What goes around comes around

Sous-Chef is back at the keyboard as "MB"  has had a little too much adventure and is trying to recover...  Our day got off to a splendid start, downstairs at the coffee shop.  On one hand it was like stepping back in time on the other it had a very cosmo feel.  No sooner than I had sat down at the counter when I began to overhear a conversation between a couple I suspected was from Australia (and I was right) and a local woman of about 80 who obviously makes the Dude Rancher Restaurant a regular outing.

They were engaged in a lively conversation regarding world travel.  Where they each had been and what they had done....and discussions about the "next" trip to be taken.  The Australian couple were asking questions about the area including local history, industries, and even the woman's own personal history.  It was obvious that these three seasoned travelers understood what it means to travel...not just "visit the sites" but learning about the people and places you visit. 

I listened in silence as I took stock of my surroundings. Not much had changed in the 30 years since I had last been there. I did notice the dishes bearing the Dude Rancher's own pattern were gone expect for the collectors pieces on display. The dishes like the carpeting throughout the Lodge were designed using livestock brands of local ranchers. The food, however, was still made from scratch (including the pies)...and was just as good as I remembered it

After breakfast I met up with my sister from another Mother and recently departed Father and her husband.  We spent part of the afternoon touring the area.  I swear the city has tripled in size in the ten years since I was last here.  With the "new" I was also able to see how the community has adapted and rediscovered itself over time. 

Driving up Grand Avenue through the heart of town on the street where our high school is located, more than a few ghosts were recalled. Rolling past Daylis Stadium (home of the Broncs) we noted the last time our high school won the state football championship was the year we graduated. Sandy's just up the next block is but a faded memory as we recalled the $0.25 crinkle cut fries served in a brown paper bag, and just what was the name of the place that served the pizzaritos anyway? 

We also drove through my old neighborhood.  When we first moved to town, the neighborhood was brand spanking new.  All the folks up and down the block were the original owners and had invested time, money and energy into the homes and the yards that went with them. We all were transplants moving into Billings from somewhere else, and within a span of a few short years we had all moved on to our next adventure.  On my last visit 10 years ago I was in tears as I drove up the street and to our house.  It hadn't been well taken care of and our neighbors homes hadn't  fared much better.  Much to my delight on this visit the neighborhood appears to be on somewhat of a rebound.  
 

Negotiating my way through downtown was based more on muscle memory than the missing landmarks of my youth.  The locally owned department stores and long standing businesses were long gone replaced by specialty shops, eateries and such; just another example of how the town has reinvented itself.  With the majority of retail and commerce moving out to the ever expanding "West End" downtown has come into its own, not the dust bowl of my last visit. 
 
 Life is like a wheel, what goes around comes around and it applies to communities as much as it does people that live in them.

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~