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Off we go

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  Talking about going back to Montana seemed like a dream. But here we finally made it!! On June 18, we left Boston and flew to Salt Lake City.  Or rather, as my girls wanted to point out, we flew to Dallas Texas first.  They checked off Texas as a state to which they have now been, so that was super important.  Then as we flew into SLC, we watched the roiling landscape come up and dove into the bowl of mountains.  From the plane we got a great view of the Great Salt Lake.  It is huge and as impressive as I remember it.  Callie loved watching the mountains and clouds out the plane window and we really did get a good show that day.   I was moved at coming back to the place I spent two important years.  It was definitely more smoggy and has grown up a bunch, but some memories came flooding back.  It was very special and moving to go back to the spot where I spent the afternoon of September 11, 2001.  Also I got to show my mom and daughters the neighborhood where I lived back then.   A fu
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Arrival on the Ranch

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Coming in to Montana after driving through Yellowstone, we were all ready to get going on the ranch.  It was a long, beautiful drive, but this is what we had been waiting for.  After miles of rolling green hills, we turned on to a dirt road parallel to a rolling river.  As we turned into the ranch, my first reaction was unexpected.  A collection of outbuildings and a small house was surrounded by piles of old vehicles, equipment, and mud puddles after a quick rain.  There was no grand entrance, no sign of organization, just what looked like a tired farm yard.  Then a very authentic looking cowboy moseyed into the driveway and welcomed us into the world of ranching.  We told him we were looking for Wanda and he told us we would be staying over yonder, pointing toward a falling down shack.  Mom and I looked at each other and silently panicked a bit.  What did we do?   It was the girls who stopped and said, "Don't judge a book by its cover, Mom" and that wisdom carried us fa
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We Came for the Horses

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  Before I go any further, we must remember, we came for the horses.  I suppose there are many reasons people might go to a ranch experience, but my primary purpose was to be in the world of horses for as long as possible.  So, Monday morning, we drove the mile back down the dirt road to the corral where the trail rides begin.  I had explained that we were riders, but I guess most people say they are, so they wanted to see what we actually could do.  We went on one of their one hour rides along the river to test our skill.   The first challenge was to see if Mom would be able to mount a horse and sit without major pain and cramping.  Well, they brought her a big gray gelding named Klondike who turned out to be a walking couch.  He was calm and steady and perfect!  Mom climbed up the mounting platform and swung up into the western saddle and did great!  We were all so happy that she would be able to join in on the fun.  We also found that Wanda recently had back surgery and lost partial
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Driving Cattle (1)

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The boys got a little help from Mishka and Callie roping and wrestling a calf.  It as amazing how the girls just jumped right in there without hesitation!   After the trail, we rode the horses back to the ranch house for lunch.  We tied up on the yard fence and took a lunch break.  Then Troy, Wanda's son and Brooke's husband, joined us to lead the cattle drive.  Our task was to go out into the pasture and separate a herd into Angus and Longhorn.  The Angus had to come in to the corral.  So we rode out another gate and into the pasture behind the ranch house and barn.  Once we got out beyond the yard, the pasture was absolutely beautiful.  The way the irrigation works, there is flowing water coming out of pipes into the fields all the time.  That fills the irrigation ditches, but also floods most of the pasture with about 2-3 inches of water.  So we were riding through the wet into the open.  Being out there was so free and open, as if there were no boundaries or limits on our j
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