We left Gardiner early this morning, heading west. We planned to split the drive home into two days so we had time to stop along the way and see a few things. We had some unexpected surprises as a result.




Our first stop was Livingston, a cute little Western town where all the rich and famous folks that live in nearby Paradise Valley, go shopping. There was an arts and crafts fair in that town, unbeknownst to us, so we stopped and shopped and bought a few fun things. Next stop was Bozeman where we went to the Museum of the Rockies. There was a special exhibit on the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci, so Kaleb enjoyed that for a few minutes. He’s past being interested in dinosaurs so he didn’t stay long in that exhibit. Our next stop was Wheat Montana, a well known bakery started by a Norwegian guy. The cinnamon rolls are the size of a dinner plate, so we all enjoyed that stop.



Before we left Montana and crossed over into Idaho, we stopped at a tourist trap place that advertised they had over 50,000 silver dollars on display. For what reason, I don’t know, the boys sure enjoyed all the cheesy souvenirs they offered for sale in that place. Our last stop in Montana was in a little town with a big billboard advertising they had over 10,000 used books for sale in an historic building. I couldn’t resist seeing Kaleb walk into that place, as it would be better than a trip to Disneyland for him, so we stopped there as well. We weren’t in the door one minute before I heard a shriek and nearly bumped into Marilyn Ryan, a former co-worker of mine from many years ago. She was with her husband, Doug Knutsen, who has been a friend of Kory’s since the 1960s. They live in Tacoma and were heading home from Missoula. What a coincidence. It was good to see them again, as we haven’t seen them for a few years, and since that time Marilyn has gone through some serious health issues, so it was nice to know she’s back to work and on the road to recovery. What a fun place to catch up with old friends.



The boys watched cartoons in the car the entire seven hours we were driving today (see photo).  Tobias dozed off every now and then, but Kaleb didn't sleep a wink. We stopped off in “historic” Wallace, Idaho for dinner in some famous saloon on the main street. Lightning and thunder and torrential rains followed us from Montana, so we sat inside and watched the streets get pounded by driving rain while we ate a yummy meal, then we hit the road again for our last stretch of freeway before our hotel stop for the night.



I booked a hotel with a pool so the boys could swim tonight, but we got to our hotel just as the two hour America’s Funniest Home Videos season finale episode was starting. Nothing could get those boys away from the TV at that point, so we all stayed in the room and laughed until we cried, watching that show. It kept us up later than I’d like, but at least we got a few more laughs in for the day, and that’s never a bad thing.  Tomorrow, this party is over.