St. Patty's Weekend to Montana

A couple months ago (I know its been a while, sorry!) my brother told me he was going to take his girlfriend up to Montana to visit our grandparents.  And of course my first response was, 'can I come?'  And his response was, 'will you drive?'  The answer to both questions was, Yes!  Although I kind of weaseled my way out of the second one and made Porter drive most of the way.

 Our little Suby was packed to the gills, four people in a Forester is very cozy.  However we did buy new seat covers in honor of our trip.  We had to stop at Rexburg to pick up Rachel, Kit's cute GF.  We were going to go country dancing up on BYU-I's campus that night.  However, when we got to the door they turned Porter away because he had a beard.  I mean, REALLY!!!  It was ridiculous.  He wasn't even a student.  Although, to be fair, they did offer him a razor if he wanted to go into the dance, he could shave.  We were having none of that, so we left and go ice cream instead.  When we came out from ice cream, our car wouldn't start.  What a great start to a trip, right?  Rachel called a friend of hers to come help.  They ran to Wal-mart and grabbed a new battery, however that wasn't' the problem.  It was the wires that connect the battery to the engine.  Lucky for us, Kit had is leatherman tool and fixed our car with it.  That boy is handy to have around in sticky car situations.

 We continued on our way the next morning.  I had called a place called Lost Trail Hot Springs, it is located on a pass that we had to go over, and asked if we could stop by.  They said sure and that we could have it all to ourselves!!!  Look at the beautiful water, and it was as warm as a bath.  We had the whole place just to us.  It was fantastic!  I love to go to natural water places because Porter really doesn't like conventional places, the chlorine really affects his skin.  But with natural hot springs, all bets are off, he has to play in the water with me.

 Right before we pulled in to Hamilton we stopped by Trapper's Peak and took a photo.  I climbed the tallest peak many moons ago.  I keep telling Porter someday we are going to climb it, I bet you can tell he is super excited about it ;)

 Whenever we get to my grands house, we always have to take a tour of everything going on.  This is a room in the the barn where my grandpa puts all of his trunks.  He refinishes antique trunks and then sells them.  The one in the front left corner is an especially rare one because it has 7 slats running across it.  He said he has never seen a trunk with that many.  If you ever want a very cool and unique piece of furniture, let me know and I will hook you up with one of these treasures.

 The Reason we went to Montana: Dervish!  We went up over St. Patty's Day weekend to see a fab Irish band that was playing up there.

 My sweet Grandparents

 To finish the trip off, we went dancing, cowboy style!  It was a great trip!  The drive home, a different story.  I offered to drive......................I drove during the worst time, total white-out conditions going over the pass.  The sky was white, the road was white, and all the surrounding area was white.  Scariest.Drive.Of.My.Life.  But as you can see, we made it with all our limbs intact.  I love Montana, the big sky country! 

Grandpa playing the accordion for us.  He plays for a lot of folks down at the golden agers club and some nursing home.  They love him!  He also plays the drums in a band for dances at the same places.  He is basically a rockstar in the golden age circle!

Grandpa playing 'Toot Toot Tootsie"