go outside, take a look and fix it.

Can you imagine what filling up a silo full of harvested crop is like? What about emptying it?

Can you imagine being inside one and shoveling the last bits of it out?

How about herding a neighbor’s loose cattle back into the field so they don’t run out onto the road? Or move a huge fallen tree that blocks your driveway — without professional help?

I really enjoyed my time spent on their farm. It’s definitely given me a new perspective at what a farmer’s life could be like — quite nice!

…Now onto the 10 days traveling around:

Thursday, 6/17:

SFO -> DEN (layover) -> SDY. Layover in Denver was delayed for over an hour. Met a nice couple from Arizona, but the husband is originally from Montana. They have a cute little baby boy who’s just learning to walk. He crawls as quick as lightning! Anyway, we took a small turbo prop jet that held about 30 folks. It was scary. I hate small planes!

I downed a benadryl to pass out for the ride though. When I arrived, I didn’t know I was in North Dakota, at the Dickinson airport. Apparently, there was a stop there. The flight crew of 3 announced that they had been flying with a broken weather radar and needed to get it fixed on the ground. They said they wouldn’t want to fly without it — going forward — since there was a storm coming in. So they let us inside the tiny, one building airport, with one waiting room. We waited…for four hours — until they finally said our flight was cancelled. In the meantime though, the couple and I were thinking about other modes of transportation since we had heard that if they got us a shuttle, it would come from Sidney…which we would then have to wait 2 1/2 hours for it to arrive. They called a relative to pick them up and asked if I wanted to come along. Everything was good to go until they said that their relative had brought a friend along and there wasn’t anymore room! They felt bad, but I said it was okay. I called J and asked him to pick me up. Long story short, they found a retired dude from around the area to shuttle 6 of us to the Sidney airport in Montana. So we didn’t have to wait for anyone else to come out and get us.

A 2 1/2 hour drive, as opposed to a 30 minute flight kind of sucked, but at least we finally got to Sidney around 7pm. We were supposed to arrive at 1pm! Word of advice: Never take the Great Lakes airline. They aren’t good at keeping on schedule and they have a bunch of problems — says a couple of other folks who’ve taken it as well. Anyway, J and I got dinner at a local (that’s all they really have out there anyway) restaurant in Sidney. They served a mean steak. It was unlike any kind I’ve ever tasted. It must be their cattle out there! We stopped by J’s grandma’s place to drop off her car and pick up his dad (since she lent him her car ’cause a tree blocked his driveway and he needed to pick me up). We drove to the farm, lazed around a bit, and slept early. I was beat!

Friday, 6/18:

Well, I thought I had seen about enough of North Dakota from the prior day, but nooooo! J wanted to take me to Fort Union in Wilkinson, North Dakota! So we drove back to ND and checked out the old trading post. We got lucky as they were re-enacting the past with real blacksmiths, a woman skinning a beaver, a guy demonstrating how to make an arrowhead, and the trading of furs with native americans — like the old days!

It was quite entertaining to watch. Afterward, we ate a Mexican restaurant and headed back to the farm. We lounged around for a bit and then headed to the rodeo! Unfortunately, it was raining and all wet so we did what most people were doing, park on a hill and watch from the vehicle. I don’t think I’m a big fan of rodeo’s when they are roping the calves or trying to mount the wild horse. But one of the wild horses gave quite a show when it dragged one cowboy through the entire arena, completely muddy! The bull riding was quite ferocious and scary. Those cowboys jump up and get on the fence so quickly after they fall off! Quite a sight! It was interesting to see such a small town come together. Everyone knows everyone and you end up seeing your family there. Bizarre…

Saturday, 6/19:

This was a pretty amazing day. J’s dad made a freakin’ awesome sausage, potatoes, and eggs breakfast. We then went to the visitor center with J’s other grandma to take a tour of the museum that she volunteers at. We got some good reading material for the national parks and then headed to the Frontier Parade. It was cool and unusual — horses and tractors best sums up what this parade was like. All people in the parade throw out candy onto the street and all the young kids pick them up. It’s like a fake Halloween without dressing up! They also gave out free root beer floats and I met more of J’s friends and family. We went into an old armory where they were having a sale. You basically pick up any items you like and pay what you can. It’s a kind of donation to the church or something. Great concept! J’s dad and I walked around the block and hit up a garage sale. All these places have such old old stuff! It’s crazy but cool to look at and touch! J and I went back to the farm and ATV’ed the farmland. We just scraped the outside of the 3,000 acres. It was very cool to stand somewhat in the middle of the crops and just look out for miles and see flat land and crops (durham and barley).

He also showed me the rest of the farm/house, machinery, and silos in which they keep the harvested crops. Really cool stuff.

We then packed up and drove about an hour and a half west to meet with his dad at their recently built “summer home” / “cabin.” It’s pretty much a house that has the look and feel of a modern, clean, cabin. It’s gorgeous! Best of all, it’s right on Fort Peck Lake!

We tried visiting the dinosaur museum (’cause they have so many dinosaur exhibits and such!), but it was closed.

We ended up having dinner at one of the only restaurants/diners in town and we all ordered chicken fried steak. God, I’m so dumb. I thought it was supposed to be chicken! Anyway, J and I played a round of shuffleboard and pool and then met up with his dad again back at the house to take the boat out on the lake. We boated around the lake for a bit and J ended up knee-boarding and inner-tubing. It was fun to watch since I’ve never really seen it done! His dad created some crazy waves for him and one time he actually fell from the inner tube! I got scared…I wanted to try it but didn’t want to fall off! So his dad said he’d make it nice for me. I ended up inner tubing and had a lot of fun. It was such an adrenaline rush…he even made some waves for me, but then I kept shaking my head to go slower! We took the truck out to the Milk Overlook above the dam and lake and just caught an amazing sunset and view. Depth perception was really intense! We went back to the cabin, lounged and drank some wine before hitting the hay. It was such a long but amazing day!

Sunday, 6/20:

J’s dad made breakfast and we headed out bright and early to start driving 6 hours to Glacier National Park! Our first stop was Running Eagle Falls at Two Medicine (East Glacier Park) which was a short hike to the two waterfalls colliding together. What a spectacle!

We then drove North to the St. Mary entrance and drove our way through to Logan Pass. Because it snowed heavily a few days before, Logan Pass was closed and we couldn’t drive through the entire park. So we stopped and took photos of the Jackson Glacier and other landscapes.

We also did a short hike up and around a mountain. Not really sure where we were, but it was nice.

We were told that a thunderstorm was coming in, so we tried to head out quickly. We got back to East Glacier and grabbed dinner at a restaurant close to our lodging. A couple that sat next to us came from Wisconsin and just so happened to be at the Frontier Parade when we were there a few days ago. Small world. On top of that, another couple that we saw at our lodging, we had seen at Fort Union a few days before as well. Crazy, crazy, crazy! Anyway, we finished our dinner, went back to the Mountain Pine Motel and called it a day!

Monday, 6/21:

We got breakfast at Glacier Village Cafe, on our way out of East Glacier. I had a tasty mountain man hash made w/bison. yum-o! We drove to the West Glacier entrance and walked the Cedar Trail. It reminded me of Muir Woods. The aroma of the trees, earth, and water were lovely. It was raining, so we got pretty soaked. Luckily, I was wearing my wet-wicking turtleneck and fleece and managed to stay warm too!

After our hike we drove through Flathead and down to Missoula where J lives. We got amazingly delicious and fresh pizza at Biga with his soon-to-be brother-in-law and got drinks and played pool at Red. The best way to describe Missoula is small, college town, in a valley. Anywhere you want to go, it’s only 15 minutes away, at the max — reminiscent of Chico. They’re big on putting letters on their mountains and creating hiking trails to get to the area and admire the view.

Tuesday, 6/22:

Because I wasn’t able to find lodging around West Yellowstone, we walked around University of Montana (interesting architecture),

watched Toy Story 3 (adorable), browsed a used bookstore (great prices) to get reading material for his friend in the Peace Corps (living in Czech Republic), and grabbed a sandwich at the Staggering Ox. They make their bread with a tin can molding. It’s quite unusual to look at but pretty easy to eat.

Wednesday, 6/23:

J said that we could look at lodging in Bozeman — approx 80 miles outside of Yellowstone. So I went and did my thing and got a Holiday Inn for $65/night when it usually goes for $140. We packed our bags and began driving south east that same day. We stopped at the Berkeley Pit copper mine in Butte along the way. It was quite a sight to see — they say it’s filled with heavy metals and chemicals that is equal to the acidity of lemon juice!

For dinner, we hit up Montana Aleworks. I got a bison tenderloin.

It was alright. The place reminds me of a Sierra Nevada with pool tables. Yes, we ended up playing a couple of games!

Thursday, 6/24:

We started off our day with a tasty breakfast at Nova Cafe where I ordered a turkey hash that came with eggs, hollandaise sauce, and toast. Their coffee was delicious too.

We struck up a conversation with the couple dining next to us which turned out to be very pleasant. I love conversations with random strangers! At least most of the time, anyway!

After our scrumptious meal, we headed to Yellowstone and entered through Gardiner. Yellowstone is a Figure 8, but we decided to drive in a big oval — which ended up working out very well. We first hit up Mammoth Hot Springs. Best way to describe it — you’ve landed on the moon!

We drove South to Norris which happened to be one of our favorite spots. They’ve got a nice walking platform trail that takes you through to hit all the geysers and mud pots. Such a sight!

We continued Southward through Madison and down to Old Faithful where we caught her erupting just in time! Lot’s of people and super touristy, but still cool to watch. We began driving East towards West Thumb and North through Lake Village. We continued North to Canyon Village where we stopped to check out Upper and Lower Falls, and then to Tower-Roosevelt for the Tower Falls. All were pretty spectacular…but maybe that’s just me liking the sound and sight of waterfalls!

Through Yellowstone we were able to catch sight of elk, bison, and deer. I didn’t realize how large these animals were! Quite magnificent!

We headed back to our lodging in Bozeman and J caught up with a couple of his college friends for dinner while I grabbed a salad from our restaurant. After they were done with dinner they came out to our hotel to grab drinks, where I met up and hung out with them. It was a nice, fun night!

Friday, 6/25:

We tried grabbing breakfast at Nova Cafe again (because it was soooo darned good!) but by the time we got there it was like 10am and completely packed…people waiting out the door and such. So we grabbed a bite from Great Harvest bread co. around the corner and ate breakfast on the road. We stopped at the Lewis and Clark Caverns in Three Forks and grabbed a 12pm tour. In order to get to the caves it’s about a 1.5(?) mile upward. It got everyone pretty hot and sweaty but offered beautiful scenery along the way. Our tour was cool — entertaining and temperature wise — compared to other cave tours I’ve been on. The cave is always at a moderate temperature of 50 degrees. There wasn’t anything that really caught my eye since all the other caves seemed to have the same things, but it was the way the cave trail was blasted through which made it an “adventure” going through it. Steep and slippery in many places. This cave actually has a slide where you have to sit on your butt and slide down a little bit (kind of like those old school kid playground slides).

After exploring the caves, we stopped off at Montana Wheat, where they grow and make their own breads. They also have a deli area where you can order sandwiches and such. Which is exactly what we did for lunch. We continued West and North to Missoula and ended up at Rock’n Rudy’s.

I wanted to buy a cowgirl hat, but didn’t find one that I really liked. I ended up spending much of my time in their “health and beauty” section that had a lot of organic stuff that I haven’t seen before. We grabbed Taco Johns (which is better than Taco Bell, I admit) for a late night snack and headed back to J’s house for drinks and unwinding.

Saturday, 6/26:

Hit up another early flight from MSO -> SEA -> SFO, but I managed to not look at the screens in the airport to double check my gate in SEA. I just figured what it said on my ticket was correct. So I sat in the gate area for like 2 1/2 hours to finally realize I was in the wrong area. By the time I ran all the way to the opposite end of the airport for the real gate, I saw my plane rolling out. I caught the next one at 12:20pm ish and got home in the late afternoon. It was such a long day of travel, but it was nice to be back home.

Now it’s almost two weeks later and I miss Montana. I miss the sights, the slow environment, and friendly people I met along the way. I absolutely love the flat, green (from all the rain), farm lands and the fact that we could drive around a total of 1,600 miles our entire trip and be the only car on the road. Okay, a little bit of an exaggeration, but at many times, we were the only car on the road for hours and hours at a time. Every time we were in a “populated” place, I noticed. Granted, a “populated” place may equate to 5-15 cars. It was just nice to be isolated and away from civilization. Nothing but me and mother nature. It might drive some people crazy, but it allowed me to feel relaxed and at peace. Such a surreal experience!