I am well on my way to making up for last year's
travel season of staying home. In
January, I planned a trip to Columbus, Montana to see my sister in March. We changed the date to the first of April to
have a meeting with a travel agent and to attend an antique fair. Well, the trip ended up being in the middle
of spring break. I finished up with
three trips in one week. Uff da. I am ready to stay home for a while.
Now, I am not a shopper by nature, but my sister has
this great talent of bringing the spender out in me. The best part is that she enjoys shopping for
the home and unique things. On our first
full day, we hit a couple of home décor places in Billings. We even shopped for modular homes. In one of the homes, we envisioned a husband,
like the guy from "Sleeping with the Enemy," locking his wife into
this kitchen closet. Inside was a sink
and counter, yes, in the closet. The
design was ridiculous. Of course, we had
no intention of buying a home, but we compared designs. When my son called, I am sure he thought we
were up to no good.
After that little jaunt, we drove up to Red
Lodge. I have not stopped in this little
town for about twenty-seven years. This
time to get out of the car, I had to tackle a two foot pile of snow. The fact that this little town was still in
the middle of winter did not stop us from visiting a number of stores. My favorites were a metal works store, a rock
store, and an antique store. Yes, I left
with some fun metal Christmas ornaments, a couple of rocks, and old things to
make a hanging wind chime for my garden.
We stopped at a tea store as well.
Along the way, we chatted with a few of the colorful locals. Finally, we ended the day with dinner at
Bogart's. Coconut margaritas were the
perfect exclamation mark on the day. The
drive home was beautiful. I was on a
highway I have never traveled before which I am always delighted to experience.
Yummmmmm!
On our next day, my sister worked in the morning. I took the opportunity to sleep in and do a
little note taking. Once she came home,
we jumped in the car again and drove to Billings for the antique fair. I had so much fun. I love looking at rust. I picked three beautiful pieces. I want to put the wheel in the ground and
plant some small flowers in amongst the spokes.
I have a tall rusted heater that will look adorable with some plants
surrounding it. Finally, the best piece
is an old car horn. That is now torn
apart on the kitchen counter because my husband and daughter want to get it
working. So much for that going in the
garden!
Isn't this adorable, even in pieces!
I can't wait put this in the new garden.
How many people can say they have a heater in their garden?
After the fair, we went shoe shopping. I am set for the summer season of
hiking. We also went to Trailhead
Spirits. This is a distillery in the old
railroad section of town that the city cleaned up a number of years back. I remember when I moved to Billings as a
bright eyed young woman going off to college.
This section of town was very poor.
Hookers walked the streets. Of
course, the college is a safe distance from the area, but my mother wanted to
take me back home when we saw a bum peeing in the doorway of a building in this
very area. Now the section is charming
with a number of fun restaurants and such.
In fact, a wedding was being held and we saw the party taking
pictures. At any rate, we had a couple
of fun drinks waiting for our dinner across the street.
This reminded me of Christmas and Thanksgiving all rolled together.
Watermelon, vodka, and basil, very refreshing.
A little artwork on the streets of Billings.
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