After spending the winter at our cozy little house in Texas, we have arrived back in Montana. I have to admit it was a bittersweet departure, with trees budding out, bluebonnets blooming, and gardens being planted. As it still gets the occasionally snow day in Montana, I just get to experience spring twice really. The past few months I was working at a little organic market with wonderful people and a great atmosphere, and it was not easy to say goodbye. It was so nice to spend time with great friends, family, and just enjoying the simple life. A special thanks to all those who are in my life and I was able to spend time with again! A funny thing happened while we have been away, my friends had babies or their babies got bigger, and it was so much fun to meet them and get to know them before we left again. But as life goes, curiosity is sometimes just too hard to turn down, and we just had to see what was down this road.
We packed as much as we could in the new Subaru and headed north with the 2 dogs. Traveling with dogs is never easy, so we were not able to take a leisurely trip, but still tried to take our time. Our first stop was a quick visit with our friends Alicia and Collin in Lubbock while the dogs sniffed through the house, luckily they did not find their pet rabbits. We then headed onwards to Amarillo where we stopped for the night and had a good dose of meat at the Big Texan Steakhouse, known for the 72 oz. steak. Clearly we did not accept that challenge of meat, but we did take the complimentary ride in an old limo with longhorns on the front to and from our hotel. The next morning we battled the wind and stopped off at the Cadillac Ranch to see these relics stuffed into the old Texas soil. I must admit I have never seen anything like it, but it was worth the 2 mile detour. We then drove through the corner of NM and straight through CO and onward to Casper WY, where we stopped for the night and ate at a 50’s diner with amazing hamburgers. The next morning we battled the several inches of snow that had fallen the night before in our new AWD vehicle and just took it slow on the roads. Sam had been excited for a whole 30 seconds about being in the car, and 24 driving hours later he was shaking in the backseat and completely done with the car ride. There were some slick patches, but luckily nothing that stopped us from making it to Gardiner right on schedule.
Although we have worked in Yellowstone National Park for several summers, this will be the first time that Tony and I are both working in Gardiner MT. Anyone who knows a thing about this town also knows that finding a place to live is like winning the lottery. We lucked out and were able to rent an amazing house, with a gorgeous kitchen, a fenced in yard for the dogs (and a doggie door I hope they eventually learn to use), all with a view that takes your breath away. Each morning I make the 15 minute walk to work while I see Elk walking by the Yellowstone River, Mule Deer eating people’s grass, Antelope grazing in a field, and Bison walking down the middle of the main road in town. There are not too many morning commutes that involve any of those things, let alone all of them.
Our adventures have pretty much consisted of going grocery shopping in Bozeman, a few trips to the Vet to get Roxy’s abscessed tooth pulled, and getting our raised bed ready to garden. Tony has done yet another amazing job on creative gardening. This is a 10x4ft wire covered garden bed with a double hinge opening, which will be perfect for keeping out those pesky deer. Hopefully by Friday we can have some greens and carrots planted, then onward to spring planting in the next few weeks (with plastic of course).
And yes, Tony finally got to go fishing! He was gone for about 2.5 hours and when I asked him if he caught anything, he responded with, “of course, I’m not in New Zealand, I caught 18.” Although he is extremely happy to be fishing again and in this beautiful area, I think the real challenge will be putting away the big fishing net for awhile. However when people catch that many fish, that just means maybe even I can catch a few this summer.
