Vacation in Montana

This is the guest room at Hunters Pointe, where my friend Joan lives in Helena, Montana.  Notice the moose on the wall and the wild life on the bedspread and on the lamp shade.  I was there for eight days, getting to visit with Joan and her four children and most of her grandchildren.

Joan and I were having lunch and chatting in the Hunters Pointe dining room with some of her friends a couple of days ago, when I noticed the word "HOME" beyond Joan's head.  It's on the mantel under the monitor displaying pictures of events and nature and cute wild animals.  Since it's Joan's new home, it's very appropriate that I captured that moment.

I like this view of Helena from Joan's son's house.  Click on the photo to enlarge it and see the sleeping giant in the center of that mountain range.  His head (with pointed nose) is to the right, slightly to the left of the small forest fire.  The giant has a very large chest (in the middle of those mountains), but he doesn't seem to have any feet.

And yesterday, I flew from Helena to Salt Lake City (airport shown here) and home to St. Louis. I'll share more vacation photos in the next several days, since I took dozens of pictures, including some at Joan's birthday celebrations — plural — over more than one day.

Clawdia on Donna's sofa

Coming up next on this blog:  the Gates of the Mountains boat ride tour through 1000-foot limestone cliffs.  The Lewis and Clark expedition arrived here on July 19, 1805.  I arrived in the same month, 214 years later.  Meriwether Lewis thought “the rocks seem ready to tumble on us.”  At each bend in the waterway, great stone walls seemed to block passage, only to open like gentle giant gates as the expedition drew near.  So he called it "Gates of the Mountains."

Donna sent me this photo of Clawdia, who was getting tired of her long "visit" at Donna's apartment.  She was quite ready to come home when I went to get her.