We are home again

Trips seems to be a bit harder as you get older, or maybe it's a trip in the dead of winter!!

It was still fun and still good, but we are so glad to be home safely.  :)

Our trip started on time and most went as planned.  All except the end.

We did our site seeing trip to Helena.  The governors mansion, the capitol, etc.  James and Monica got stuck in the elevator in the capitol, that made an exciting moment.  Miriam met us up  in Helena and we took her out to eat at a mexican restaurant.  We didn't know where the restaurant was, and so we were going to follow Miriam.  It's a busy city and we just were watching her car. It  turns out we didn't notice and she led us onto a one way street going the wrong way!  She quickly turned into a parking lot and we just thought she was taking us on a merry goose chase.  lol 

We spent the night at her house.  She is renting from Maria. 

 Maria bought a  big house for less then $40,000.  It's really a nice house.  Needs a new kitchen and lots of paint.  But it has a great foundation and roof.  No major problems.   Miriam was very hospitable and got us all air mattress and beds for everyone.  

We went to the Caverns next and the boys climbed way up in a huge cavern.  

The cabin was really nice, but it was way to cold to have our BBQ outside. Inside was very cozy.   For some reason when they told me there was  a BBQ outside I thought they meant a gas BBQ.  I don't know what I was thinking.  It was  a BBQ pit.

Next we picked up Gina from her work at Wendy's.  She got us dinner for  half price.  

Watched her sing at her school and it was beautiful.

We were sleeping in our little cabin at the Lewis and Clark caverns when this horrible windstorm woke us up.  Of course I'm thinking that a tree is going to come through the roof.  After I woke up a bit more I realize there are very few trees in Eastern Montana.  So on Friday the weather was dry and clear, on Sat we woke to a blizzard.   Roads were icy and you could hardly see a road at all!

We finally got to the school  through the snow storm and over lunch decided that it was best if we drove during the day or plan on getting stuck in Bozeman. Weighing our options we knew we better skip the evening concert and head towards home. 

 It was so cold outside and the wind was blowing so hard, I asked Gina if there was a way to pull the car up to the cafeteria. She said "yes, can I move it"?  Gina still doesn't have her drivers license.  I began explaining how she doesn't know how to drive on snow, etc. etc.  Rick said, "let her do it, she will be OK."  So off her and Jon run to get the van.  A few minutes later, she runs in saying she wreaked my van.  I thought they must be joking, but  they wern't.  She had slipped and ran into a parked junk car.  My poor van got a broken front corner,  and poor Gina, she felt so bad.  We laughed as it was so ridiculous that I had just warned about this very thing! 

We took Gina to a big dollar store and visited a bit more before we left at about 3:00.  It was a slow drive home on icy roads, but the snow had slowed so at least we had good visibility.  It was very cold. -1 F. and at some places -9.  In the east it was horribly windy too.  So with the wind chill it was probably -40 degrees Fahrenheit.  We got home about 1 am. to a very cold house and a beautiful winter wonder land outside. 

 It's zero here this morning and the heaters been running steady all night.   Frisky was in the garage and happy to see us home too.  The trees are white and it's absolutely beautiful.    It's supposed to be cold like this all week.  Our furnace won't keep up, so we will have to add some electric heaters too.  Also I have ordered a few new bedroom windows.  Ours have lost the seal between the panes and one has a big crack, so they are not insulating well.  Hope the pipes don't freeze.