Smell the End of My Blog Post

The skies were smoke-hazy all day yesterday.  We're thankful the forest fires aren't nearby, and we sent up prayers for those affected by them.

The USAToday isn't sold anywhere in the Flathead Valley as far as we can tell so, as newspaper addicts, we settled for The Missoulan.  What a good choice that was as it had not one, not two, but three travel sections.  I can't wait to see what their Sunday paper holds.

Barb and Leah, should I bring this article home for you?

Not only was its news well written, but it contained this 48 page part of puzzles.  Bob is so thankful, not because he does puzzles, but because it will keep me busy and quiet for days.

We attended a Rotary meeting in Columbia Falls as noon and had supper at a burger place there in the evening.

 

It's an interesting place.  All the workers are fairly young people and our server had a badge that said, "ask me about Uganda."  We did.  The restaurant is connected to a mission group called Potter's Field which sends young people out to various countries to feed and to work with impoverished children.  The restaurant runs video of the work they do. The young people who go to the countries can work at the restaurant to earn money for their next mission trip.  Our young server was such a good ambassador for the program.

Another interesting thing about the mission work is that Potter's Field does not ignore poverty in the USA.  Although they send workers to places like Uganda, Cambodia, and Guatemala, they also have workers at Browning, Montana which isn't too far from here.  It's an impoverished Indian Reserve.

Just like every year, we are here to see Bigfork's four productions  Last night's was The Drowsy Chaperone.  We've seen it performed a couple of times before and I've never been impressed.  This time I was totally impressed.  It was closing night and the cast gave it their all.

Before the show I always browse my favorite Bigfork gift shop.  Wouldn't two of these kingly birds look great in our house?

Do you have your nose ready?  The Bigfork Theater gardens are still a riot of blooms and the roses, in particular, smell heavenly.

Traveling Vicariously & Traveling

I'm thankful for Facebook and other forms of social media, especially in the summer when friends are traveling.  Glenda, do you remember the "olden days" when we shared our trips with each other via postcards?  How stone-age was that!

Thanks to electronic media I was able to track travels to the Cypress Hills, Hawaii, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Bruges, Boston, Newfoundland & Labrador and many more places.

For the next few days you can track us in Montana.

I'm always fascinated that a eleven hour drive can take us from this

to this.

Here's how Bob looks for those eleven hours

and here's me.

You know you're in Montana when a Slurpee favor is huckleberry.

Here's our home for our stay.

It has the requisite screen door.

Riley and Nathan, we should have stolen you from your parents and brought you along.  All the one room/one bed cabins were taken so we got a two room cabin that has an ordinary bed and two sets of bunks bed.  You each could have a top bunk!  Plus the Whitefish KOA has all kinds of cool bikes, a petting zoo, and unlimited free mini golf.  There's also a big games' room and a couple of little bumper boars.  Want to come next year?  We could even bring Mommy and Daddy if they are willing to sleep in bunk beds.

 

Just like at home it is incredibly dry here.  This area had just 0.7" of rain in July.  There are no forest fires near here, thank goodness, but there are bad ones in other parts of Montana.

Although it's dry, hay crops look fine.

Temporarily Home

We traveled home from Minneapolis yesterday with nothing much to amuse us except the bug splats on the windshield.

We may suck at selfies, but we know how to have a good time together.

Bob and I are home until ... well, we're home until Tuesday when we head to Montana.  We'll try have fun even though the Saskatoon Kings won't be with us.

Plants & the Fam

If you have no interest in plants nor in my immediate family, you may skip this entry for that's what it's all about.

We spent the day at Valley Fair amusement park and it was a blessing that it was a cloudy day which meant the crowds weren't large.

I love the landscaping.
Vanessa, you & I had trouble finding our annual ferns because this park has them everywhere.

It was a fun day for our family.  Riley was a real trooper, remaining happy while forgoing her nap.

After supper, Rob, Nathan & I went to our favorite bookstore.  Yes, book nerds have favorite book shops in every city they visit and this is ours.

Rob's birthday is tomorrow, but we celebrated tonight.  My favorite son is lucky his 32 candles didn't set off our hotel room sprinkler system.

Can you tell Riley picked the cake?

Have a wonderful birthday tomorrow, Rob!