Yes you can go home again....

Before leaving Miles City, Sous-Chef decided to check out all the personal sites before leaving town.  Heading west on Main Street Sous-Chef was reminded of such events as her grandparents meeting at the soda fountain at Foster Drug (sadly no longer there), her father's stories of washing the windows of Main Street business to earn money, and the knowledge that most of those buildings on Main Street had construction, remodeling and/or finishing work done by her great-grandfather or her grandfather.  At the end of  Main Street was City Park, she recalled walking by with her Aunt on their way to Great-Grandma's house for homemade doughnuts.  Then we drove past the Rangeriders Museum and stopped into the Custer County Art & Heritage Center before heading out of town.

Back on the open road; it's true what they say the sky is big in Montana and it was a beautiful blue, laced with happy white clouds.  Sort of the iconic images that make the phrase road trip meaningful.  Our next stop was Pompey's Pillar.  It's the only known spot where Lewis and Clark left evidence of their visit on their entire adventure.  Following the Native peoples before him, Mr. Clark carved his name and date into the rock.  We climbed to the top, but the wind was blowing so hard I thought we would both take flight.

We arrived in Billings in the early afternoon and checked into the Dude Rancher Lodge, our home for the next few days.   Like most things on this trip this motel has a meaning to Sous-Chef.  She stayed here her very first night in town (back in the day) when her family first moved to town.  The next morning she walked across the street to enroll in school.  By the time school was out for the day the moving van had arrived and she went home on the school bus having no clue as to where she was going.  Anyway the Dude Rancher was recently placed on the National Historic Register, and the people are very nice.  Check out the lobby...

 

 

Last night Sous-Chef went to meet and greet her fellow classmates "Class of 1980 Billings Senior High School".  My daddy Bronc is their school mascot... She had a fun time seeing everyone, they had a street party downtown in front of a local microbrewery called Montana Brewing Company.  There were people she hadn't seen in 30, 20 and 10 years and some people she didn't know back in the day but now consider them "new old friends".  The stories and memories are well worth the trip.  We are looking forward to tonight's Pig Roast and I've been invited along so I can tell you all about it in the morning.  

We're off to start our day...see you all on the flip side.  ~MB~