[a tour of western montana]

For a while now, Jonny has wanted to take me on a tour of "touristy" places in western Montana. Since we may not may not be in Montana forever and we are kind of in a calmer season of life, we have been trying to make it a point to do and see as much as we can. So, we took a weekend trip to Deer Lodge, Butte, Lewis and Clark Caverns, and Bozeman.

Our first stop on Saturday was the Old Prison Museum. It was built in 1870 and was used until the 1970s. [You really should click on the link and read about it. History is fun, y'all!] It was mostly fun and cool, but I will admit, it was a liiiittle bit creepy. For instance, beside the sidewalk there was a sign that said "inmates that cross this line will be shot":

Let's just say I wasn't cut out for prison life ;-)

On the other side of the museum was the Montana Auto Museum. It was awesome. It just kept going and going and going and..... Anyhow, did you know there were smart cars in 1978? Apparently there were.

Too bad I wasn't around in the 70s to drive it.

Both were self guided tours, so we took our time before hopping in the car and heading to Butte. 

We ate at a little burger dive called Mike's Drive-in. Definitely a local favorite; Jonny told me his dad used to go there when he was young, so it was pretty neat. I splurged on a milkshake and grilled cheese. It made for a nice food coma in the car later :) Jonny also wanted to show me the Berkeley Pit. I mean... it was okay for a big hole. We'll just say I walked away without any photos. It was FREEZING outside (no, literally freezing. In JUNE, people!), so we ran out, looked at it, and ran back to the car. I suppose I'd have appreciated it more if I like engineering and earth and big holes of toxic waste and stuff. Hehe ;-)

Our next stop was Lewis and Clark Caverns. This was by far my favorite part of the trip!! I didn't snap many pictures because, well, it is hard to photograph a cave. I just loved to hear the stories of how people found it and the candle-lit tours that they used to give. Fun fact: Lewis and Clark did NOT discover these caverns. President Roosevelt declared it a national landmark (Montana's first State Park!) and was afraid no one would remember goold ole L&C. (Note: However, I have found that basically the only thing Montana kids learn in school: Lewis and Clark... my super smart husband really doesn't know much about America pre-Western Expansion.) It was so awesome to see how intricate God's creation is and to think about all the things that have to happen for something to become that beautiful. The tour guide told us all about water sources, erosion, and air pockets, but it was way too cool for silly stuff like the to form the caves :-)

This is my attempt at capturing the inside of the Caverns. That wall is about 60-70ft where I was standing, 

so you can see that it was difficult to take too many pictures.

Then, we drove to Bozeman. We arrived around dinner, so we headed to Montana Ale Works at the recommendation of just about everyone who has ever been to Bozeman. That evening, we went to Rocking R Bar and played pool with one of Jonny's college buddies. (Translation: Jonny and Chris hung out while I obsessively watched for Susan Hamm on the Miss Alabama Pageant updates!) We stayed the night in Bozo and headed to the Museum of the Rockies on MSU's campus. I really enjoyed this! The museum mostly has displays of dinosaurs. I don't LOVE dinosaur stuff, but I do love anatomy and physiology, even for animals. So I had a great time tell Jonny all about vertebrae and cranial structures! After a while, we saw a video in the IMAX theatre. The theatre itself was fun, but the video was about evolution and left no room for Creation. So, we both got a fabulous 50 minute nap (as did the snoring old man next to me!). The museum had a small display for Napoleon Bonaparte and the French Revolution (in the dinosaur museum? in Bozeman, MT? Okay?). I really did enjoy that part, even though it felt insanely out of place! We ended the trip in downtown Bozeman that served real Mexican cuisine. Missoula is lacking in the area of good Mexican, so I made sure to clean my plate. 

[year two.]

This past Sunday, our first anniversary, I made a sad realization: I did a horrible job of chronicling everything that we did and taking pictures. I am going to put more effort into year two. thus, this blog was born!


It was a fun, hard, joyous, year! I started (and am about to finish) the leveling program at U of M for Communicative Science and Disorders. What this means is I basically took all the undergraduate requirements for the program in one year. Now, I will be able to apply for grad school in Speech and Language Pathology and have (most) all the requirements completed. I LOVED this program, and I met some absolutely wonderful people in the past year. I am really excited about being in this field forever :) I'm taking this year off of school and desperately looking for a job. Missoula is a the single most difficult place to find a job! But I trust one will come along; God has always provided when I needed it most.


Jonny has continued to work for the same company; his 4 year anniversary of working for WGM group in next month! I can't imagine working somewhere 4 years, haha! He just saves the world, one engineering job at a time. Upon getting a membership at the Y, he has rediscovered his love of swimming (I always did think swimmers were attractive). He just got his "study guide" --a.k.a. 1000 page book-- for his Professional Engineer exam. He sits for it in October and and I imagine he will spend the next 4 months studying. He is nervous, but I know he is gonna do just fine!


And for the past year, Dipper has remained the cutest, most troublesome, sweetest little puppy. She is loving having me home this summer, but she is definitely Jonny's girl! Either way, she's so cute.

Last week was super fun at our house with Jonny's 26 birthday and our 1st anniversary! (Also my first "finals" week of summer classes; we won't remember that part, though.)

For Jonny's birthday, we ate.... ALOT. I made him cinnamon roll waffles for breakfast. Later that evening, we went to a swanky restaurant in Missoula called the Silk Road. He got maple bacon beignets and was the happiest man alive. I got a Tipu's chai infused chocolate mousse cake. All I gotta say is: yum! We went out to eat a couple nights later at no other than the Mustard Seed. I am not responsible for my table manners there, it is easily our favorite meal in the universe.

Saturday, we went to see our friends Grant and Meagan get married. It was such a sweet, fun, gorgeous wedding! We had so much fun! We danced, and ate, and danced, and danced, and danced.

Fun, as evidenced by all the men (and the pastor!) boogie-ing big time.

After the wedding, Jonny and I drove to Spokane. We stayed Saturday night and spent the whole day Sunday in the city. (Spokane is my closest hope around Missoula to feeling like I am in a "big city" for a little while!) We ate breakfast at Madeleines, a wonderful French Cafe downtown. Then I picked out my bridesmaids dress for Taren's wedding in November! For the rest of the day we shopped, walked around the riverside park, and saw an IMAX movie. We finished with dinner at Spaghetti Factory, where we had our rehearsal dinner in Nashville. OF course, after a 3 hour drive home, we got out the cake and wine and tried to remember what happened a year ago! 

This poor cake endured a terrible 2,000mile ride in the mail. It was much prettier on our wedding day. However, it was just as delicious as it was 6-24-11. Awesome? Gross? IDK.

Twas a great weekend, and coming back to the real world (work for Jonny, neuroanatomy for me) was not very easy!