FRIDAY "YELLOWSTONE" SKY

 Happy Friday ya'll - it is good to be blogging again!  I could not believe that I have all the free time on my hands, no reading hundred of pages of "legal mumbo jumbo", no research or drafting assignments, no looking thru cases to locate authority, statutes or court decisions.  All the chapters have been covered, (weekly) assignments have been submitted, I only have to make it thru the finals and I would be free until the summer semester starts!  

 Looking at these photos taken from our Westward adventure in 2011 makes me long to be on the road.  I love seeing America and there is so much to see (13 more States to be exact).  I have not taken pictures lately (QQ, are you surprised?) so for this Friday Sky post, I am sharing these photos from our visit to Yellowstone National Park.

 Just in case you heard about flooding in St. Louis, we are ok and don't live in or near flooding areas.  It was sunny yesterday but today is back to cloudy with a threat of possible rain late in the evening.  In addition to school schedule, I have been busy with going to the courthouse to observe "justice in action".  Did I share that I started a Legal Studies Club on campus?  We had our first club meeting on April 3rd and it was sort-of well-attended.  Election of officers will take place at the next meeting and I have been busy with campaigning, fundraising in between a few rounds of golf and family vacation - all expense paid for and funded by the club membership dues (just kidding)! 

 We had a nice and quiet Easter (can't believe that it was a month ago).  A new manager (let's call him NC) from my husband's workplace is from Charleston, North Carolina.  NC is actually originally from Boston.  His wife is still in NC as they are trying to sell their house.  So we invited NC to our home for dinner to celebrate Easter with us.  We did not talk politics, only pleasant topics like football and hockey!

This small church is right across from our hotel in Gardiner, Montana.  This is the view from our room on the 2nd floor.  It is a great view to see each morning or anytime when looking out the windows.  Mass schedule listed 8:00 a.m. during the summer but only 3 times each month and 4:00 p.m. Mass during the winter.  I tried but the door was locked so I could not take any pictures inside the church.

FRIDAY "BIG SKY" MONTANA THAT IS!

Tuesday, September 6th - We were in Crow Country where the Crow Reservation is located in south-central Montana, about 10 miles from Billings. The Reservation covers approximately 2.2 million acreas. There are about 10,000 of enrolled Crow tribe members that live on or near the Reservation.

Someone wrote an article about his experience moving to Montana and the Big Sky Country changed his lifestyle. The person wrote that he learned to appreciate living in the vast open space. There is some kind of magical about the land. He wrote, "You could not be a jerk when you live and fall in love with the Big Sky Country." I could not wait to visit Montana again. If I was given an opportunity, I would love to live there, except during hockey and football seasons!

We passed by many large herds of cattle. It looked like they were rounded up to be ready for the next train ride. We tried to tell them that they were not going to Disney Land. We wonder if the cattles knew what Texas Roadhouse was! It was a lot of fun running parellel with the train. It helped when we were the only few vehicles on the road and there was nothing to see but cattles and grassland!

One of our favorite activities during our roadtrips was taking a break with a stop for pies and coffee. I love peace/blackberry cobbler, coconut cream pie and blueberry pie. My husband usually selected chocolate cream pie or double chocolate cake. The Bozeman Trail Steakhouse was not yet open for dinner but the young lady was kind enough to let us in and served us pies and coffee. After a full day of driving with a few stops at Devils Tower (Wyoming) and the Little Bighorn Battlefield (Montana), we were ready for a good night of rest. We could not wait for tomorrow when we knew we would have a great time at Yellowstone National Park.

FRIDAY SKY - SUNSET IN MONTANA

These photos were taken after a long day of driving from Sturgis, South Dakota to Wyoming (we visited Devils Tower), and then to Montana (we stopped by the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument) and did not get into Gardiner, Montana until after 8:00 p.m. When we finally arrived at the hotel, the clerk told us that he cancelled our reservation and already gave the room to another guest. The hotel was completely booked. "There was no room at the inn", he said. He explained that it was because my credit card had an expiration date of July 2011. He tried to call earlier but I did not answer my cell phone. How could I when we were driving between mountains? I questioned why he did not call last week. I made our reservation in May and there was no problem then with the expiration date of July for arrival date in September. My husband made it clear to the clerk that whatever he had to do, he needed to find a room for us at another hotel in town because we were tired and we were not going to drive another hour to the next town. After calling three other hotels with "no room at the inn", the clerk found a room available at a nearby hotel. The next day we went back and spoke to the manager at the hotel. He offered us an upgrade to a suite at his hotel at regular room rate since we were going to stay in Gardiner the 2nd night. We told the manager that he handled it well and we appreciated how a bad situation was made right. We agreed that it was a smart business decision. Next time I know not to use credit card that was about to expire when making hotel reservation.

2011 WESTWARD ROAD TRIP

(In a blink of an eye, the month of September flew by. It is Friday, September 30th and here I am trying to catch up with postings that will be in reverse chronological. To all my adoring fans and faithful readers, thank you for your concern. I am fine, just got off the blogging tracks and it took awhile for geezer like me to get back - haa haa.) Our 2011 Westward road trip began when we left St. Louis around 1:00 p.m. on Friday, September 2nd. We stopped for an early dinner in Hannibal, Missouri. After checking in at a hotel in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, we walked across the street to a local diner for homemade pies. The next day, Saturday, September 3rd we drove a fairly straight line across the vast land of cornfields of Iowa. At around 5:00 p.m. we crossed the state line into Nebraska.

Sunday, September 4th - we woke up to a beautiful day in downtown Columbus, Nebraska. After 8:30 a.m. Mass at St. Bonaventure Church, we got back on the road continued following Lincoln Highway. Exactly as written in the Lincoln Highway Companion guidebook by Brian Butko, trains were a constant companion as we drove across Nebraska. Giant grain silos, cows and horses dominated the landscape. On Monday, September 5th, we could not wait to get on the road to get out of Nebraska. Nothing against the good people of Nebraska or the State, just a negative experience in Sidney, NE that almost ruined our vacation. I promise I will explain later what happened. We cross the state line into South Dakota at 10:50 a.m. After visited Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore, we drove to Sturgis. I was tempted to get a tattoo and a Harley to drive around town with the boys! After dinner at Easyriders Saloon, we were ready for a night of rest in a room with clean bed and no extra charge for soap and towels - haa haa.

Tuesday, September 6th - It was a sunny but a bit cool morning when we arrived in Aladdin, Wyoming. After a good breakfast at Cindy's Diner, we felt strong and ready to face Devils Tower National Monument. After Devils Tower, we took I-90 straight into Montana. It was a nice surprise and a learning opportunity at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. We arrived in Gardiner, Montana around 9:30 p.m. only to be told that our room reservation was cancelled. Fortunately, we were able to find another hotel nearby. Another not-too-pleasant experience but when we spoke to that hotel the next day, the matter was resolved to our satisfaction. I promise to share the details in future post. We spent the following day, Wednesday, September 7th, at Yellowstone National Park. It was most memorable and definitely one of the highlights of our trip. Old Faithful was as young and energetic as ever!

Thursday, September 8th - We drove thru the Grand Teton National Park. After exited the South Entrance, we proceed on US-191 and stopped for a night in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The next day, Friday, September 9th, after breakfast we decided to visit Dagget County, Utah before heading toward Vail, Colorado for a niece's wedding on Saturday, September 10th. JP was one of the flower girl at our wedding 23+ years ago!

Sunday, September 11th - We did not leave Beaver Creek, Colorado until after a 10:00 a.m. brunch. I did most of the driving heading east on I-70. CP took over when it was getting dark. We stopped for the night in Hays, Kansas. The next day, Monday, September 12th we got up around 6:30 a.m. eager to get on the road. We had a wonderful time but after 10 days on the road, we were happy to be home.

We pulled into our driveway around 5:30 p.m. After we unloaded everything from the Mustang, I took off to a city council meeting scheduled at 7:00 p.m.

I spent the next two weeks washing, cleaning, putting together a spreadsheet of expenditure, organizing items we collected from places we visited and sorting thru all the photos. Then my home laptop was attacked by virus. The "computer guy" was busy so it took a few days before I got my laptop back. Fortunately I saved all my correspondence and photos on the flash drives. I only had to put back all the favorites websites and re-connect the printer. It feels good to return to normal routines. I look forward to sharing photos and stories from our trip. Thank you for visiting and please come back again soon.