The Bozeman Junket

We spent the first night of our trip at a Kamping Kabin at the KOA in Cody, Wy. The next day we drove to the Bridge Bay Campground, took care of registration and pitched our tents and took off to Bozeman to see Andrew.

We took the circle counter-clockwise, via Canyon and Tower, which proved to be a mistake because the road was filled with construction projects that guaranteed that we would go at an average speed of 25 miles per hour instead of the posted 45 mph. Still, there were highlights: we saw a little bear, the really large Bison above (ever see that bumper sticker that says, “As a matter of fact, I do own the whole road”? Well this Bison did.), Mammoth Springs, and Andrew.

Visiting Andrew was too brief, but very fun. He took us on a whirlwind tour of Montana State University and then down Main Street. We ended up at Burger Bob’s for dinner. We talked about college and friends and work and living arrangements. We sure hope he gets those living arrangements worked out before school starts.

We also got to spend the night in Livingston,MT at the Rodeway Inn because we picked up a couple nails and one of our tires was leaking air faster than we could get back to camp. No one knew of anyone in town who would repair a tire on Friday night. The town was almost full up and they only had a smoking room left – with a broken air conditioner at that. The staff was very nice, but they couldn’t overcome the negatives. We had our least favorite night of the trip. Tire-Rama fixed us up the next morning.

 

Gardening Denver in July

I had thought to make more diligent updates to the garden on the north end of Celebration Community Church’s lot. But that’s all I did – thought. Thinking some more, it’s pretty cool that those icy beds covered in snow in May are now, at the later part of July, full of growing health-giving veggies, with even more interesting things just bursting with promise. There are tomatoes and melons and squash and beans in our future.

I stopped by during the regular Saturday Farm Store and completely blew my photo taking opportunity. I concentrated on the plants, which weren’t moving very quickly, and didn’t take a single shot of the people, who were all gone by the end of the morning!

Well, ladies and gentlemen… I give you… some plants. Now that might be considered a wee bit anticlimactic.

 

After Party

Who knew that the grilling event of the 4th of July Holiday would occur on Sunday – as part of church no less!. Several times a year Celebration Community Church has what is called Celebration Sunday where the 9:00am and 10:45am services are combined at 10:00am and dinner is served after the service. From pulling it together to tearing it down thanks to everyone who participated. It was a good time.

Cherry Creek Arts Festival

If you want to know more about it you can start here. The Cherry Creek Arts Festival really is a terrific museum where you can see lots of contemporary artists and many types of expression from oils and acrylics to ceramics, wood and metal.

We count on running into friends we haven’t seen in a while and think of it as another way to celebrate the Fourth of July. Rain happened just before we got there and that cooled things off wonderfully. Often, the main activity is hiding from the sun and the heat.

Saturday In Manhattan

When we woke on Saturday, it was to find Pluto staring out the window as if to fix the Port Authority Bus Terminal permanently in her memory. Pluto is the Bernese Mountain Dog puppy plush toy received as a Christmas present eight or so years ago that seems to travel on all family vacations. We did some packing, but before we left Manhattan, we had to visit the New York University Visitors Center and feed the fire to learn that burns in the heart of every young person. OK, I’m not that old, I haven’t forgotten my attitude toward the fonts of knowledge – or their gatekeepers. What worked for me was a sort of hypnosis or hysteria that could not consider anything less than a Bachelors Degree – in something.

In addition to Pluto, here are a couple shots of Washington Square Park which, as the girl in the Visitor’s Center put it, “doesn’t belong to the University, but might as well.” We close our trip with a picture that I didn’t take on purpose, but which sums up my New York experience – it’s a bit blurry, but it looks like everyone is going very fast.

 

Friday in Manhattan

First, The Cloisters. To get there we had to take the “A” train. That was cool. No way to tell who else thought so. We also found it interesting that the ceilings Subway stations in Midtown Manhattan were very dark – at 190th street, the ceiling was white. It felt nicer. As we walked through Fort Tryon Park on the way to this extension to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, we thought it was fun that Broadway bordered the park on the east. Simple minds – simple pleasures.

After returning to Midtown, we ate lunch at the Heavenly Rest Stop which, more than anything else reinforced the notion that one shouldn’t try to buy their way into Heaven. The staff was great, the building was fascinating, the shelter from the midday sun was a Godsend and our panini were tasty. Actually, we didn’t like the texture of the cooked cucumber in the Vegi Panini but that really only bothered the Vegetarian.

We crossed another street and there was the Guggenheim. Now, I really don’t know what their problem is, but they have one. It seemed to me that there are enough people in New York that want a job that they could hire people who weren’t angry just for coming to work. Either that or it’s policy to hire and train staff that resent visitors and are rude to them so that they will leave. It wasn’t just us; I could see docents abusing guests where ever I went  in the building, most often when they stopped to view the exhibits. We were grateful to leave that place behind us. There were a couple interesting things about our visit, but if we old anyone about them, we fear that we might have to forfeit the memory.

We arrived at the  Circle Line Cruises office to learn that the only ride we could take that fit our time frame was a 30 minute sprint on a speed boat they called “The Beast”. It was a perfect next step. They turned up the throttle, turned up the music and took us for a quick spin down the Hudson River to see the Statue of Liberty and back (we’re afraid she lies, but she’s still a grand old dame.) We got a little smarter and caught the 42 bus back to as close as we could get to our hotel.

The younger members of our party went to see Cinderella and the elder members to dinner at McGee’s on 57th. we had no idea at the time, butt McGee’s claims to be the inspiration for the gathering place in How I Met Your Mother. Not only that but we felt they took good care of us.

The Beast