Boyers Head West

 Books I’ve Read This Trip  May 22-July  I love to read. I read “real” paper books, books on my kindle, and I enjoy listening to audio books. I welcome any recommendations and just wanted to share what I’ve been reading/listening to on this trip so far.    Run Rose, Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson  Loved this on audio-Dolly Parton and Kelsey Ballerini narrate.  4.5 ⭐️ The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz  This book has such a great premise and was very interesting, but I was so disappointed in the ending.  3.5 ⭐️ The Bright Side Running Club by Josie Lloyd  Loved this story of friendship, grief, and overcoming.  5 ⭐️ Find Me by Alafair Burke  A mystery/thriller that I couldn’t put down. Not sold on the ending, but great up until that point.  3.5 ⭐️ The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner  Enjoyable audio listen-narrated by Richard Armitage  4 ⭐️ The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn  Listened to this on audio a...

 Great Northern Carousel  Thursday June 23 The Great Northern Carousel is a beautiful (I know, I need to find another adjective) carousel in historic downtown Helena. It has hand carved animals that are Montana themed…a bear, otter, mountain lion, buffalo and fish along with a dinosaur and horses. As you ride, there’s a game you can play. You try to grab a ring and toss it into a clown basket. I was too busy holding onto Liam, but Dave and Caleb caught a couple rings. After the carousel we walked to the Helena walking mall. We passed a group of kids passing out free lemonade. They were so cute. Then we stopped at The Big Dipper for ice cream. They had some unique flavors. Annabelle and I shared chocolate and huckleberry. Apparently huckleberry is a popular flavor around here and it was delicious! Now that we had our dessert it was time for lunch. We ate at a sushi and ramen restaurant. The boys love ramen and I was proud of all the kids trying edamame. This afternoon Liam had ...

 Gates of the Mountains Wednesday June 22 “From the singular appearance of this place I called it the gates of the Rocky Mountains” -Meriwether Lewis, July 19, 1805 Aunt Myrna and Uncle Jerry kindly took us out on their boat today along the Missouri River to see the gates of the mountains, which was named by the explorers Lewis and Clark. There are not words to adequately describe this place. It was so beautiful and peaceful. There were birds flying overhead and fish jumping near the boat. At one point we stopped because Annabelle wanted to go in the water. It had warmed up to 60 degrees 🥶, but she was on her own. We skipped rocks and hung out on shore. We rode by an area of houses right on the water. There are no roads to the houses so the building materials are brought in either by plane or by a barge. I can’t imagine buying a house and having to buy a boat to shop for groceries! We all loved the ride today. Aunt Myrna and Uncle Jerry are so generous. It was such a beautiful, me...