Smith River April
Scott here with a quick post. I had the pleasure this past weekend to float the
Smith River northeast of Helena. The Smith is a 59 mile stretch of river which is probably the best float and fish river in Montana. Because of it's popularity you must enter a lottery and get drawn in order to float it. I was lucky enough to be asked to go with a friend from work and made some new fishing friends along the way.
Before we put in we stopped in White Sulfur Springs at
Red Ants Pants, a work-wear pants shop for women run by a girl named Sarah Calhoun. She was friends with some of our crew and made us home made bran muffins and coffee before we headed out on the river. She also puts on a music festival in July and I would love to make it. Great person and great setup she has going there.
We put in the Smith at Camp Baker, chose our camp sites for the trip, and set off down the river. An average day on the river included sipping cold PBR and Jack Daniels, rowing down the river, gazing at huge limestone bluffs descending right down into the water, and catching amazing, healthy wild rainbow, brook, and brown trout.
At camp we ate like kings. We had kebabs, fajitas with fresh avocado, sour cream, and cheese, and mouth watering slow roasted pulled pork sandwiches with onions and jalapenos on butter fire toasted buns. Along with this amazing cuisine we sipped on Blackfoot and Blacksmith IPA from kegs that had been cooling in the river. Even the pit toilets at the campsites seemed to be strategically set looking across gorgeous landscapes. You would find yourself staring at the view long after your business was done.
Three nights and four days later we took out at Eden bridge finding our shuttled vehicles waiting there for us. It was an amazing trip which I am lucky enough to go on again this July with Justin. We are thinking of taking 4 nights just to enjoy the river a little bit more. I posted a bunch of pictures since these words can't describe one of the better parts of Montana I have experienced thus far.
April
At the end of this week, we'll already be 1/3 of the way through 2012. Incredible.
Bless Scott's heart for posting - it truly has been a hectic past month. Wonderful! But crazy.
April started out with a visit from my sister, Suzi, and her hubby Bob. They came for a few days during Suzi's spring break - it could have been a day longer, but there were some flying difficulties, so they got in a day later. Frustrating for them, but we still made good use of our time!
Highlights of their trip (for us):
- going to Chubbys and introducing them and our friends Morgan & Lisa to the amazing prime rib. You have not experienced life until you've had Chubby's prime rib. Recommended beverage to accompany the PR: Kettle House Coldsmoke or Lewis & Clark Miner's Gold.
- heading to Norris Hot Springs on Sunday night. It was a rainy, icky night, and so the 100°+ fresh spring water felt amazing. Recommended beverage to accompany the Hot Springs: Blackfoot River's Tartanic or Cream Ales.
- hiking Mount Helena with Suz. Despite the fact that I've hiked a decent amount since moving here, I hadn't done much since it got cold. Suz runs long distances regularly. Thus, she had to wait for me a couple times as I was ridiculously out of shape. We took Bells and she absolutely loved it. Recommended beverage to accompany hiking: definitely water. A lot.
- while we hiked Mt Helena, the boys fished. Due to our friend Justin's amazing fishing skills (slight eye roll, but he really did know his stuff that day!), both Scott & Bob caught some spectacular fish. Bob is now hooked on fly-fishing and was searching for a fly rod and reel when he left. :) Recommended beverage to take fishing: Coors.
- for a late lunch after hiking and fishing, we went to York Bar for burgers. York Bar makes the best burgers - think butter mixed in with the meat and basically served on Texas toast. They also have outstanding onion rings (you know you're going to want those, Joan!). We met some interesting guys at the bar... they felt it was completely appropriate to be ridiculously trashed at 2pm on a Monday. Being ridiculously trashed, they weren't exactly cognizant of what they were saying and may have upset Bob & Scott. I might have found them entertaining and egged them on. Which might have upset Scott. Good food... always an entertaining visit out there. Recommended beverage to go with York burgers: again, Coldsmoke. (Unfortunately this is no longer sold in the Helena vicinity...)
- on Bob & Suz's last day, we did a ton of walking downtown. Got some shopping in, experienced the breweries, watched a movie (Hunger Games!!!), and checked out the fried chicken at Suds Hut. It was low key so that they weren't too exhausted to ship out the next day. Recommended beverage for relaxing: anything served at Helena breweries. And water.
Bob & Suz's consensus on their trip here: they'd like to make it a twice annual trip. It's that awesome out here.
As more visits happen here, you'll notice a theme - hiking, fishing, microbrews, outrageous food, and repeat.
Since Bob & Suz left, Scott & I have been tackling work, work, and homework. Up until this weekend, Scott had worked 12 out of 15 days - he's been crazy busy!! And I've been having fun at work and with school - I spit out a 12 page paper and a 15 paper in 4 days. Gross. I didn't ever have to do that in undergrad. If anyone has any desire to learn about the effects of telemedicine on rural healthcare quality and cost-efficacy, please let me know. :) I am done with class for the semester Thursday, and couldn't be more thrilled!
Despite the fact that April was a crazy busy month, it started out awesome, and it will end spectacularly well! Our friends Dave & Jill come on Saturday for a week. Jill is also finishing up her semester this week, so it's going to be a huge celebration of being done with school, seeing each other for the first time since New Years, and having the opportunity to spend lots of quality time in the great outdoors/at the breweries. :)
OHHHHH!!! One more super exciting tidbit - one of my favorite brothers (I have 4 fave brothers and 4 fave brother-in-laws) is coming to stay with us for the summer!!! Tedders got a seasonal job with the rookie-league baseball team here in Helena and will be the guy in charge of food and beverage for them this season. He flies out in... 22 days!!! And stays through mid-September. Have no fear, visitors - when you come, he gets booted from the guest room so you can have a Montana experience that includes good sleep. Recommended beverage to enjoy with the little bro: any and all Montana microbrews.
Since we've got a lot of visitors this summer, I've put a little pack list together so you know what to bring (attached below). If you're not coming out, maybe you should ask yourself "why not?" and ask us "when can I?!"
Attachments:
Jordan's Visit
Scott here making a courtesy post due to Missy being insanely busy with school, work, and entertaining.
Jordan, my "Bro" came to visit us here in MT during his spring break away from Anderson University near Indianapolis. This was his first time out visiting the great state of Montana and he was looking forward to spending some time relaxing and getting his mind off of school. Luckily the lazy town of Helena and the surrounding streams and rivers were up to the task.
We spent a couple days fishing on Rock Creek (near Missoula) and the Blackfoot River (NE of Missoula). Jordan was relatively new at fly fishing but picked up the flow of the fly cast pretty fast. We caught some whitefish, brown trout, cutthroat trout, and a couple rainbows on the two days. The first day we fished Rock Creek and waded through a couple nice stretches. During our first time out a torrent of wind came through the canyon and blew us off the river. Must have been 40-50mph gusts with sideways hail/snow. After the nasty weather we enjoyed fishing in a white landscape with cliffs rising above the river and snow silently falling down. Jordan caught his first trout fly fishing during this magical "bewitching hour" of last light and claimed it was in the top three fishing experiences he has had so far.
We decided the next day to float the Blackfoot River in Lil' Sassy II aka new raft with Justin Sasser, a good friend here in Helena. Luckily even though Jordan and I are younger, Justin (41ish) is like a gazelle and shuttled our vehicle for the float by mountain bike. The water was a little stained from some early low lying runoff but we had a little luck anyway. The first fish of the day was a pristine sucker caught on a San Juan Worm pattern. It fought well and I thought it was a nice trout until I saw the sucker lips rise to the surface. Further down the river I caught my first west-slope cutthroat on a Mickey Finn streamer and caught a nice brown soon after that. Justin caught a couple trout and Jordan caught a "HUGE" whitefish (at least 3"). The scenery and company were priceless and we had a great float.
Other fun things we did during Jordan's stay included eating at York Bar a great local burger joint up in the mountains, eating AMAZING prime rib at Chubby's, visiting Norris Hot Springs near Bozeman, hiking Mount Helena, partaking in Crepes for breakfast in downtown Helena, eating at Planet Gyros = amazing, and cloning JB's Chicken Honey Dijon pizza. For those who don't know, JB's pizza is pretty much where Jordan, Nicole, and I were weened off of less appetizing pizza. The Chicken Honey Dijon was the masterpiece that Jordan and I have eaten many, many times. Needless to say our palettes were trained in the job of re-creating JB's culinary genius. Honey Dijon sauce, thin sliced red onions, grilled chicken slices, diced roma tomatoes, a little garlic, bacon bits, all smothered in mozzarella, topped with drizzled honey Dijon and sprinkled Parmesan cheese. OOOOMAN!! It was the final cap to a fine week.
Needless to say I really enjoyed having my brother come visit me here in our new home. I was sad to see him leave but was comforted knowing he seems to be on the right musical track for his future in Indiana and with an internship in Tennessee this summer. He even got a free CD from the live music guy at the Hot Springs with plans to remaster it. Making music deals in his bathing suit only alludes to a fine career in music engineering. Jordan's most used quote of the week; "I can't believe you just live here!" Neither can I Jord, neither can I.
Missy and I are looking forward to much more family and friends coming to visit us in the next 5 months. If anyone would like to come visit, our doors are always open, and there may be a fresh baked pizza, homemade bread, and a growler (or 2) of locally brewed beer waiting for you when you get here.
Twice in a week!!
OK - so I enjoyed snowshoeing so much today, I had to blog!
I went with a couple of my coworkers on a trek sponsored by the Montana Wilderness Association. Evidently they lead a hike or two every weekend around area trails. Today's trip was up Flesher Pass - right along the Continental Divide. If you didn't know (I didn't til I moved here), the Continental Divide in the Rockies divides the US in terms of flow of water - if you're west of the Divide, water flows towards the Pacific; if you're east, towards the Atlantic. In my mind that's how it is, anyways.
So, we met in town, carpooled out to the trailhead, about a 45 min drive, and snapped on our snowshoes. I had to borrow from the MWA, of course, but what a great way to find out if you want to buy some! I do. I only fell a couple of times at first :), but it was great fun. Well except for at first. Our fearless little 70 year old man leader zipped us right up the mountain! If you know me, you know working out really isn't my strong point. As in, I never do it. So I was dying, but thankfully so was everyone else who I know embrace healthy lifestyles. Anyways, steep incline at first, but then we just trekked over nice gradual up and downs that didn't really kill me. When we got to the top, we at lunch, sat around for a while, and listened to the "how to survive in the wilderness" spiel. Then we went down - SOOOO fun!! I think we probably were only actively snowshoeing for 1 1/2 hrs or so... but according to my fitness app on my phone, that burned off about 1000 calories! Woohoo!! While we don't have much snow at all down in the valley, up where we were snowshoeing, we were on top of 5 feet of snow! We hiked past a big moose's tracks at one point - those poor animals really should learn how to snowshoe, or hibernate. Their tracks were so deep! How miserable.
It was a great time, we saw some amazing views, and it was nice to do something with coworkers that was healthy and fun. Check out my pictures for some of the beauty I saw!! (Warning - several self portraits... !! :) ).
So sorry!
I got a nasty-gram today from my college roommate - "Missy, you suck at updating your blog!!" Hahaha!! So true!!! (It wasn't really a nasty gram. And it was a good excuse to catch up with her!) Sorry about the delay... I assure you it is NOT from lazing about Montana though!
I started grad school the second week of January - for the most part, I'm loving it - most of my evenings are taken up by homework, but I try to keep it to a minimum when Scott's around. It is all online, so to "prove" you participate, you have to write in on discussions through out the week. There are some people who I can really learn from, and there are some people who probably missed their calling in another field. But I am kind to all of them. (No worries - I just checked, and you can't find this blog by googling, so I think I'm safe). Truly though, it is overall a good learning experience. I do miss the face to face interaction with classmates, though - it's so much more fun to debate that way!
Scott turned a year older this week - we celebrated his birthday in style by going to Missoula for a Fly-Fishing Film Festival and a BrewFest. Brewfest was interesting - about 15-20 breweries mostly from Montana in an old grocery store and a bunch of crazies from MT enjoying enjoying it. I actually found the film festival to be entertaining. One of Scott's friends told him the film festival was like "fish porn" beforehand. SO TRUE! I think there were probably 6 or 7 short film on fly fishing - one or two that took place in MT - and ANY TIME a fish was like skimming the surface of the river, the entire theater would erupt in deep-throated "ooooooooo" and "oh wow, oh wow, oh wow", etc. Highly entertaining. The film-festival was mainly attended by guys - probably a 9:1 ratio of men to women. That's probably the ratio of who actually fly-fishes, too. Even though I took a fly-fishing class in college (easiest credit ever!), I truly have no intentions of participating...
Although! Scooter's pretty close to picking up a fishing raft, and it's rumored to have an optimal sunning spot on it. If that's the case, I might be inclined to join him. Sans fishing, though. Scott's been working crazy overtime lately, and his reward to himself is a fishing boat. yaaa-a-ay. (Envision that as a weakly voice 'yay'.)
Let's see... in other news, Bella is still doing pretty well out here. She got a report card back from a place where we kenneled her and has been rated as "social, happy, and quiet" - and they'll take her back anytime! I think I'll even post a pic of that... just cracks me up. This place changes her sheets daily and puts a treat on her "pillow" every night. Spoilllllled.
Scott and I are coming up on 6 months here, and because of that have had our 5 month reviews at work - good news for us is that they like us and want to keep us; that's possibly not good news for our parents in MI? :)
The weather here is about the same as a MI winter... snow melts a little faster I think, but, maybe not this year??! :) I guess spring comes later... we can't wait - we did a Christmas splurge on mountain bikes and they are screaming our names every time we walk by them in the garage!! I think once I do start riding mine, I'll be super whiny - in the 5 minutes I sat on it at the bike shop getting it fitted, it hurt my butt for a week! I guess that means I'd better get some biking clothes!! :)
So far we have FIVE DIFFERENT VISITS planned by friends and family out here this spring/summer!!! We couldn't be more excited!!!!!!!!!!!! Because of that, I've started a Pinterest board to display some of the great things you can do out here with or without us. We're working on making the guest room a little more organized, and the living space more comfy. We want people to love it out here so much they don't want to leave. :)
Well, this has been a babbled catch-up; hopefully I'll get a little better at updating again. This weekend I'm going on a six hour snow-shoeing hike with co-workers - the scenery should be AMAZING! So I'll probably post those pics once I get back (if I don't melt into the couch when I walk in the door). I have other pictures to post, too... I'll try to do that now?
There ya go, McGee - hope this update make you happy!! :)
2012!
So weird to write 2012. I remember writing 1992 on school papers back in the day. (Yes, people who talk to Scott too much, I had school papers even though I was homeschooled!) That was 20 years ago! Crazy.
So 2011 was good. I went to lots of concerts and met lots of people. We went to France. And got a crazy idea to move to Montana. Otherwise it was pretty uneventful. :)
Scott celebrated Christmas by working a ton of hours (over 40 two weeks in a row!!) and I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with friends. We ate way too much - but how can you turn down steak and crab one night and beef roast the next day? This Dutch girl can't! Scott went a little short on sleep Christmas Day to party a little bit before work. He learned how to play Let's Dance 3 on the Wii... I have video if anyone needs a good laugh. :)
The year ended with a trip back to MI - I don't think I could have survived the holidays here if I didn't know I was headed home. I was so stressed that we wouldn't make our flight on the way there - we only had a 30 min layover. But everything went exceptionally smoothly - we were actually 20 min early and Joan-thang had to rush to meet us in time! My family met us at the airport - we had 8 happy faces greeting us right away. No tears tho, which is impressive for us. Neither family opened gifts until we visited, so Christmas celebrations were pretty late this year - Tad was such a trooper waiting 4 extra days!
We were able to see quite a few friends from college while we were home, spent a lot of time playing games with family, and even got to stop by our old workplaces. I really love Spectrum Health. It is so beautiful. It has such an amazing bounty of specialties. I just dearly dearly love it. I even miss my coffee there... Mehney Terrace Bistro - they brew the best. I miss the cafeteria options, and the ice cream cone shop at DeVos Children's. It was so therapeutic to walk the halls there. There's nothing wrong with St Pete's where we're at now - it's just a LOT smaller. And the coffee is medioc (that's an abbrev for mediocre, FYI). But my office has a door!! And my new co-workers are usually quite fun. Unless they have talked to Scott recently. It was so great to spend quality time with the fams. Everyone seems to be doing ok despite our absence from MI. I'm not sure how I feel about that... it's flattering to think of them in the throes of despair without us, but they're all doing great; working, studying, and playing lots. Which is good, I guess. ;) It was sad to say goodbye, but we were both ready to come home to MT - that actually surprised me. I thought it might be more difficult to come back. I guess that's a good thing (unless you're our parents!).
Today I'm writing from a really cute bed & breakfast in Bozeman. We decided to take a little trip to Bozeman this weekend - I was able to connect with someone here that does the same job I do in Helena, and we've been able to get a few other things done here as well. You can tell we're old now, because we're really excited about visiting a church here tomorrow - one of Scott's old classmates is a pastor there and it's one that helps out our church in Helena. Which reminds me - HUGE APOLOGY to all of our dear friends at Plymouth. We so wanted to see you all last Sunday morning but it just didn't happen. We'll make it there next time (if I don't, I think Susan will hunt me down! ;) ). So anyways we're at a nice B&B, and spent some time shopping this morning. Tonight we're watching the Lions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully they can play their absolute best and we can actually stay in the playoffs... Last night we had sushi for the first time in 4+ months. It was pretty spectacular - we pledged to buy everyone dinner here who flies in to Bozeman and has us pick them up. Outrageously delicious crab and cream cheese wontons, and very good tuna sashimi. They also had a roll called the "Flying Dutchman" which of course we had to try based on it's name. It was shrimp tempura with avocado and a couple other things, rolled in rice and topped with spicy tuna. Mmmm!!!!
Also on our to-do list while we're here is to scope out things to do - I'm thinking of throwing together a Montana board on Pinterest, so keep an eye out for that. Also, our summer is filling up with people coming to visit (yaaaayyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), but there are still weeks available where our guest room is open. So think about when you might want to come out. :)
Let me just end by saying to those we were able to see this past weekend - thanks so much for making the time to hang out and to our mothers - thanks for all of the delicious food and letting go of us a little bit to visit friends. Love you all and miss you lots!
Worst blogger ever.
Sorry - I just am having a horrible time of remembering to give an update! So maybe they'll just have to be monthly... it's December already! We've had an eventful last month... some of my pictures I've uploaded will show that. It's been a good month, and we're looking forward to a GREAT month coming up!
Thanksgiving this year was a little different than what we're used to. As in - it wasn't spent in MI, with significant amounts of family, with everyone making a bunch of food, and playing football in the backyard with cousins. But, it was still good. And Scott & I have missed Thanksgivings in the past due to having to work at some point during the day so we're sort of used to it being "abnormal". This year, Scott's cousin Nate and his wife Jess took a trip out here to spend the week with us. They got here on Monday night and stayed through til Saturday morning. They served as guinea pigs in figuring out what to do with visitors here in Helena! :)
Scott took them out to the sapphire mines near town, shopping at the outdoor "walking mall", we all went to the breweries, and got to check out Chubby's for the first time. They have 18 oz prime rib dinners on Friday nights. A.Maz.Ing. Hopefully the promise of this dinner will lure our dads out soon? :)
Thanksgiving dinner was delish - thanks to our neighbor Tonya's salad, a turkey that actually turned out (my first attempt!), and pumpkin pie and homemade buns made with Grandma Lou's recipes. It tasted like home.
After wishing Nate and Jess a safe ride home, Scott & I went out shopping - and finished our Christmas purchases that weekend! We're pretty excited about all of the Montana goods we're bringing home.
Last weekend we went out Christmas tree hunting. All you have to do is buy a $5 permit in town and then head to state land and hack down a tree. It sounds simple, right? Not if you want to find the perfect tree. ;) We went out with our friends, and eventually us girls just sat in the Explorer while the guys hunted for Scott's perfect tree. Too many decisions to make to find the right one!!! :) 10 feet of tree later, we have a great Montana wild tree. Ted & Jess might have considered it comparable to Charlie Brown's, but we like it. You can judge for yourself. One thing is for sure - we need a lot more ornaments to make it look as covered as the 7 ft trees we're used to! We also took Christmas card pictures while we were out in the mountains. :) It was a beautiful afternoon and I think we got some good shots. (Mom, don't pay attention to the white balance, please!!!)
Last night Scott & I finally made it to some hot springs!! We went about 1 1/2 hrs away to the Norris Hot Springs with his coworker and her boyfriend. Very fun time!! I packed a nice bag with our suits and fluffy towels... only to forget that in our car when we met up an hour away from our destination. Good news is - they rent suits for $1. I said extra prayers last night that no disgusting bugs lived in that suit. I'm really trying not to think about it. My favorite moment last night was when I walked up to the service window to get some drinks and food and one of the girls behind the counter was like "did you rent that suit here?" and I said yes and she said "yeah, that's the one I always wear too!" I really wanted to ask her if there was anything I was exposing myself to, but... felt it might be an inappropriate question. The hot springs at Norris are pretty rustic - evidently many of the hot springs in the "area" (read: State of MT) are enclosed into nice pools. This one is a wood floored pool that is outside. It is drained every night and refilled every day. It was very hot and felt amazing. After we'd been there a couple of hours, we ambled our way back to Boulder (where we'd met our friends) on this dirt road with amazing views. Even in the dark you could tell it was beautiful. First visitor out here gets a free trip to Norris!!! ;)
So we're doing well, enjoying our work, having fun with friends, and most importantly, loving each other more and more. But... we miss friends and family, too. Good news is, we get to see family soon - we'll be home at the end of December to celebrate Christmas and spend some quality family time in the great mitten state.
Prayers that everyone has a relaxing holiday season, that travel is smooth and safe for all loved ones, and that you remember the best part of Christmas - not family, not parties, not presents, but the greatest Gift of all.
Merry Christmas!!!
November already?!
Can't believe we're almost through 2011. Crazy year! And since we're into November, that means hunting season is almost done... holla!!!! :)
Moment of the past few weeks: Hehe. This past weekend I went to Missoula to celebrate a friend's brithday... while we were out and about, we stopped at a place called Red's. There was a smathering of different ages in this little hole... college age on up. At one of the tables sat this couple - he was a rough looking 55/60 yr old and she looked to be about 30ish. Not sure if they'd had a couple or what, but I'm watching them (I'm an avid people watcher) and all of a sudden she's unbuttoning her shirt a bit and he's motor-boating!!! UN.BE.LIEVABLE. There was more that they did, but, that's about as PG-13 as I'll go. Truly entertaining. But gross.
Perspective changer: I recently learned I can go six days a week without carbs. Crazy! There's a book called Four Hour Body and a few chapters that talk about a Slow Carb Diet - meaning you basically eat whole foods (excluding grains) 6 days a week and then have a cheat day one day a week to keep your metabolism up. So far I've got great energy and and looser fitting clothes - yay!! No worries - my current profile picture is taken from a very strange perspective, I have definitely not withered away. :) The book by the way, is a super interesting read... google it.
Interesting anecdote: At first I couldn't think of one, but now I've got one. Back in MI, I often watched football with Scott, and sports are usually my first choice when watching TV, but I think I'm even more into it out here because it makes me "feel close" to home - I think it's knowing that my fam is on the other side of some TV cheering about the same play, and screaming at the ref for his ridiculous call at the same time as I am. :) I'm pretty excited for Sunday's game - nothing like a little rivalry between Scott and I to spice things up! Go Lions!!
What I baked this week: Ughhh... last week was a coworker's birthday so I baked him a loaf of homemade bread and one for Scott. Since I'm on a carb free diet (except for Saturdays), I couldn't have any. It was killer. So, on Friday night, I made myself a loaf of homemade bread! Saturday morning, it was delicious. Smelled like home. :) (I think mine is better than yours, Arn... just sayin'!)
Scooterlicious update: I think he's been good at updating so probably not much to say here. He's got an 8 day break (no vacation days -- ugh!) coming up... hopefully he'll get his elk yet? Then we'll have two choices of meat in the freezer!!
Work is going great, we're keeping social, and having a great time... book your trip now to have fun with us! ;)
Mule Deer Hunt
This past Saturday my friend Justin and I went to his parents ranch in Choteau to hunt mule deer. Choteau is about 1.5 hours NW of Helena and sits just east of the Rocky Mountain front and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The terrain consists of rolling plains mixed with badlands. Vast open plateaus that suddenly drop into hundreds of fingers descending into old river bottoms. In the distance, past this golden dry landscape, lies rugged mountains that go on as far as you can see. It is really a beautiful place. Justin's family owns 7800 acres of this and they were very welcoming in letting me hunt it.
We arrived in Choteau on Friday night and ate dinner at Justin's parents' house. They own a log cabin with a guest house attached to the garage. The guest house is a log cabin with a loft, kitchen, bathroom, living area, and extra bedroom. The walls show history of the ranch with a vintage picture of Justin's grandad, old furniture from the ranch, and even a ram that Justin's grandad shot. Across the garage we ate dinner. Justin's mom is an excellent cook! She made us scalloped potatoes and ham with an amazing desert of raisin cake with a sweet meringue topping. All this with Moose Drool (local beer brewed in Missoula) to wash it all down. Living in style to say the least.
The next morning Justin and I headed out to the ranch. We drove on the top of a plateau, parked and then descended into the canyon. Just as we dropped in off the rim in the early morning light I saw what looked like a wave of shadows flowing along side of the ridges. When I looked closer it was a heard of antelope moving extremely fast! I was amazed at how quick these animals moved. When we looked back to the rim we could see their silhouettes standing on the edge of the top watching us like a group of statues.
We set up on a shelf that overlooked the river bottom or coulee (gully or ravine to my eastern friends). Soon after we started glassing the bottom Justin spots five deer roaming around. Two nice bucks and three doe working their way up the coulee. One of the bucks was a nice fourxfour (eight point). We suddenly notice that there is a coyote perched on a rock directly between all the deer. The deer slowly move in on the coyote getting to within about fifteen yards! The coyote then decides he doesn't like the odds and moves on out of the way.
The deer move out of the coulee and up over the rim. Justin and I decide to move down a little further on the ridge so we can get a better look at the bottom. Just as we were cresting the ridge, the nice fourxfour and the four doe come barreling off the top from our left directly facing us. As the deer were looking right at us we couldn't move. They got within 80 yrds then disappeared over our ridge. They then proceeded down into the bottom and up the next ridge. Jumping with ease it took them less than 2 minutes to clear about 700-800 yrds.
Justin an I decided to go around the next ridge and get a better look at the bucks to see if they were shooters. After a little decent hike we spied two doe bedded down and two bucks walking up the ridge about 700 yrds away. One buck was the fourxfour and the other was a huge threexthree. Unfortunately we could not sneak up on them because they had the two doe overlooking the whole bottom watching for any movement. We also could not sneak up from behind because the wind was blowing into their backs and they would surely smell us.
So we began our stalk from the side and decided to flank them. We backtracked across the ridge again using it to shield us from the sight of the deer. As we got closer we began seeing movement where the bucks were and sure enough they were grazing up the hillside. We immediately got down and started belly crawling towards the deer. After about 60-80 yrds of belly crawling the deer moved down into the coulee to bed down. This was our chance! We ran crouched down until we got near the rim of the next ridge. Then we were back down into our belly crawl for another 50 yrds. As we neared the edge we could see the two bucks quartering upwind bedded down about 100 yrds away. Perfect setup!
Justin and I glassed the fourxfour for a while and decided that he was in fact a shooter. I crawled into position behind a small rock and rested the .243 on my arms braced into the rock. I lowered the scope into position and could see the buck bedded about 105 yrds scanning the coulee down below him. Justin stood up and made a motion towards the deer to get them to stand up for a nice ethical broadside shot. The deer didn't move!! They just watched Justin do his dance on the top of the saddle we were on. Remembering back to the coyote incident I realize that these deer are afraid of nothing. They are ready to take on any predator getting in their way! Their flight response does however kick in and the deer stand up and start walking away. I immediately get back down into my scope and wait for the perfect moment to take the shot. The fourxfour is walking straight away then turns quartering away from me. He stops. The image burns into my brain, I take a deep breath then slowly exhale allowing my trigger finger to slowly squeeze. If the moment before you shoot a deer burns into your brain then the moment after is a complete blur. The shot rang out, I saw the bullet hit, the deer ran over the next hill he was sitting on and was gone in a second.
I looked over at Justin and we both had smiles on our face. He told me that I had a good hit and we went and got our packs then started tracking the deer. As I crested the next little hill he went over I saw him laying down still. The bullet had done its job. What a big deer!! I thought to myself. It was bigger than any other whitetail that I have seen. The body was massive! I was elated holding the deer and grateful for the meat he would provide Missy and I. We finished taking some pictures then I gutted and dragged the deer up the coulee wall. Let me tell you dragging a mule deer out of a canyon is a little harder then dragging a whitetail out of a bean field. Luckily when I dragged the deer to the top, Justin was able to bring his truck over and we put the deer in the back closing up a great hunt in a beautiful landscape.
I cannot thank Justin and his family enough for their generosity and will never forget my first mule deer in this new home I call Montana.
October
So it's been a bit since I updated - the news is - we're still kickin'! That's about it. But, to keep up with the template I started, I'll try and fill in some new deets (details in Jessie/Missy speak).
Moment of the week: I got in to MSU-Billings's Health Admin masters program!! Hopefully I'll start in January, 2012 - it all depends on if I meet the requirements for being a resident (and qualifying for cheaper tuition!). I'm pretty excited about that - I was going to start at GVSU's program this past September, but the whole move thing changed that. So now I'm back on track!
Perspective changer: Every day I still check out the WOODTV8 app on my phone... just to keep track of what is happening in West MI. Even though there are nice things about Artprize, and MSU kicking U of M's butt, and other "happy" stories, there are always daily stories of crime, murder, etc. Case in point - Officer Trevor Slot; we're keeping his family in our thoughts and prayers out here. The difference in Montana is that those types of stories are rare. People here can count the number of murders in the past few YEARS on one hand. We experienced the first one since our arrival last week. It's all anyone could talk about for a few days. It's really nice to not read something absolutely horrible like that on a daily basis. Who knew that the lack of that could make me complain about the boringness of the news though? Sad.
Interesting anecdote: We babysat our friends' daughters last weekend - they are 6 & 11, I think. Super cute, super fun. We took them out to crepes for breakfast and the toy shop and also stopped at the Parrott - our candy store. It's AMAZING. We all picked out our favorites. Madi, the 6 yr old, doesn't call Scott "Scott". She was a little shy when she met him, and thought he was a big, creepy guy. That's what she told him. So at the Parrott, she yelled across the store, "hey, big creepy guy - I want these candies, too!!" She's so precious.
What I baked this week: Nothing. But last weekend Scott & I made sugar cookies with Halloween decorations with the girls we babysat - they were pretty amazing. Thanks to Kelly Buist for such a great recipe!! I do have a few pictures of our final products... and some darling photos of Scott doing the decorating :). Also, Scott's been continuing the homemade pizza - most recent flavorage was half ham & pineapple (for me) and half pepperoni and sausage. This time around his crust was perfect!
My Scooterlicious update: He's been hunting a few times with no luck yet - hopefully soon!! However, he's had great success fishing the couple times he's been out in the last week. He showed me all of his pictures yesterday of all the fish they caught... a bunch of sizable trout and walleye... but they all just looked the same to me, so I'll just throw a few of those on here...
We're doing great - still seeing sunshine on a regular basis, some fall color, and watching the Bear & Lions every weekend or so! It's like being home, but without the Silver Lining, err, Derby :). If anyone feels led to come visit, please please please do!
(Grandpa & Grandma DK - that most definitely means you best be coming here after IA!!!)
Hunting and Fishing - A Husband Update
Scott here. Just thought that I would update the blog with some of the hunting and fishing outings that I have had over the past month.
As Missy said earlier I spent 2 weeks up in the mountains bowhunting for elk with two friends from MI and Justin a friend who lives here. We had a great time running up and down the hills chasing the Wapiti (white rump) as the Shawnee so eloquently named them. We had many close encounters but could not seal the deal. Even though we did not get an elk we had a ton of great experiences over these two weeks. We stayed in a tent with cots and a wood stove. We fished for Yellowstone cutthroat within walking distance of camp. We visited the local watering hole and had fun discussing the glories of wind direction in the hills with the locals over a couple Montana brews. We hunted in some of the most beautiful country I have ever hunted in. We watched the sunrise come up over the mountains while listening to bull elk bugle in the crisp morning air. The stars were as bright as I have ever seen them and seemed extremely close. The elk would literally sing to us while we sat around the campfire at night. So although the freezer is still empty, I can say that I came back to civilization renewed and ready to take on every day life here in Montana again.
Other hunting adventures have involved scouting for my more familiar game, whitetail deer. Whitetail in Montana are not nearly as sought after as the more popular mule deer and elk. I am OK with this as it leaves them mostly unpressured and less wary then in my home state of Michigan. I have been scouting a local river bottom looking for good places to put tree stands for later in the season. While out on one of these scouting trips I ran into a couple moose standing only about 70 yards away. Definitely a different experience than out east. Other opportunities that I hope to take advantage of include a trip to my friend Justin's parents' ranch to hunt mule deer. This will be a new experience for me and is more like elk hunting than whitetail hunting. It involves a lot of hiking and spot and stalk hunting tactics. I will keep the blog updated on these outings.
Fishing in Montana is unbelievable. It amazes me how many trout waters there are in this state. If you find water that is running you will find trout. And many times lakes also have trout in them. Coming down from the mountain we fished a small creek that pooled up in small puddles every 20-30 feet. Casting into these pools would often produce 12-14 inch rainbow trout. A friend from church, John, and I went fishing up in a high mountain lake last week. It was very foggy and you could hardly see the other side of the lake. Here I caught my first Arctic Grayling. These fish are beautiful and strange looking all at once. Their dorsal fin is like a sail, with a faint neon green color to them. And their eyes are large looking like them might come out of their head. We also caught a lot of small rainbows on this lake. Although it was cold, damp, and we didn't catch any big fish, it was an awesome experience.
I have only begun to tap the surface of the outdoors here in Helena and look forward to spending much more time searching for trout, deer, and elk. I will try and keep the blog updated with my various trips and post pictures as well.
recovered.
I know I haven't posted an update in a while - it just took me a bit to recover from Scott being gone. :) Any post blogged during that time would have been depressing and full of tears and whining from me! Thankfully, he's back now and I can be emotionally stable again. ;)
I've decided to adopt a little bit of a template in my posts so that it's not a bunch of babbling and instead gives more focused tid-bits that show what we're up to out here.
First - the MOMENT OF THE WEEK: prior to today, I might have said last Sunday, when the Lions kicked butt in the 2nd half against the Vikings, but then today happened. Our friend Justin happens to be a Cowboys fan. He might have sent me a cocky message at the exact moment Romo threw his FIRST interception and completed jinxed "his" team. I might have responded with like messages supporting "my" team. Most importantly, the outcome of the game was once again favorable for the Lions and they are now 4-0! So, very exciting, and watching those games I can let myself think I'm at home watching my team. Which I am.
PERSPECTIVE CHANGER: Being part of a big family, I've waffled a bit growing up on how I've felt about that. For the most part, until I was a sophomore in college, they were a major pain and I'd much rather have been an only kid. Then Tadders came along and pulled us all together. Since then I've been much more into hanging out with the sibs. I think this summer, when the five youngest and I spent the Fourth at Lake MI in Holland, was one of my favorite days of the year. I love all of my crazy sibs (I think Scott does, too). I love my sib-in-laws. We're super blessed in the family area. So liking our families a lot, and enjoying spending time with them, makes it hard at times to be so far away. But in the past few weeks I've had the opportunity to join other families on their get-togethers and outings, and been very blessed by them as well. So while I'd take a trip to GR in a heartbeat to see everyone right now, I'm learning to appreciate the gifts God has given Scott & I here in the "family" we're meeting in MT.
INTERESTING ANECDOTE: Hehehe. This is a funny story. So a similarity between Montana and Michigan is that both states have U of M and an MSU, and both have great rivalries between the two. While I'm an MSU fan back home, here we've taken on cheering for U of Montana because that's what our friends do. :) Yesterday we went to the U of M Griz game and had a very fun time. In front of us sat this couple around Scott's and my age and they had a 5 month old baby that might have been making it's first trip to such an occasion. U of M's stadium, while it "only" seats 30,000ish [which makes it the 5th largest "city" in MT when full], is the MT equivalent of the "Big House" - because it's seated nicely in the mountains, we are told it is one of the loudest stadiums in the nation. So little baby girl in front is having her first trip, and isn't really happy about the loudness, or sitting so much, etc. I think the mom probably actually sat down for 4 minutes total of the first half. In the second half, they were busy trying to make her happy and trying to watch the game. At one of her fussy times, I leaned forward and told them, "Maybe she just doesn't like being here because she's a Cats fan" (The Bobcats or Wildcats or something are the MSU mascot)... I don't know I've ever had such a good death stare from two people at once. The mom was like, "Take it back! Take it back!" Good-natured, but... slightly offended. But I couldn't stop laughing. I did apologize. And told them I was from MI and didn't know my Griz manners yet. Which sort of made them ok with me. But they didn't talk to me the rest of the game. ;)
WHAT I BAKED THIS WEEK: I feel this is pertinent information. Two weeks ago I made amazing banana bread in which the recipe called for sour cream. Delicious. I even made an extra loaf for the hunters - who unpolitely declined! Rude. This week I baked gingersnap cookies. The whole cookie arena is proving a little difficult as I'm not quite used to the high altitude baking. That will come...
Most importantly - your SCOOTERLICIOUS UPDATE: I call Scott Scooterlicious. I think it's because his dad calls me Mystifier. I felt we both needed nicknames. So Scott came home this week!!!!!!!!!!!!! He called on Tuesday and said, "we haven't shot anything, so we're probably not coming home until Saturday, yadda yadda". I was devastated - this meant no Scott home on Friday and no football game on Saturday. Very very sad. But then - miracle of miracles, he called me on Thursday night FROM HOME to see where I was at! I didn't break speed limits (much) but I did hurry home ASAP!!! Unfortunately, they were not able to capitalize on their two weeks of pure hunting time, but hopefully sometime soon he and Justin will bag something. No bears were encountered, no snakes were discovered. His gun did keep him safe, Mom, so thank you. :)
BEER OF THE WEEK: This weekend we hit up the Kettle House brewery whilst in Missoula for the Griz game. Scott & I both tried the Cold Smoke Scottish Ale. I really liked it. I think Scott really liked their IPA... great place, great brews. Scott would have bought their sweatshirt, but... the XL looked like an XS would look on me.
Check out pictures from the brewery and the game online!!
Settling in
I think we're finally settled in! My gauge on this is by how busy we were this past week. Scott was busy working and then prepping for his 2 1/2 week elk hunting trip (cross your fingers he gets something!!). I went to Bible study, checked out the town's wine bar (named Sommelier - how apt :) ), and did a 2 1/2 hr hike today. We also went out to dinner for the FIRST time since we got here (one of our moving resolutions was to go out to eat less).
So Scott left yesterday with 2 guys from MI, and the one person we knew from here before we moved - Justin. They were headed to elk camp somewhere around here (45 minutes away). Evidently one can't sleep in his home and commute that far on a daily basis, so he might stop in here a couple of times, but basically will be there for the next little while. They have a huge walled tent completely furnished with a wood burning stove and cots. A little food cart, and their equipment tent. They typically mountain bike to where they want to go from camp - hauling their bow, food, etc in a pack. Two years ago when Scott went on this trip, he came home notching his belt 3 holes smaller. It's pretty intense and would not be the way I'd want to "waste" 2 1/2 weeks of my vacation time. :) But he loves it.
Last night I went to Sommelier's with Justin's wife, Pam. We decided to meet there at 8 - and walked up to what looked like a closed restaurant. Evidently no one had been in since 3:45pm and so the server was going to shut down, but since we walked in, she turned the sign back on to "open" and said she'd stay open til close - lucky for her, since the place was actually full by the time it was closing time. Evidently that's kind of how places are around here - pretty relaxed on their "open" time. Another place I stopped at yesterday evening closed a half hour earlier than their stated close time - just as I pulled up! But anyways - the wine at Sommelier's was mostly regional - I had a nice flight called the Broken Dog Leg flight or something... basically a few different red blends. They were quite delicious. The server chick recommended their gorgonzola dip with fresh pita chips as an appetizer - amazing. Pretty sure whoever comes to visit me will be trying it! ;)
Today, Bells and I went on a hike with my new friend Becky and her dog, Odie. We go to church with Becky's brother & sister-in-law, and her parents. Last week I met her after church, we hit it off, and I got her number. NBD. Church is sooo the place to meet chicks! :) But anyways, we decided to meet today for a hike, as we're both hunting widows this weekend. We went to a place called Davis Gulch (there are all kinds of gulches around here!) and made our way up a mountain. I do not know which one. But - views from the top were gorgeous again!! Bella and Odie had a great time together, which was great, and they met a couple of guys on the top who loved them. They were precious children from the midwest who work here in town for AmeriCorps. I was sure they were college kids, and asked them if they were. :) They really were quite taken with our dogs - asking how much we thought it might cost to "support a dog for the first year". I educated them on appropriate dog food (one that doesn't have fillers - ie - corn anything in the first few ingredients), and the importance of the Costco membership (amazing products, great prices). They asked if I worked for Costco. :) We brought our lunch up the mountain, and just gabbed the whole time. It's a good thing to get in girl time! (Thanks, Becky - you've saved Scott AT LEAST two hours of my verbal diarrhea!)
Since our moving resolution was to eat dinner out less, I decided to make a meal tonight. For just myself. I opted for my mom's Potato Soup. It's so good, it will coat your coronaries in less time than a McDonald's Big Mac! But really, it's quite divine, and gave me a little taste of home.
So that was my/our week - add in the fact that I skyped with my fam, and caught up with Scott's mom tonight, and you can call it a pretty perfect week! Here's to hoping this week is just as great!! (To toast with me, you must be sipping on 14 Hands, Hot To Trot! Yeah, Costco!!!)
*Pictures added also!
For Joan
Evidently I haven't updated in a timely fashion, so Joansey got after me!
We had our first week of work last week. It was alright - ya know, orientation. Blah blah blah, policies, blah, procedures... thankfully, it was only 2 days, so we're now plugged more into our jobs. Scott started night shift right away this past weekend - 6 pm to 6:30 am. Interestingly enough, we see each other more than when he worked 11 am to 11:30 pm. It makes having only one vehicle out here very easy. We like our jobs. They are definitely different from what we had before, not bad different, but different. Different like I won't ever be posting to my Facebook wall that this hospital is in Thomson Reuter's Top Ten hospital systems nationwide. Different like we don't even have my favorite specialty - cardiothoracic surgery. Different like it's a 12 bed ER not a 60 bed ER. Different like we probably will get to know everyone's name in the entire system (maybe I should challenge Scott to a competition in that?), and we'll get more opportunities to have a real impact on quality of care, and our opinions might have more weight than in just our shift/pod/team. I guess I'm trying to convey that we've lost a lot in making this move, but if I keep/take on the right attitude, I can see that we've gained a lot, too. But that still doesn't change how much I miss Spectrum. Possibly more than friends/family at this point. Sorry!!! I just really loved that place. Good growth opportunity, right?!
While we are definitely much less social than we were in GR (I think that was the point, but... I miss it? :) ), we're making friends and getting to know people. I went to a freshman football game to watch our friends' son play - they creamed the other team! I'm going to start going to a book club, and I crashed someone's 40th birthday party the other day. :) Randomly I met someone from Traverse City there who graduated from Hope in 2001... the one time in my life I've felt something like kinship with a Hope grad! hahaha. Seriously, though.
I went to church by myself Sunday (something I had to do in GR, too, but, I knew a lot of people there!!) and met more people - including another soon-to-be hunting widow. We bonded and exchanged numbers. Such a new and strange experience - meeting people, thinking they are cool, and asking for their number.
Scott starts his crazy hunting schedule this week - after tonight, his fourth 12 hr shift in a row, he's off for the next 2 1/2 weeks to hunt with his friend here, and two guys who are coming from MI to join. They all hunted here 2 years ago when Scott shot his 5x5. I really hope they get something soon - I'm just not used to buying beef, and I don't really like it! I'm crossing my fingers that he shoots a cow though - another bull elk on my wall would just be too much, don't you think?! Thankfully this is the last year that he'll pay a lot of money to hunt here...
One super awesome thing about living here, and specifically in the location we're at in Helena, is that we have hiked pretty much every day for at least 30 minutes! Such a strange thing for me. It's not that I'm against exercise, I just don't typically enjoy it. So bonus - moving is making us healthier! Bella just can't get enough of it. Earlier I know I mentioned the deer in the city here. They are EVERYWHERE! And Bella goes ballistic when she sees one/some! She's tried chasing a few, but somehow they manage to outrun her!! :) So she'll come lolling back just thrilled with herself for running that animal off, completely "unaware" that she's not listening to us yell at her to stop. Yesterday I was walking up our street and in the middle of the intersection was a buck just staring at us (spike or maybe a 2x2) and then 3 deer in one yard on one side of the street and another 3 or 4 in another yard on the other side of the street and Bella was just quivering, practically screaming/crying because she wanted to chase them so bad. Aside from being obnoxious it was really funny. In MI she used to get so excited when she'd walk by a person or especially another dog, but those aren't really holding her interest here. It's the deer. I think Scott has infected her. ;)
So all is good here. Just settling in... establishing a routine... staying just busy enough so we don't remember that almost everything we know and love is 27 hours away.
Blessings to everyone!!
Home!
We're home!
We pulled up to our new apartment on Wednesday at 1pm ish. Within 2 1/2 hrs, the whole truck was unloaded!! Many thanks to our friends here - new and old. Some of our new friends from church brought over meals - they were delicious and so thoughtful!
Since we arrived, we've done a little shopping, quite a bit of rearranging, and much resting.
Yesterday we felt we'd accomplished enough unpacking to reward ourselves with some time out of the house. We decided to hike Mt Helena (all of this WE stuff = Scott ;) ) and went up and down in 2 1/2 hrs. Our friend told us today he runs up it in about 18 minutes. Pshh. We stopped to have a snack, and enjoyed the views... otherwise we probably would have done it in that time, too. ;) It's a decent hike, and has LOVELY views from the top - see our pictures! Day after effects of the hike - painful. I'm waaaaay out of shape. I guess I'll have to work on that.
Today I got to Skype with my sister and my nephew... that was awesome. I think it goes without saying that we're missing everyone back home. That'll probably get worse as time goes on, but for now - we're keeping busy and hopefully will get acclimated enough here to where it's not super tough.
On that note - we're headed to our friend's house to watch the U of M/Tennessee game. U of M as in Univ of Montana. Go Grizzlies!!
Traveling...
So we're currently near Bismarck, North Dakota. I admit I'm shocked (and thrilled) they have 3G here! It is boring enough to drive through - if we didn't have our handy dandy iPhones, I'm not quite sure what we'd do. Probably converse. Play the alphabet game or the license plate game. Soak in amazing farmland scenery. Haha. Last night we stayed with friends in Minneapolis and ate at a Himalayan restaurant. We're so adventurous. ;) Our momos were filled with yak meat. Delicious! After dinner we went for a walk - and randomly found a salon still open at 8:15. Thank you, Sophie, for cutting Scott's hair. And thank you Scott for getting your hair cut! Check out the before and after pictures... Hehe Scooter's such a good sport! Thanks, Tory and Rach, for your hospitality!! As I said earlier, Sunday was spent in Chicago/actually Cedar Lake, IN. With the Dutch Mafia. Which I am half convinced they really are. Thanks, Uncle Art, Aunt Kris, and family for giving us a little reprieve from sad goodbyes and a lengthy car ride. And for great 6:00am conversation. :) Next stop - Dickinson, ND. It took me an hour to find a hotel room there. Evidently it was the second to last room in the city. And isn't a room but a suite. Thanks, St Pete's!! We'll let you all know how Helena is in a couple of days. Thanks so much for all of the well wishes we've received the past few weeks!! I told Scott I feel like moving a ways away like this is almost like having a funeral. Except we get to be alive for the visitations and eulogies. And know firsthand how much we're loved. I know... Morbid. But it's been a pretty special past few weeks. Can't wait for y'all to come visit! :)
Why Montana?
Lots of people have asked this question. Ugh - isn't it obvious?? :) Just kidding.
Even though we have AMAZING jobs here, AWESOME friends, the WORLD'S GREATEST family, a SPECTACULAR church, etc etc etc, we're choosing to leave it and let go of all of that for a while.
Why?
In April of this year, we took a trip to France with friends from here to see friends we went to Calvin with that lived in France. We had an AMAZING time. When we came home, we realized that we wanted to have more living experiences in this world than just our lovely bubble of Grand Rapids (I say that fondly). We can't count the number of times our parents friends and other "older adults" (ha!) have said they wished they would have gone here, or done this, moved there. Scott & I realized we were at a point in our lives in which we had options. We didn't have to say "well, because of this, we can't do that."
So, Scott said, "I want to move to Montana." And I, uncharacteristically, said "OK!" Pure craziness. Actually, I said, "only if you get me a sweet job out there." He did. Turns out skilled nurses that come from great facilities like Spectrum Health are in demand all over the country (rumor has it there is a nursing shortage?) and so hospitals out there were breaking down the door to talk to Scott. When he let them know we were a package deal, some were able to comply, and Helena said, "that's awesome - can we fly you out?"
The whole looking for a place that would hire us both and that we would enjoy took about 2 months. We started applying in mid to late May, and in mid July, we got THE call. The week of our dear friends wedding I telephone interviewed, made plans for an inperson interview the following week, went to our friends' wedding, flew out bright and early the next day, checked out the large city of Helena ;), interviewed, flew home, worked one day, and celebrated Scott's sister's wedding. It was a whirlwind and it was crazy. And it hasn't slowed down since.
So we're moving to Helena. It's an adorable city in the northern Rocky Mountains - just a couple of miles east of the Continental Divide. The population is around 30,000 (we tell people it's like the size of Holland without the metro area). It is the capital of Montana, so has some great historical areas and beautiful buildings. The state government only meets 6 months out of every 2 years. Novel.
We knew one person before we visited (err, Scott knew him) - Justin, a nurse he used to work with here in GR. Turns out he's pretty nice (don't tell him you don't like bananas foster after he slaves over it) and his wife, Pam, and family are wonderful! We visited the one CRC church out there when we interviewed (not because we feel we HAVE to go to a CRC, just thought we'd try out something familiar to lessen the homesickness...) - who knew people you've never met before could be so warm, friendly, and welcoming?! One of the guys there thought he recognized me... he actually went to Dordt with my sister (smalllllll world!) and so he and his wife invited us over to their house for lunch along with a couple of others our age and so now we know like, 8 people out there!
Our jobs are both at the same hospital - St Pete's. Scott will work in the ER there - 30 hours a week. Rough. But he is going back to nights and every other weekend, so, I have to give him credit there. :) I'll be a clinical performance reviewer (mouthful). Basically I'll be working with data from surgeries and heart caths and putting it into national databases so the hospital can see where it lines up - what they are doing well in, and where they can improve. I'm excited about the opportunity, but nervous because it'll be working with a bunch of docs and departments I'm not familiar with - I've been blessed to "grow up" at Spectrum and learn the system well... this will be a new [good] challenge.
Lastly - our apartment! HAS AN AMAZING VIEW. AND IS RIGHT BY THE TRAILS FOR MT HELENA. And Bella can live with us there. (Still not sure if that is good or bad!) It's a 2 bedroom, so there will be a guest bedroom - we want guests often. So please come visit! We'll be 3 hours from Yellowstone and 3 1/2 hours from Glacier. And about 1+ hour from Big Sky (our goal is to learn to ski!).
I tell you all of these things like we just kind of thought about them and they happened. Which it seems that way - but truly, God has blessed us every step of the way. Everything has happened so smoothly, so providentially, that at no point did Scott or I even have to stop and say, "hmm, I'm not sure what to do" - it was just obvious. That in and of itself is so reassuring. I have NO IDEA what our future holds - thrilled God does - and excited to find out what it is.
Can't wait to sit on my deck, holding a glass of wine, and meditate on Ps 121. (I lift up my eyes to the mountains, where does my help come from?)
Next time I'll post pics from our drive out!!!