At the beginning
of 2016, I meant to write about all of the adventures planned for the
year. Unfortunately, life threw me some
major blows that derailed my project. I
never wrote about my trips to Red Lodge, Libby (I traveled North quite a bit),
or New Orleans. I still want to write
about New Orleans, but that will be later down the road. This last weekend I traveled with my middle
child. Now that he lives on his own, I
don't get this opportunity very often.
I
was excited!
Since Clay was
in Romania over the summer, he didn't get a chance to say his good-byes or see
family at his Grandpa Doug's funeral. He
needed a trip. With missing about three
months of work at his new job at the hospital due to the military trip, he
couldn't take a day off. This had us
leaving Helena at seven in the evening.
We cruised through the dark. Once
in Kalispell, we parted at the hotel.
Without missing a beat, he walked to a local tavern/pizza joint called
Moose's. I, being a responsible mom,
checked into the hotel. I did join him
afterwards for a delicious slice of sauerkraut, sausage pizza.
The next morning
we slept in a bit. We went to his second
favorite restaurant in Kalispell, Sykes.
They make a good breakfast. Well
fed, we drove straight through Libby and to our first destination, Alexander
Creek. At the closed gate, we
walked. The road is a gradual climb and
easy hike, but we found a road that I believe was built to work on the power
lines that go straight up the mountain.
We decided to take the steep billy goat trek. Ouch.
My knees hate uphill but abhor downhill.
I need to do some training to tackle this area next year! Back at the car, we detoured just a moment to
see the dam, one of my favorite places.
The rest of the
day, we did the Doug Nixon. I am dubbing
that the new family term, meaning visiting
random friends and family. Now, this
makes for a busy day in Libby, Montana because friends and family are extremely
abundant. We stopped on Nixon Road to
see Uncle Albert. He told some Korean
War stories which delighted both Clay and I.
Next we drove to Em Kayan village to see my cousin. We heard all sorts of stories from her about
her time in the San Francisco area as a mechanic. After having dinner with Mom, we went to
another cousin's house where her sister joined us. We laughed and laughed at all their stories.
On the way home
on Sunday, I realized that my Nixon cousins and I are living our legacy. As a kid, I sat in the living room of Uncle
Albert's and listened to him, Uncle Ray, and Dad tell story after story. My cousins and I continue the tradition of
sitting around the kitchen laughing and painting pictures with our words. My favorite visual was of a turtle chasing my
cousin around a houseboat.
Delightful!!!
Our trip
concluded with visiting the Hedahl side on our way home. We stopped at Uncle Mark's for breakfast and
family time. In Missoula, we had lunch
with two of his delightful daughters. As
we left our last engagement, Clay turned to me.
"We have a great family."
Yes, yes we do!
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