Leaving Just in Time

I think we are leaving just in time. Last week the weather was warm to hot during the day, then cooled off nicely at night. Thursday was our last day of work at 7th Ranch. We spent Friday saying our goodbyes and getting ready to travel. We drove a little over 200 miles west to Bozeman, before heading south for the winter. When we arrived in Bozeman, we immediately fell in love with the town. It is surrounded by low mountains, is vibrant, with lots of young people and good shops for browsing. Of course, it is a university town, home to Montana State University, and we met, married and first lived in Boulder, a university town in the foothills.

We thought we would stay for a few days. Then we looked at the weather forecast. It will get down into the 20s by Tuesday or Wednesday, with snow showers. That is why we are heading south, for heaven’s sake. So we decided to stay only two nights and leave first thing Monday.

This morning we went for a 4-mile walk along one of the city’s hiking trails. There were people everywhere, running, biking, walking their dogs--young families with children, college students, seniors. We are always happy to encounter an area where people enjoy outdoor exercise.



All along the trail they have placed benches to allow people to rest or sit and meditate.




We walked through the downtown business district, where many restaurants were doing a big business for either breakfast or lunch and maybe one-third of the shops were open. The area has many fine old buildings that have been restored. This one had a great façade and promotion of a very unusual event for last Friday. Darn. Sorry we missed it.



One corner lot downtown had been turned into a small park, with these great flowers and statue of a little boy swinging.



I really liked this white horse above a local bar.



We are staying at a small, older RV park, Sunrise Campground. They have put up Halloween decorations, which we are enjoying.



These college students were having a good time watching people try to pick up a dollar bill they had on the end of a fishing line. When someone tried to pick it up, they would jerk it up into the air. Were they doing some sort of research?



Tomorrow we are off to Idaho—no snow for us.