It was a whirlwind trip. I flew to Washington where Julie lives, and 3 days later we piled into her Nissan, including clothes, shoes, and everything a woman can't live without. Our first stop was Montana. The trip was about 10 hours. Grueling, yes, but nibbling on licorice and Fritos, and drinking iced tea, sustained us. We stopped every 2-3 hours to either fill up with gas, food, or make a pit stop, change drivers and stretch our legs, or all of the above.
Montana is gorgeous with green, lush mountains and trees, lakes and rivers everywhere. We didn't have any car trouble and were always able to receive some radio station, not always the case with cell reception. Once in awhile we called someone and asked could they please entertain us!
There's an old expression: ignorance is bliss. We had no idea how much driving we would be doing. No wonder we slept like babies some nights. After arriving at her daughter's home and visiting for the evening, the next day Julie, myself, her daughter and her 11 year old grand daughter all piled into Amy's car and headed for North Dakota. Amy's twin lives there, and of course Julie wanted to visit with Lisa, too.
North Dakota is not as scenic as Montana, more flat, not as many trees, more brown than green. However, we passed some beautiful rock formations, including the Badlands. They were named by the Lakota people because of extreme temperatures, lack of water, and exposed, rugged terrain. President Theodore Roosevelt loved the Badlands and the freedom of the western way of life. There is some interesting history on Roosevelt and the Badlands, which I won't go into now.
While in North Dakota we had several days of fun family time, enjoying home cooked meals, and an artists fair - basically relaxing. One highlight was a rodeo with bronco busting, lassoing cattle, and young kids riding small horses (the kids wore helmets). It was a small rodeo, guessing maybe 150 people. We were really close, about 20 feet from the fence. Some of us got really worried the horses were getting hurt - when you are that close and the horse crashes into the fence, you think two things: is he getting hurt?, and I hope he doesn't come crashing into our laps!
The one thing we missed while there was a country western dance. Boo hoo! We went to the rodeo on Saturday evening and planned to stay for the dancing, but the popular band performed the night before, Friday. The only dancers were under 3 years old! We left with high hopes because we still had several days back in Montana, or so we thought.
Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow. Thank you, good night and God Bless! Aleta
"I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character! - Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the U.S.
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