Visiting Big Sky Country

A few weeks ago Monico and Melissa came back to Seattle to pick up the last of their things that couldn’t fit in their car during the move. Memorial Day weekend was coming up and they invited me to go on a road trip with them. Originally we had planned to go to Victoria, Canada because Monico and I haven’t been there but hotels & ferry were very pricey. So we joked about visiting Montana but then realized how it was pretty close to us and none of us had ever been there. So it was settled, road trip to Montana. Going through Eastern WA is not the most scenic drive but once we got to Idaho the drive was nice. Unfortunately there was a fire so we had a lot of smoke blocking our view on the drive through Montana. In a way it reminded me of driving in Monterey, CA because the smoke felt like fog at times. There were some areas where the river and the backdrop was breath taking that Melissa said she expected Brad Pitt to pop out any minute like in The River Runs through It. We finally made it to Missoula, Montana late at night and we were ready to head to bed and start our exploration in the morning. Missoula is a small town but with a lot of potential. The University of Montana is there and we happened to come on game day, so everywhere we looked there was Grisly Fans. I have to admit I really enjoyed that part because everyone showed love for the school that day. In the morning after breakfast we hit the Farmers Market in town and let me tell you, those vegetables looked like they were on steroids! I have never seen such HUGE produce and the price was awesome. The pictures really don’t do them justice. I only wished I had a cooler so I could have brought some home. After the farmers market we headed to a ghost town. Once there, Melissa pointed out how there were many rattle snakes because she could hear their rattle. Well you have to know this about me, I am TERRIFIED of snakes, any type and size so her pointing that out made it a very unpleasant trip walking down to the town. Once we made it there one of the park rangers asked me if I had any questions and I asked “Do you have a lot of rattle snakes?” To which thank heavens she said “No their numbers are low this season.” You have no idea how relieved I was to hear that, so with that new information I got a pep in my step and was ready to explore the town. This place is welled preserved and people can even rent some cabins to stay there if they want. I love visiting ghost towns and learning the history of what brought them there and what happened to the town. I was not disappointed by the town, very fun. On our way back we got some pictures but I think the view would have been more amazing if there wasn’t so much smoke. The next day we went mining for sapphires. Monico can be a nerd about certain things and I have to admit it cracked me up seeing him so excited about this. So we made it to the ranch and were given Sapphire mining 101. We actually found quite a few and I have to admit I had a lot of fun doing it. I wanted to take a picture of our treasure so I emptied the container in my hand and Melissa said “Be careful you don’t drop them.” And just as I was saying “Geesh I am not that clumsy” I dropped one of them. Insert foot in mouth! I was terrified of losing any more of them so I passed them on to Melissa and Monico as soon as possible. They had them appraised and we had quite a few that could actually be cut! They asked me if I wanted to keep any and well lets just say I figured they would be in safer hands if they kept them. Overall it was a great trip and great company. I hope to visit again.