south dakota 8

friday was such a long, packed day and we were all tired when we got back to pat’s. but M and i wanted to fix supper (my husband’s favorite recipe: buntes huhn) and after enjoying great food and camaraderie, we said good night.

early saturday we got up and got away in pretty good time. just about three hours out we got a call from pat saying she was pretty sure she’d left her purse in our car and would we check...yes, there it was. oh boy -- i really didn’t want to drive all that way back but certainly would if she needed it -- she insisted that mailing it would work fine.

so i drove along wondering how in the world we were going to even start looking for a post office in the next real town we came to, which was going to be billings and four hours down the road (to say nothing of would-it-be-open), but lo and behold the very next “town” we came to, hammond montana, had an open post office! we stopped, got the errant purse into the system, and enjoyed our chat with the really helpful and pleasant postal gal. you must understand that hammond is TOTALLY out in the boonies and has about three buildings -- one being the post office and the other two being deserted. how lucky is that?! (and pat received it on-schedule on monday.) i’m not sure what the universe had in mind with that little exercise, but it worked out just fine.

we had a quick lunch at mickey d’s, at hardin i think, and kept on flying in the sunshine. we looked forward to supper again at schroft’s in deer lodge, but they must have had a different cook as it wasn’t quite as good. and the waitress was a little bitch. so we didn’t linger but headed on down the road and finally pulled into a sleepy little berg in idaho -- i think it was silverton. we stayed in an excellent little place with a huge breakfast bar and then we were on our way sunday morning bright and early.

we breezed through spokane and across the moon and got into seattle around 3 pm. i shoved M out the door and headed for home. actually i didn’t shove her but kidded her about it since i was ready to be home. after she got her stuff out and we hugged goodbye, i headed straight north and got home in time to see My Older Son for about 15 minutes before he headed back to seattle (he’d been visiting hubby). what great timing!

so as you can see, the trip worked out beautifully and we have many great memories added to our lane. the following are some random snapshots...

grandpa and grandma's old house...


rocks layered naturally -- cool!


typical beauty...


intrepid adventurers...

weren't they clever to arrange this view!

fabulously balanced scottish wine holder -- it's just a piece of wood cut at exactly the right angles -- add the bottle and there you have a thing of intrigue!